General Cutting the Calcium.

Is it gritty or powdery? And what are you feeding them? what veggies? What pellets?

How old are they? And how much of each thing are you feeding?

Just because the water is purified does not mean it is demineralized. How are you filtering the water (brita)? Or are you buying bottled water for them?

Pellets are a big culprit of calcium spots, any pellets that are made with limstone/calcium carbonate can cause problems. What kind/how much do you feed?

High calcium veggies should also be very limited. My pigs get no parsley, kale, spinach, collard greens, chard, dandelions. Romaine and cilantro can also cause excess urinary calcium. What veggies are you feeding?

I feed them Small World brand pellets. Every night they get green bell peppers, romaine lettuce (I will start feeding it less now), either a large carrot (whole) or carrot shreds, and cherry tomatoes. They get apple slices every now and then as well. I give them forage every other day or so. I use water that comes from the faucet thingy on my fridge. My dad's girlfriend said it was filtered. They never had this problem with faucet water before so I didn't think it would be the water since their water now is better.

and @bpatters they are about 1 yr.

Small World pellets are about the worst on the market. The main ingredient in pellets should be hay, and the main ingredient in these is wheat middlings. The main hay is alfalfa, which should never be fed to pigs over six months old. I can't find the percent of calcium in the product, but it comes from calcium carbonate, and many pigs have difficulty with that. It's also higher in the ingredient list than the calcium source in good pellets (KMS Hayloft, Oxbow), so presumably is higher in calcium.

It never pays to save money on guinea pig pellets. You'll spend far more on urinary tract problems and stones than you'll save over just buying a good pellet in the first place.

Cut the romaine completely out of the diet, and replace it with red or green leaf lettuce. Romaine is no higher in calcium than the other lettuces, but some pigs have much higher urinary calcium when they eat it than others. No one knows why, but excess urinary calcium is a major factor in stone formation, so it's not worth it when other lettuces are just as available and just as good.

They also should have no more than a small chunk of carrot per pig per day -- carrots are very high in oxalates, and those in themselves can predispose a pig to stones. Mine get one small baby carrot each per day.

What is the forage you give them?

Those pellets are junk, I would strongly suggest to throw them away. The first ingredient is wheat and the second is alfalfa which pigs over 6 months shouldn't have. Cut those pellets out and see how they do from there.

I also suggest switching out romaine for red or green leaf lettuce. Although the actual amount of calcium is very similar some pigs excrete tons of calcium on romaine.

When you say forages what do you mean? Herbs and things? You have to really limit that stuff as it's probably very high in calcium.

Chances are your fridge filter doesn't filter out the calcium, if after some diet changes you're still seeing lots of white spots I would try some demineralized by reverse osmosis water from the grocery store.

I didn't know they were that horrible. I will talk to my dad and see if we can get a new brand of pellets like oxbow. And @bpatters I feed them the brand Sunthing Special guinea pig forage. I will get new lettuces this weekend at the farmers market. I will also see if I can get a good filter for the water. Thanks guys for all this advice! I doubt my dad will care about throwing the pellets away since he didn't pay for them, a friend of his did. I will definitely will try these changes.

The Sunthing stuff is also alfalfa based, as far as I can tell. If so, you're WAY overloading them on high calcium stuff. If I were you, I'd take them to a vet for a urinalysis and see if they're already having issues with urinary tract stones.

If you're in the US look into ordering pellets from KMS. It may be more expensive but in the long run it’s much cheaper than dealing with stones. If your pigs are going to have ongoing calcium issues no pellets you can buy in store are going to be good for your pigs, even Oxbow. Although there is no guarantee that your pigs won't get stones on KMS there are lots of people's pigs who do much better after switching. If your parents won't consider KMS and you have access to a variety of fresh veggies consider going pelletless.

Also I'm not aware of any inexpensive commercial filter that takes care of calcium. Your best bet is to buy already filtered jugs of water from the grocery store. You want water demineralized by reverse osmosis.

I don't give them the hay stuff or the hay pellet things. I give them the red bell peppers, green bell peppers, and other extra stuff, but ok. Would around August work for a vets appointment? That's the soonest I can get them to an exotic vet.

How would a pelletless diet work? I have always had some white stains in the cage (it just started happening more). Do you think they have problems with calcium and pellets?

sallyvh said:

If you're in the US look into ordering pellets from KMS. It may be more expensive but in the long run it’s much cheaper than dealing with stones. If your pigs are going to have ongoing calcium issues no pellets you can buy in store are going to be good for your pigs, even Oxbow. Although there is no guarantee that your pigs won't get stones on KMS there are lots of people's pigs who do much better after switching. If your parents won't consider KMS and you have access to a variety of fresh veggies consider going pelletless.

Also I'm not aware of any inexpensive commercial filter that takes care of calcium. Your best bet is to buy already filtered jugs of water from the grocery store. You want water demineralized by reverse osmosis.

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Where would I check on the bottle/jug to check for reverse osmosis? I'm really confused about all of this?

If they are leaving lots of white spots then they are having calcium issues. It wouldn't just be the pellets, it would be a combination of all the high calcium items you've been feeding.

If you are going to go pelletless you need to feed a large variety of vegetables so they get all of their required vitamins and minerals. If you can't commit to always having a variety then you need to supplement with pellets.

I feed Mazuri, at the feed store where I get my wood pellets and mini flakes, they sell a 25lb bag for $16.99. It use to be alfalfa based but no longer, its not top, its not low, it even has added probiotics too. I would lower the calcium if you can, last year I had a piggie die of bladder stones.

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cavycrazy1107 said:

Where would I check on the bottle/jug to check for reverse osmosis? I'm really confused about all of this?

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Go to the water aisle in your grocery store. There will be jugs of water probably in 1 or 2 gallons. You're looking for a jug that says demineralized and in the fine print it should mention something about it being processed by reverse osmosis. You have to go and read the jugs though to find the right things. You don't want just plain bottled spring water or distilled water.

If you can get a good pellet and feed low calcium food, you should be fine with your filtered water. Only if it doesn't clear up, would I go bottled water. You can make sure you are only feeding 1/8 cup of pellets too per pig. I was read Herd development over at Guinea Lynx and Pinta mentioned she has a bottle of watered down cranberry juice to cut down on UTI and many kidney stone survivors swear by lemon water or apple cider vinegar in water. Make a weak solution in a bottle and the lemon water has Vitamin C too.

Thank you guys so much! @lunarminx what feed store do you go to? I used mazuri before and when I went to the pet store one day, it was no longer there. @sallvh Thanks I will definitely do that. Would I have to feed the veggies in the morning too if I did go pelletless? What types of veggies would need to be an every day thing? Any help would be amazing. At this point, I'm driving blind. Thanks for all the help.

Bowman's, its here in Westminster, Maryland.

See if this helps.
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