Nutrition Is romaine too high in calcium?

I feed a lot of romaine too. It stays fresher for longer than green and red leaf lettuces. I can also buy organic romaine. I don't think the charts are out of date. My girls seem to get stinky from the peppers. I feel like they might upset their tummy more. If you read the charts It goes by portion size. So if you are worried about the calcium then check your portion size. Probably not as much to worry about if you have girls though.

Ya know, I just looked at this sites veggie chart and it has the calcium for romaine as equal to red leaf and lower than the green leaf.

100 gram portion (3.6 oz.)

Romain has 33 mg calcium
Green leaf has 36 mg calcium
Red leaf has 33 mg calcium

You could also just monitor their urine, checking for white deposits. It's pretty easy if you use fleece bedding. I feed romaine on some days and green or red leaf on others. I figured, much like us, guinea pigs can benefit from variety.

Well the cavy chart says that 100g contains 33mg calcium, and the recommended portion is 100g. I don't particularly weigh their food, I feed in cups if that makes sense? They get a half a cup in the morning, and the same in the evening. It's never ALL romaine though, like I said it's got other veggies in with it. I highly doubt I'm even feeding 100g, so it won't be the full 33mg that they get.

Is calcium less of an issue in girls? I've never heard that before. The last time I saw urine it wasn't white either, just cloudy. I'll go check their playpen for any dried stuff now to check if it's gritty just in case.

@AhhRex, I like to give a variety too. I tend to feed romaine more regularly than the other two I mentioned, primarily because romaine lasts longer, like @Traysea says. Plus romaine is bigger, meaning more for my money. Little gem is exactly what it says on the tin - little!

I do use fleece beding, but the fleece they currently have on is cream, so I wouldn't be able to see any deposits haha. I think I saw one when they had their purple fleece, if they have calcium deposits what's the best course of action?

Maybe get an idea of how much you are feeding (weigh it out to 3.6 oz) and see how much you are actually feeding. Or check the package and see how much is in the bag and divide it up into portions so you get an idea of how much it is. Another thing you can do is look up the nutritional content of the lettuces you have access to.

I was feeding a lot of pepper until I noticed the smell and that they seem to lay around more after eating the pepper. Since pepper hurts my stomach too I am figuring it bothers them. Peppers and tomatoes both give me reflux. Now I offer almost daily romaine and or red/green leaf lettuce, and then small bits of other choices like carrot, cucumber, parsley and smaller amounts of pepper. I go to the store once a week and buy what looks freshest. Usually I will get one head of red or green and one bag of organic romaine which has 3 smaller hearts in it. I feed one heart a day to my 3 pigs or 1/2 a heart and several leaves of the other types. I don't measure anything either.

Usually in most species (like cats and dogs) bladder stones are more serious in males because a female has an easier time passing them because their urethra is bigger and shorter. The stones having to go thru the penis is what makes it more life threatening to boys.

Ahhh, handy to know, never heard that before! You're just a gold mine of information sometimes @Traysea. Especially with fleece hehe but yeah, like I said, best course of action for deposits/gritty if I find any?

Just had a check in the cage, their was a spot of dark urine under the fleece that felt a little rough and powdery. It may have been there a while though, because while the cage is cleaned out daily, and fleece changed every three days, they regularly find a way to pee under it so as I don't find it.

If you find deposits, I would think that you could just change their diet. It means that they're excreting too much extra calcium.. So give them less calcium? Guinea lynx has this to say:

Pellets
Use a lower calcium timothy pellet and consider limiting or using no pellets at all. Some timothy guinea pig pellets have added calcium. Some owners report better management of bladder sludge by feeding (broken link removed) pellets, which are lower in calcium and sodium than most commercial brands. If you severely limit or remove pellets, extra care must be paid diet by offering a wide variety of appropriate vegetables (with a few fruits) for their added vitamin and mineral content. https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html

Interesting. I feed Kleenmama pellets so maybe that is why I can feed so much romaine? I think that all animals utilize their nutrients differently and whatever other foods you are feeding will contribute to excess calcium secretions.

AhhRex said:

If you find deposits, I would think that you could just change their diet. It means that they're excreting too much extra calcium.. So give them less calcium? Guinea lynx has this to say:

Pellets
Use a lower calcium timothy pellet and consider limiting or using no pellets at all. Some timothy guinea pig pellets have added calcium. Some owners report better management of bladder sludge by feeding (broken link removed) pellets, which are lower in calcium and sodium than most commercial brands. If you severely limit or remove pellets, extra care must be paid diet by offering a wide variety of appropriate vegetables (with a few fruits) for their added vitamin and mineral content. https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html

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Measure out your food first and see how much you are feeding and check your pellets to see if they add calcium to their feed. You can do a process of elimination to see what the problem is with the veggies. It might just be times you offer parsley instead of cucumber etc. And look how much is in dandelion leaves. 187 mgs! That's like 6x as much calcium per serving as lettuce. And look at kale, 135 mg, that is 5x as much.

