What's The Best Food? Bladder Probs!

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Kirsty

Kirsty

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Hi all
What's the best nuggets for guinea pigs with current bladder / sludge problems? also, if I change their nuggets does it need to be gradually?

Thanks
 
With regards to nugget, yes you will have to change them over gradually so that you don't cause any digestive upsets. Bladder pigs need a low calcium nugget and the best ones for that are Versele Laga Cavia Complete and Bunny GuineaPig Basic, both of which are available on Zooplus.
 
Thank you!
Do you have any other recommendations of how I can ensure they put on weight, as they have lost some, but it cannot be high in calcium?
 
I usually recommend grainless too and pellets with lower calcium and more natural ingredients. See what Adelle says though as she has done a lot of research for her bladder pig Crunchie and is a bit more up to date than I am with things.
 
Flutterby said:
With regards to nugget, yes you will have to change them over gradually so that you don't cause any digestive upsets. Bladder pigs need a low calcium nugget and the best ones for that are Versele Laga Cavia Complete and Bunny GuineaPig Basic, both of which are available on Zooplus.
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Which one would you say is better? I also saw vetcare nuggets are they good for it?
Thanks
 
Kirsty said:
Which one would you say is better? I also saw vetcare nuggets are they good for it?
Thanks
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Sorry, it wasn't the Bunny and Versele Laga ones I meant (I selected the wrong section on my food table), but the Prestige Cavia Nature and JR Farm Grainless, also available on Zooplus. If I had to choose one it would be the JR farm one as it is grainless and lower in Calcium.

The Vetcare one is better than them both as it is low in Calcium, high in protein and very high in fibre, but is not grain free.
 
So should I get the vetcare one then? As surely it's better to have lower calcium as possible.

Thank you for your help :)
 
The difference in Calcium is little 0.15 so for that minimal amount I would personally go for the grain free option which is the JR farm grainless.
 
Hmm I see! Only thing that's swaying me more towards the vetcare is that it's a bigger box/value for money. As I have two guinea pigs.. and in the future (when they get girlfriends each) I'll have 4!

Do grains have a big impact on guinea pigs with possible bladder problems etc?
 
Grainless foods can help with inflammation in the bladder and bowel which is obviously a bonus for piggies that are prone to bladder issues. Very few guinea pig keepers are able to buy the top foods, especially when you have a large amount of guinea pigs and need to be cost effective. The Vetcare food will be fine for your pigs, especially when it makes up such a small percentage of the diet.
 
Thanks!
Another reason why I'm swaying towards vet care is the JR farm nuggets are quite big, and i have some very fussy piggies! Is this the right vetcare ones?

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Yes it is :) I know what you mean by large nuggets and I have heard of quite a few pigs not liking the JR farm foods.
 
So I have narrowed it down to Vetcare or these ones you said? This one is cheaper but I want which one is best tbh, although my bank doesn't agree lol not sure which one to get ..

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This is the food recommended by my piggy specialist vet who keeps her own piggies - I had never heard of it until 3 years ago when she put Bumble on it - they don't like it as much as ordinary nuggets - but then you will find that is the same for JR grain less as well - as a lot of piggies will only pick at them - pear is quite a good food for helping to put on weight and apple ( but not too much apple as you don't want them to get chelitis on the lips ) but pear and apple are both lower in sugar than grapes and banana and melon says my vet.
 
TAN said:
This is the food recommended by my piggy specialist vet who keeps her own piggies - I had never heard of it until 3 years ago when she put Bumble on it - they don't like it as much as ordinary nuggets - but then you will find that is the same for JR grain less as well - as a lot of piggies will only pick at them - pear is quite a good food for helping to put on weight and apple ( but not too much apple as you don't want them to get chelitis on the lips ) but pear and apple are both lower in sugar than grapes and banana and melon says my vet.
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Which food was it your talking about sorry?

Thank you for the advice! I have them apple yesturday, and I'll get them some pear! My pigs have expensive taste as they will only eat marks and Spencer's pears because their softer
 
Kirsty said:
So I have narrowed it down to Vetcare or these ones you said? This one is cheaper but I want which one is best tbh, although my bank doesn't agree lol not sure which one to get ..

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Sorry but Versele Laga was one of the incorrect ones I selected, so it higher in calcium that the others. I would go with the vetcare one.
 
Sorry - the vetcare multi modal - it looks like long thin shredded wheat - they will eat it when you aren't looking (crafty!) hoping you will give them the "junk " food lol!
 
Thanks all!
I ordered the VETUK, when it comes should I just mix abit of it with there normal nuggets? Then gradually get less and less with their old burgess ones x
 
Yes that is a good way of doing it. Hope they like the new food when it comes :)
 
Are the prestige cavia nature the ones that are a muesli? Or am I looking at the wrong one? The one I'm looking at on zooplus is and contains grains/cereals so I might be looking at the wrong one?

I must give JR a try!
 
Yes the Prestige Cavia Nature is a meusli. They did do a nugget one at one point, but its no longer on zooplus, so I'm going to remove it from my food chart (If it's on). The JR grain free foods are very good.
 
Hi all, do you guys have any advise on making Buttons drink more? When I buy a dish for water he always seems to tip it over even the seramic ones?! I'm wondering if there is something I could add to the water to make it more tasty for him? she's not dehydrated but that's because I syringe some fluids into him in the morning and then he has water based veg a lot xx
 
Have you just got a dish/bowl and not a water bottle?

Also apart from giving his veg a good wash in water and giving more watery veg (romaine lettuce, cucumber etc) I can't think of a way to get them to drink I'm afraid!

Adding things to the water often puts them off so I'm not too sure. Could you maybe add a teeny tiny bit of natural, no added sugar cranberry juice to help a bit?
 
He has a water bottle :) it's a snazzy glass one! yeah I gave him romaine lettuce today and red peppers, and usually cucumber too, daily! He loves the taste of bio lapis I was half tempted to put a little bit of that in it but I think may go off, and settle at the bottom x
 
Ah very tricky then! You can lead a piggy to water, right? XD

Hopefully he picks up his drinking for you! :)
 
Hi everyone, I have a little predicament, there new vetcare multimodal sticks have arrived, but I have just ran out of their nuggets! I don't no whether to buy their usual nuggets and then do it gradually like your supposed to, or if to just give them a small amount of the sticks and increase it everyday, with a little support from bio lapis to help their guts?

I really want to get them off the nuggets quick as, as they are having calcium deposit problems at the moment, so don't really want to buy more. Tomight they have 2 sticks each, and literally a few nuggets (what I could scrape at the end of the pack).

What is best?
 
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