Worried!

[Kylie80]

In the last couple of months I have seen a larger increase in white pee's. No matter how much i juggle the piggies diet around every couple of days I will find their pads with several white pee's not just the couple I used to find. So far the pee's feel powdery still but they look gritty on the fleece. I have noticed though that this summer there has been a large increase in hay being eaten and therefore they are both drinking heaps of water where Coco would never drink water ever. I am wondering if the increase in water is just flushing their bladders out more (they get cucumber twice a day too as it is mega hot here) and I am just being paranoid. Their pellet consumption is 1/8 of a cup in the morning and the same at night as they share from the same bowl (their choice) but lately they are not eating their night time pellets and preferring hay instead.

 

[Wiebke]

In the last couple of months I have seen a larger increase in white pee's. No matter how much i juggle the piggies diet around every couple of days I will find their pads with several white pee's not just the couple I used to find. So far the pee's feel powdery still but they look gritty on the fleece. I have noticed though that this summer there has been a large increase in hay being eaten and therefore they are both drinking heaps of water where Coco would never drink water ever. I am wondering if the increase in water is just flushing their bladders out more (they get cucumber twice a day too as it is mega hot here) and I am just being paranoid. Their pellet consumption is 1/8 of a cup in the morning and the same at night as they share from the same bowl (their choice) but lately they are not eating their night time pellets and preferring hay instead.

How hard is your water? Perhaps you may want to to consider filtering the water and reducing the amount of pellets to 1-2 tablespoons per piggy per day anyway - that is all that adults need. It is actually much more healthy for them to eat hay instead of pellets.

The reason is most likely lying in the higher water intake as that is the factor that has changed most in the record heat you are experiencing. Most people overlook that water can contain a high amount of calcium and minerals.

 

[Kylie80]

Thanks for the advice. I have a brita filter so their water is filtered. I'm not sure what minerals it actually filters out though. I'm not sure as to how hard the water is around here. Can they drink bottled water?

 

[piggieminder]

We have very hard water here. I have kidney stone problems so have always filtered the water. We have had problems with gritty wee with one of our boars. The vet went through his diet and we tweeked it a bit but she couldn't see anything wrong (thank you forum). So I tried double filtering the water, I am seeing an improvement, still powdery wee but not gritty or sludgy. I am now double filtering my water too!
I am sure I have read somewhere that the minerals in bottled water can be as high as tap.