Veggies For Bladder Pigs

[Dilly's Piggies]

I have a few bladder piggies so I'm changing their veggies, normally they would get lettuce (little gem, romaine, curly or round), bell pepper, cucumber, celery, green beans, tomatoes and carrot. They would also occasionally have fruit such as nectarine, red grape or watermelon once a month. My pigs don't tolerate calcium or sugar well, so carrot and tomatoes are being removed as well as all fruit, they also leave calcium deposits after eating lettuce so that is being removed too. The veggies I gave them were already low calcium but obviously still too high for them, so I need to cut even more things out.

My current list is bell peppers, cucumber, celery and green beans, I've been feeding this for a few days now and they seem well, no bladder issues, but is it enough for them?

 

[rome_italy]

also my piggies eat peppers, cucumber and celery (and rarely lettuce), but the amount is very little. I have found out (especially comparing the wee in one of the piggies who came home from the rescue with an alert for her bladder) that if the diet is based on fresh grass the wee is perfect. Fruits, too, are wrong; their ph, the presence of an high level of sugars and other chemical properties don't suit piggies' body for sure.
My piggies's bladder is normal now. Try a diet based to grass and hay, pellets free (or only 10 grams/few pieces a day as a treat) and you will see huge differences in wee deposits (and in their health).
Fresh and unlimited grass can amazingly substitute the vegs. Piggies are herbivore, not vegetarian... there is a huge difference! in fact we humans can be vegetarian but not herbivore...
This is the daily ratio of the "vegs" eaten by my two piggies: as you can see there is also dandelion, very rich in calcium, but the wee is perfect and clear (in fact they go on weeing on the fabric of my white sofa but there are no stains at all...)

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

also my piggies eat peppers, cucumber and celery (and rarely lettuce), but the amount is very little. I have found out (especially comparing the wee in one of the piggies who came home from the rescue with an alert for her bladder) that if the diet is based on fresh grass the wee is perfect. Fruits, too, are wrong; their ph, the presence of an high level of sugars and other chemical properties don't suit piggies' body for sure.
My piggies's bladder is normal now. Try a diet based to grass and hay, pellets free (or only 10 grams/few pieces a day as a treat) and you will see huge differences in wee deposits (and in their health).
Fresh and unlimited grass can amazingly substitute the vegs. Piggies are herbivore, not vegetarian... there is a huge difference! in fact we humans can be vegetarian but not herbivore...
This is the daily ratio of the "vegs" eaten by my two piggies: as you can see there is also dandelion, very rich in calcium, but the wee is perfect and clear (in fact they go on weeing on the fabric of my white sofa but there are no stains at all...)
View attachment 67683

View attachment 67682

My piggies get issues after eating grass but they are actually OK with dandelions oddly! Can I feed them a few dandelions each a day as a leafy green?

 

[rome_italy]

also hay is grass... I don't believe the grass causes any issues, it might be a coincidence... Have they eaten ONLY grass those days before their symptoms? Anyway, my piggie who had some residual in the past sometimes doesn't eat any dandelion (she sleeps on them, though!) and sometimes, like today, she eats a lot. I rarely find some white powder (I am not sure if it is hers or the other piggie) and I don't see a clear link between its presence and the grass...
You should only try and write on a journal the differences.
Then, we are talking of calcium deposit/stones, infection is another story; but infections into the bladder might be caused by bacteria who come usually from the gut. A healthy gut is the key for a good prevention. (My first daughter was born with a defect in her bladder which caused a bad infection at her kidneys when she was 3; before having the surgery she had to wait for two and half years and during these years she had been infection free despite the extreme low dosage of her daily medicine, but she strictly followed a diet suggested by her nephologist based on vegs and fibres (and some probiotics) for helping her gut and boost the good bacteria. No sugar at all and little fruit. Other children whose parents refused the diet had a lot of recurrences also with strong antibiotics...)

 

[Deleted member 114675]

My current list is bell peppers, cucumber, celery and green beans, I've been feeding this for a few days now and they seem well, no bladder issues, but is it enough for them?

We used to talk a lot about a diet know as the IC diet ( Interstitial Cystitis ).
I can't reference to this diet as it was developed and researched by someone who is not on this forum - but it is intended to give the best nutrition without causing IC flare ups .

The diet per pig is

1 french bean
1 sprig of coriander ( or dill)
a few pieces cucumber
a 1" strip of spring green
a few pieces of celery
a slice bell pepper (preferably green)

morning and evening plus hay and grain free pellets ( some people advise filtering water too )

As you can see, this is very similar to the "daily veg" advice we give in our diet thread

Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet


I tend to stick to the veg as the " core" of my guineas diet - giving other veg on the list as treats. ( plus grass in the summer)


Please also bear in mind that white deposits in wee are normal - I only get concerned if I see grit or blood in their wee.