I don't know what I am doing wrong. - Guinea Pig Cages, Care, Store, Photos of Guinea Pigs and More Forum!

**couchon** · #1 10-07-09, 11:30 am

I keep seeing small spots of white crust in the cage. I can only assume that as the pee goes through the fleece, it's the calcium that's left over. I don't know which one of the piggies is affected, but I suspect it's the one that's a year and half, because my second one is still under six months. This makes me really concerned.

I feed different types of lettuce (green leaf, romaine, oak leaf, etc.), but I don't give any of the varieties that can't be fed daily because they are high in calcium (kale, etc.). For veggies, I give peppers of different colors and zucchini. I am working on variety in that department, but, again, I don't see anything high in calcium.

I don't understand what's causing this or how to stop it. I am really concerned. Oh, I also feed Oxbow Timothy Hay and Oxbow Cavy Cuisine for both. I really hope someone has some ideas...

**princesspoppy** · #2 10-07-09, 11:45 am

Hi,i was having the same trouble with my pigs. Lucky enough ly was able to put me in the right direction by limiting fruit,parsley,kale,cabbage and coloured veg. Have you looked at the diet chart ? The odd time i fine a spot or 2 of on the fleece but it's improved so much since ly helped me out.

**couchon** · #3 10-07-09, 12:03 pm

That's the thing, I used to give them kale and fruist, etc., but I have cut that out because of the calcium. Now, it's strictly lettuce (different kinds) and veggies that can be fed daily (mostly pepper and zucchini).

**princesspoppy** · #4 10-07-09, 12:08 pm

I used to give green and red or green and yellow everyday. I now limit the colour pepper to 4 times a week. Don't know if that helped but since i limited the coloured veg for example,the white pee and almost gone. I'm sure other members will have a better solution or help further.

**JD In Van** · #5 10-07-09, 12:58 pm

I have the same problem though since I switched from an alfalfa pellet to Timothy hay pellet it's been a lot better.

Guinea pig lynx's page says that it's really only problematic if it's gritty.

Quote:

URINE
NORMAL:
Urine may be clear to cloudy in color. Calcium compounds in the urine cause this cloudiness. Normal urine is not gritty in texture. Dried urine may leave powdery white calcium compounds. Very young guinea pigs often have an orange or brown tint to their urine. Urine sometimes changes to an orange color on standing (this may be the oxidation of porphyrins in the urine

http://www.guinealynx.info/normal.html#urine

**Paula** · #6 10-07-09, 01:37 pm

Some pigs are going to have more deposits than others. The excess has to go somewhere and it's really not a big deal unless it's gritty.

All varieties of bell pepper are very low in calcium.

What type of hay and pellet are you feeding?

**couchon** · #7 10-07-09, 01:44 pm

I am feeding Oxbow Cavy Cuisine for pellet and Oxbow Timothy Hay for hay.

I have read the thread about the difference between gritty and not gritty, but it's very hard to tell, because my fleece has little fuzz rolls, etc., so I am afraid I won't really be able to tell...

**Paula** · #8 10-07-09, 01:55 pm

You might consider switching to orchard grass instead of timothy hay. It's lower in calcium.

True sludge is going to be very easy to recognize, because it's clumpy and sort of cakes to the fleece.

**couchon** · #9 10-07-09, 02:13 pm

I will make sure to buy orchard grass next time. Unfortunately, it does look like it kind of cakes to the fleece, although the spots are pretty small. I will check them again tonight.

**Paula** · #10 10-07-09, 02:22 pm

What amount of pellets are you feeding?

**couchon** · #11 10-07-09, 02:24 pm

I usually leave out around half a cup or maybe a little more, but it takes them two days or so to finish those (I check them every half a day to make sure there is no poop). They really don't eat a lot of pellets (mostly hay and veggies).

**JD In Van** · #12 10-07-09, 02:28 pm

Also are you sure it's not boar glue? The first time I saw a stain on the fleece from my boys I FREAKED out.

**couchon** · #13 10-07-09, 02:29 pm

JD, they are both girls... Belive me, I really want it to be something else!

**Aquena** · #14 10-07-09, 02:45 pm

Thank you for posting this, as the diet I feed is identical to yours. I noticed Emma had white cloudy pee today, but no sludge. Now I am not worried. Again, thanks for this post.

**Paula** · #15 10-07-09, 02:53 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by couchon

I usually leave out around half a cup or maybe a little more, but it takes them two days or so to finish those (I check them every half a day to make sure there is no poop).

You might try limiting the pellets. My vet has recommended no more than a teaspoon per day of pellets per pig for my guys with stone/sludge issues and no more than a tablespoon per day for the others. Pellets really seem to add a lot of calcium to the diet.

**couchon** · #16 10-07-09, 02:56 pm

Thanks, Paula! Are Kleenmama's pellets lower in calcium, by any chance?

If it is indeed sludge, is stones the next step? Should I be taking my pig to the vet?

**Paula** · #17 10-07-09, 03:13 pm

My personal recommendation would be to switch to KM, but that isn't based on anything other than lots of personal experience and research with stones and sludge. To me, there *seems* to be a correlation between stones and Cavy Cuisine, but that is based on absolutely no scientific evidence and purely observations of my own.

Stones sometimes follow sludge, yes, but that's not necessarily always the case. Some pigs will develop sludge but not stones while others will develop stones with no incidence of sludge. It's really just hard to say or know.

**Toadies** · #18 10-07-09, 06:58 pm

Something else to keep an eye on is oxalic acid, as it binds with calcium to form stones. If you remove all the calcium veggies from their diet, they won't have much of a variety. One of my boars had bladder surgery in March of this year (stones that were big for a human) and, with vigilance to water intake and oxalic acid, we have been able to ward off further stones.

**YayPiggies** · #19 10-07-09, 07:11 pm

Try giving your pigs a 1/4 cup for BOTH daily instead of free feeding.

**Paula** · #20 10-07-09, 08:24 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toadies

...with vigilance to water intake and oxalic acid, we have been able to ward off further stones.

Both are excellent points to consider, but I wanted to stress the importance of water intake and exercise in the prevention of stones and sludge. Anything you can try to encourage water intake is well worth it, in my opinion.

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