Vet Says GREENS ONLY diet for piggie?

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cheneytardio

Hi everyone,

Took our pig to the 24 hour emergency clinic after she was oddly lethargic this evening and then urinated blood. The urinalysis has come back positive for an UTI, so we will get her antibiotics right away and are looking at monitoring her diet more closely now (reading about calcium levels in the vet's office made us rethinking how often we snack them spinach, even though they love it so).

BUT something sounded very odd to me. The vet has informed us to switch both of our pigs (even though the older sister has never had a UTI and this is the first of this problem we've ever seen) over to a GREENS ONLY diet. No pellets, ever. This is the first I've ever heard of this and seems totally contrary to so much that I've read.... And won't all that extra water in the greens cause other difficulties?

I would appreciate anyone's advice on this SO MUCH. Thank you all!
 
My vet has told me that as well... They seem to think that the calcium in pellets plus the fact that it is dry food could make the cystitis worse and cause bladder stones to form. I have tried it either way and have found that it hasn't made any difference, frankly. On the continent, especially Germany, many people only feed veg and hay and their piggies are perfectly healthy, so taking your piggies off pellets is not dangerous.

Basically, get as much fluid into your piggies as you can at first; ideally unsweeteend cranberry juice, either pure or mixed with water if pure is not to their taste; if they don't like the juice, water will do. The German forums also recommend giving mildly diuretic herbal tea (cooled) to help flush the bacteria out of the bladder.

Has your vet given you some metacam or other painkiller/anti-inflammatory? I find that it helps bring down the cystitis in connection with septrin. Avipro plus is the best probiotic with UTIs as it doesn't contain extra calcium.
 
it's what all vets say in Sweden, that an adult guinea pig's diet should consist of 80% hay and 20% veggies. To get them to eat so much hay it's better to serve it on the floor and not in a rack. I took mine completely off pellets about a month ago (before they shared a tablespoon between four every second day or so, so very little) and they are fine.
 
Don't know about that, but definitely give cranberry juice. Also, not sure what hay you are using, but I've heard it should be Timothy hay rather than alfalfa hay as that has too much calcium in it for anything other than pregnant or young pigs. I guess if you don't have the vit c enriched pellets then you would need to be careful that they got enough Vit C in their food, but other than that I'm sure it's fine.
 
Hay is the most important part of Guinea pigs diet, the Veggies to add variation and to supply vitamins including of course the important Vit C.

High calcuim diets are thought to contribute to bladder stones, but as far as I know not UTI. Lots of dark green veggies like Spinach and curly Kale are very high in calcuim too. Is your vet suggesting NO PELLETS because of the calcuim levels or something else? I believe healthy adult Guinea pigs that do not need extra building up - not including pregnancy/old age/ underweight etc do very well with no pellets. Laura did a thread about the subject http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=43961 It is very informative.
If your vet is suggesting the NO MORE PELLETS route because of high calcuim levels as most Guinea pig food Pellets are Alfalfa base, so they are higher in Calcium than Timothy base pellets. My piggies eat very little pellets, I think its because I keep them interested on the different hays I put in and the different ways I feed it? But the pellets I feed are the Timothy based Oxbow Cavy Cuisine because I have a piggie with bladder stone problems.

Hope this helps :)
 
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