General Cutting the Calcium.

Thanks a ton @lunarminx

I don't do a purely pelletless diet but my girl who had a bladder stone and her sister are on a very limited pellet diet. They each get 6-8 KMS pellets a day, I just feed them to them like a treat and they love it.

The key is a variety so they get all their ncessary vitamins and minerals. Leaf lettuce, peppers for vitamin C, tomato, cucumber or zucchini, radicchio, belgian endive and escarole are all good options.

Your pigs are young so they may not need it but a small vitamin C and multi vitamin supplement wouldn't hurt. I use the oasis multi vitamin drops. I don't put them in their water though, I either dilute a couple drops with a bit of water and syringe it to them or I soak a pellet in a couple drops and feed it to them. They get this 3 times a week.

@lunarminx, I just lost a pig to calcium problems, and thought I had another one with them. I've just done hours and hours of googling looking at scientific papers and research on calcium, and the experts are absolutely convinced that anything that tries to acidify the urine (cranberries, lemon juice, vinegar, etc.) will NOT work with herbivores. You just can't get enough into them to be able to tip the urine over into an acidic state.

The other thing they're in agreement on is that not enough is known about calcium metabolism in guinea pigs to be able to say definitively what will work. There's a strong genetic component to calcium metabolism and stone formation in guinea pigs, and even low calcium diets will not be able to prevent it in pigs that are disposed to form them.

I will talk to my local exotics doctor and see what would be best. Thank you, everyone for helping me with this. If there's anything I can do to help my guinea pigs, I'm all for it.

@cavycrazy1107 see this link for how often you can feed your pigs each vegetable: https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List
I personally wouldn't go pelletless just because I don't think I would be able to give them as much of a balanced diet with vegetables. I can see myself not giving them enough variety so a mixture of pellets and veggies is best for me. KMS pellets are seriously great. If you calculate it out, they are even less pricey than Oxbow even with the high shipping charges. My pigs get so excited for their pellets every day. One of them will even choose to eat pellets instead of her vegetables if given the choice Just make sure to buy the timothy hay pellets and not the alfalfa since your pigs are older than 6 months. I also buy hay from KMS and that's fantastic as well. Here's the link to their site if you want to look into it: (broken link removed)

sallyvh said:

Romaine and cilantro can also cause excess urinary calcium.

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I had heard about romaine, but cilantro too? My pigs will be so disappointed if this is true. Cilantro is their favorite!

@LifeAsItMayBe, you can test to see whether romaine and/or cilantro bother your pigs. Give them the exact same things to eat for 4-5 days, so that no other vegetable is interfering with your experiment. Let one of the veggies be romaine. Count the number of dried white spots you find in the cage, and not how much powder/grit is being left.

Then stop the romaine and replace with red or green leaf lettuce for 4-5 days, and count again. If there are significantly more and larger spots in the cage with romaine, then stop feeding it. If not, don't worry about it.

Then do the same thing with cilantro. If your pigs aren't bothered, you're one of the lucky ones.

I don't bother with romaine since green leaf is just as available and just as well enjoyed. They push and shove to get cilantro though, and it's so super cheap to buy. Changing to bottled water has caused significantly smaller calcium spots from Rose (she's the worst with this calcium stuff) but I guess now I'll have to check out this cilantro thing...

I am definitely going to have to start buying KMS. My dad and I will work something out so I can start investing more money into these piggies. My parents are divorced and I got my furbabies with my mom, so I have to get my dad used to paying a decent amount of money for these piggies. Does anyone know how a teen like me could make money? My dad doesn't believe in chores for money or an allowance. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated by both me and the piggies.

And anyone who has bought KMS 10 TC BKT, do the bucket and 10 lb. thing of pellet come together or do I have to order something somewhere else?

The way I pay for my pigs is I started an Etsy shop and sell cuddle cups and cage liners and that sort of thing. Pretty much all of the money I make goes back to the guinea pigs or paying off my student loans if there's any extra. I only recommend that route if you are interested in learning photography, business skills, and dealing with shipping. It's harder than it looks.
You could do chores for family and friends such as lawnmowing or washing their cars. Depending on your age, you could also babysit or petsit. I got a part time job at Walmart when I was 16 and made some extra money.

If you order the one that says BKT, it comes with pellets AND the bucket. Then next time you can just order the 10 lb pellet refill.

Thanks @allisonj30 ! I tried to start selling cozies, but I don't have the time or patience with my sewing machine. It is broken and I have to wait until my birthday to get a new one. As for babysitting and petsitting I would love to and will talk to my dad about it. My dad's girlfriend also owns her own salon and I might be able to find some work there like cleaning up and dealing with clients kids.

And how long does the 10 LB. bucket of pellets last usually. I need an estimated time so I know when I would to order refills and I need to let my dad know.

Ok so I think I did my math right. If I remember correctly, you have two pigs. If you feed them a total of 1/4 cup of pellets per day (and I measured 1/4 cup to be 1.25 ounces) and there is 160 ounces in 10 lbs, it will last you 128 days. That's a little over 4 months.

Will it keep for almost a year? Me and the piggies will only be with him in the summer. I then go to my mom's for the school year, and I don't think I can travel with a huge bucket of pellets. @allisonj30

Pellets are good for a year if they're kept in dry, cool conditions.

How are you traveling? If you've got to take the guinea pigs, why can't the pellets go?

I travel by car and last time with our bags and the piggies we barely had room for ourselves in the car. I will try if possible. @bpatters

cavycrazy1107 said:

And how long does the 10 LB. bucket of pellets last usually. I need an estimated time so I know when I would to order refills and I need to let my dad know.

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I've had a 10lb bucket since May 19th and today, June 25th, I am officially half-way through the bag. Granted, my pigs are still young so their pellets have been more or less unlimited. (well, more like 1/2 cup)

Edit: Okay, I just hand-measured my remaining 5lbs of pellets and if you feed 1/8 cup a day per pig (which is 1/4 cup in total for me, as I have 2 boars), 10lbs of pellets should last you roughly 3 1/2 months for 2 pigs.

I don't think you'll have any problems getting 10 pounds of pellets in the car.