Fasting for 12 hours before surgery?
Oh boy. I'd looks at 1 website thought listed many different types of herbs and if they were high, low or moderate in calcium levels. After your latest comment I looked at another website which said practically all of those herbs were full of calcium. I think I'll just stay with red and green lettuce and my peppers
- Sef
- I dissent.
You might check this out, if you haven't already:
https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/chart.html
- Sef
- I dissent.
For what it's worth, this is the "low calcium" plan I came up with a few years ago when we were having a series of bladder stones and bladder issues:
I no longer feed romaine or iceberg. The iceberg was added because of the high water content in an effort to help prevent sludge, but it has zero nutritional value. I also no longer feed any fruit.
I no longer feed romaine or iceberg. The iceberg was added because of the high water content in an effort to help prevent sludge, but it has zero nutritional value. I also no longer feed any fruit.
Y'all!!! Finn had his surgery scheduled for today, so my husband and I dropped him at the vet this morning. I won't go into all the emotions that doing that brought on. Anyways, they said they had to cystotomy is to do including his and the very latest we would hear anything from them would be 5 p.m. as they don't do the surgery straight away. I got to work at 10 a.m. and by 11 my husband, who had the day off, called me and said that they had sedated him and done an x-ray. They found that he had PASSED THE STONE!!! Our original vet, who is records we had transferred to the surgeon, had told us that the stone was 5 mm large. The surgeon's office today told us that that was inaccurate and she doesn't know how they came up on that measurement. Like I told you all earlier, my husband and I had a very strong feeling that he passed it since there is no more pain when he goes to the bathroom, but I'm doing research and talking to so many doctors we thought it was unreasonable to think that he could have passed it, but we are so grateful to have our piggy back to us tonight unscathed! Thank you to everyone for all of your help, insight, patience, and support. It truly means more than you know. I'm so happy to have this thread now to look back on if this issue comes up again, sincerely hoping it never comes up again!
- Sef
- I dissent.
Excellent! Absolutely excellent. I'd be curious to know what the actual size of the stone was, that he passed. It would be useful as a reference.
Stones do tend to recur, unfortunately, so this would be a good time to re-evaluate his diet in order to work towards prevention. What pellets have you been feeding and in what daily amount? KMS Hayloft is a very good brand with lower calcium than any other commercial pellet on the US market.
I posted a sample "diet" of lower calcium veggies that I have fed my guys in the hopes of preventing stones (sadly, I've dealt with 6 or 7 stone pigs over the years). There are many other factors besides what they eat, however, but mitigating the risk by lowering overall calcium in the diet can be a good start. Have you ever had your water supply tested for hardness?
Fingers crossed that he stays stone-free!
Stones do tend to recur, unfortunately, so this would be a good time to re-evaluate his diet in order to work towards prevention. What pellets have you been feeding and in what daily amount? KMS Hayloft is a very good brand with lower calcium than any other commercial pellet on the US market.
I posted a sample "diet" of lower calcium veggies that I have fed my guys in the hopes of preventing stones (sadly, I've dealt with 6 or 7 stone pigs over the years). There are many other factors besides what they eat, however, but mitigating the risk by lowering overall calcium in the diet can be a good start. Have you ever had your water supply tested for hardness?
Fingers crossed that he stays stone-free!
Thanks so much for the chart! I switched to KMS pellets last week when I saw someone suggested then and I do ⅛ of a cup a day, he loves them. My husband picked him up and says they didn't say how large it was. Maybe I can get in touch with them and ask. Sef, did you put your pigs on meds to prevent stones? They suggested it but I'm wary about having him on them for years and would rather control diet.
- Sef
- I dissent.
If you can find out the stone size, I think it would be useful. While it obviously does happen on occasion, a male guinea pig passing a stone (particularly a larger one) is not all that common.
I have not used a urine acidifer with any of ours. There is no clear evidence to support that the highly alkaline urine of a guinea pig can be made acidic enough to prevent calcium carbonate stones. Even if the urine can be made reliably, consistently acidic, you potentially run into the opposite issue of forming struvite or calcium oxalate stones which tend to form in a more acidic environment.
What other medication/supplement were they suggesting?
I have not used a urine acidifer with any of ours. There is no clear evidence to support that the highly alkaline urine of a guinea pig can be made acidic enough to prevent calcium carbonate stones. Even if the urine can be made reliably, consistently acidic, you potentially run into the opposite issue of forming struvite or calcium oxalate stones which tend to form in a more acidic environment.
What other medication/supplement were they suggesting?