Just want to say how thankful I am for this thread. Last week I talked about my picky piggies and someone, kindly, pointed out that my cavies weren't on the best food. I had noticed a little white dust in the urine and knew that was a sign of too much calcium, but I didn't know if was because of the alfalfa in the pellets. I took the advice given and went to the store and had an EXTREMELY difficult time finding a pellet that didn't contain alfalfa. I finally found one with the first ingredient as Timothy hay and alfalfa was the third ingredient. I made the transition and haven't noticed any white powder the last few days. Fast forward to yesterday, my favorite gal was bleeding from her back end. I was panicked to say the least. I had her seen by a vet within 30 minutes and it appears to be, hopefully, crystals in her urine from too much calcium. I have to watch her for a week and see how she does. If the bleeding persists, she will need to go back in for an xray. If it clears up, all will be well. Going back to how thankful I am that I had already caught the problem and switched the food. I knew what I was talking about when I spoke to the vet and could account to what was going on with my gal. This forum is a huge resource of information that I am so grateful to have. Thank you to everyone that replies to my posts and helps this new cavy mama navigate the guinea plains!
Hi!
Glad that you have already made dietary changes so you shouldn't end up with stones or sludge.
Unfortunately they take a few weeks to come through. The biggest change we have found is to filter the water (unless you live in a very soft water area) and to reduce the pellets to 1 tablespoon or less a day. Even the lowest calcium pellets still contain more calcium than the same amount of kale, the veg highest in calcium). Water is the largest hidden contributor and in our own long term experience the most effective measure to minimise the formation of bladder sludge or stones; especially as the UK is largely a hard water country.
You may need an antibiotic and some metacam in case the crystals have caused cystitis by banging into the walls of the bladder whenever your piggy pees and causing inflammation/infection - the red phorphyrine pees could be a symptom of that.
Glucosamine (which is classed as a food supplement and not a medication) can help to replenish the beleaguered natural glucosamine coating of the scratched urinary tract and bladder walls. You can either look at cat bladder supplements or at human ideally vegan glucosamine (usually sold for arthritis).
Gradually up the content of watery veg you are feeding (cucumber, celery, romaine or gem lettuce) to encourage strong urination. If you have access to fresh grass that is dog pee free, then that is by the best food you can feed. Incidentally, fresh green grass is also high in vitamin C and even dry grass/hay contains some (which why guinea pigs have never had the need to make their own in the first place).
But only make these changes slowly in order to avoid diarrhea or bloating as the gut has to get used to it; too much fresh food can lead to overfermentation( dysbiosis) so there is a balance to strike. Hay should still make about 80% of the daily food intake; at need pellets are the one disposable part of the diet and can be replaced by feeding a little fresh or dried herbs every day (you can vary between cilantro/coriander, parsly, mint, basil, dill etc.) - more nutrition and less calcium gram by gram.
Make sure that you do not make the mistake of feeding a no calcium diet; that in itself is as harmful in the long term as a high calcium diet; it is about working out the right long term balance for you. As conditions differ from location to location there is no one diet recommendation that fits everywhere perfectly. We have arrived at our recommendations simply by trial and error and a fair number of bladder stone operations from trying diets that haven't worked out along the way.
