Question on carrots and white powdery spots.

[Kelsie]

I have a question that I hope the more experienced members can answer on nutrition. A few weeks ago I noticed white spots on my fleece. I believe they were from my piggie Baby since they were where she likes to sleep. They were not gritty just very powdery. I started to eliminate items from their diet to try and trace which one might be causing it. I started with the cilantro and still found one to two little spots then I took away the zucchini and the same results. Then I eliminated the small baby carrot I give them as a snack before bed. That was over two weeks ago and the white spots have stopped. My question is should I totally eliminate carrots from her diet or can I give her maybe a small baby carrot once or twice a month? They've been on Kleenmama's pellets and hay for two years. I also give them only green or red leaf lettuce, green peppers, cilantro, radicchio, summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and the infamous carrots. I should clarify I don't give them all of this at the same time. These are the veggies I choose for the week. Thanks so much for any advice you can give me.

[Catahoula]

You can try introducing the carrot back into their diet, but test smaller quantities. Maybe half a baby carrot before bed or a baby carrot every 2 days.

Have you also considered your water? Hard water has higher quantities of calcium in it. If you don't give filtered water, you can try and see it that helps as well.

[bpatters]

How many cups of veggies are you giving them per day?

Also, is your water hard? If so, buy a filter for your faucet or a filter pitcher and give them only water from that.

Once they've been on filtered water for a couple of weeks, you could try adding the baby carrots back in. It could be a combination of things rather than just one that's causing it, and by playing around with what they're fed, you may be able to figure out what it is.

I'd tend to think that the radicchio and cilantro would contribute more to the problem than the carrots, but some pigs just seem to be hardwired to excrete excess calcium. However, those are two that I'd try eliminating when I added back the carrot to see if they may be culprits also.

[Kelsie]

I haven't been giving them filtered water. We have a refrigerator with a filter for the water and ice cubes so I will give them that filtered water. I give each pig 1/2 cup of veggies once in the AM and once in the PM. I will eliminate the radicchio and cilantro once again when I reintroduce the carrots. They do love the cilantro and I probably do give them too much of it. Catahoula and bpatters thanks so much for your help.

[bpatters]

Mine love cilantro, too, but I had to cut way back on it. I can't imagine what there is about it that could cause calcium in the urine, but some pigs are just wired weird.