Princess_Piggie said:

Ahhh, handy to know, never heard that before! You're just a gold mine of information sometimes @Traysea . Especially with fleece hehe but yeah, like I said, best course of action for deposits/gritty if I find any?

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I think it also depends on the pig. Mine can't have romaine, every time I give it to her, her urine is really white and when I give her a different kind of lettuce, it's normal. I guess some can absorb/digest it better than others? If their urine looks normal I think you're fine to continue giving them romaine. I was also thinking maybe there is something else in romaine that might cause white urine? I have no idea what but it just seems odd that when I give her green/red leaf lettuce, which is just about the same mg in calcium as romaine, her urine is fine.

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record, but romaine is NO HIGHER IN CALCIUM THAN ANY OTHER LETTUCE. But some pigs, for whatever reason, will secrete excess calcium in their urine when fed romaine. Whether it's something in or not in romaine, or in or not in some pigs, we don't know. But there are plenty of us who have seen a huge increase in powdery/sludgy calcium spots when feeding romaine, and those either decrease greatly in number of disappear when the pig is no longer fed romaine.

It's also not proved that this calcium secretion is detrimental to the pig. But one of the known factors in urinary stone formation is excess calcium in the urine. It only makes sense to me to avoid giving them something that makes them excrete excess urinary calcium.

Red and green leaf lettuces are perfectly acceptable substitutes for romaine, and will last as long as romaine if stored carefully.

@bpatters, thank you for clarifying! Just read that little gem is actually a type of cos lettuce. This exerpt from the royal horticultural society - ‘Little Gem’ is a cos lettuce suitable for smaller spaces or containers. It adds a sweet flavour and crisp texture to any salad. -

With this in mind, has anyone had similar calcium issues feeding cos as a romaine replacement? Little gem is the only other lettuce I can get my hands on.

Princess_Piggie said:

Well the cavy chart says that 100g contains 33mg calcium, and the recommended portion is 100g. I don't particularly weigh their food, I feed in cups if that makes sense? They get a half a cup in the morning, and the same in the evening. It's never ALL romaine though, like I said it's got other veggies in with it. I highly doubt I'm even feeding 100g, so it won't be the full 33mg that they get.

Is calcium less of an issue in girls? I've never heard that before. The last time I saw urine it wasn't white either, just cloudy. I'll go check their playpen for any dried stuff now to check if it's gritty just in case.

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I don't weigh the veggies either (nor do I have a means too). I haven't the slightest idea how much 100 g is. I wish the charts were in proportions. For instance, my rabbits get 2-4 cups of greens daily.

Does anyone have a ballpark estimate of the portion size of one serving of romaine that is on the charts?

@Gandalf, kitchen scales are available for about $10.

Maybe it would help if there was some sort of mention of that on the food and veggie chart. I'm sure as a moderator your going to be repeating this a few more times though. But don't you think it should be mentioned on the chart to make people aware there is a risk some pigs don't handle romaine as well as others?

How do you store your red and green leaf lettuce. When I buy it it is already not as crisp as other lettuces and only lasts 1-2 days before wilting/rotting. Romaine stays crisp for 3-5 days. I store them both the same way, in the fridge in the crisper draw.

bpatters said:

I'm beginning to feel like a broken record, but romaine is NO HIGHER IN CALCIUM THAN ANY OTHER LETTUCE. But some pigs, for whatever reason, will secrete excess calcium in their urine when fed romaine. Whether it's something in or not in romaine, or in or not in some pigs, we don't know. But there are plenty of us who have seen a huge increase in powdery/sludgy calcium spots when feeding romaine, and those either decrease greatly in number of disappear when the pig is no longer fed romaine.

It's also not proved that this calcium secretion is detrimental to the pig. But one of the known factors in urinary stone formation is excess calcium in the urine. It only makes sense to me to avoid giving them something that makes them excrete excess urinary calcium.

Red and green leaf lettuces are perfectly acceptable substitutes for romaine, and will last as long as romaine if stored carefully.

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That's a good idea, @Traysea. I'll look into doing that.

I store all lettuces the same -- separate the leaves, wash them, drain dry, roll in a long paper towel, and put in a plastic bag. They all last a week that way.

Wow that is commitment to lettuce. I used to prewash them but they didn't seem to last that long. I also tried putting them in a shallow bowl with a tiny bit of water to hydrate that bottom part. That worked well to keep romaine fresh on the counter but didn't work well for the other ones.

I store mine in plastic too, in the crisper drawer. Stay's fresh for at least 4 days, 5 if it's a certain brand of lettuce that's pretty dang expensive.