Diet A little help plz

[rubypig]

Hi all, I was going really well with my 4 babies diets and then it started to all go wrong when they stopped selling certain things where I live! I can only get ahold of the following vegetables so was wondering if anyone could help me make up a good menu from these things?! Thanks

parsley
Romaine
cilantro
Tomatoes
cucumber
Swiss chard
Carrot

 

[Kim37040]

The leafy greens are very important.
I would avoid the romaine as a regular staple because of the calcium content. I am the same way with the cilantro.

Do you have access to green leaf or red leaf lettuce?

Mind sharing where you are located?

Edited by bpatters: The problem with romaine is NOT too much calcium in the lettuce. It's actually got about the same amount as other lettuces. But there's something different about the lettuce and/or the pigs that makes some pigs excrete gritty calcium in their urine when they eat romaine.

 

[RodentsRus]

The leafy greens are very important.
I would avoid the romaine as a regular staple because of the calcium content. I am the same way with the cilantro.

UGh I didn't know that. I give my piggies Romaine all the time. My last piggie Mandy had blatter stones 3 times. I hipe that wasn't the cauce. R.I.P. Mandy.

 

[Kim37040]

UGh I didn't know that. I give my piggies Romaine all the time. My last piggie Mandy had blatter stones 3 times. I hipe that wasn't the cauce. R.I.P. Mandy.

From what I have read in the forums it is not higher in calcium than other leafy greens, but when pigs present with "sludgy" urine it has been one of the things suggested to reduce in diet.
I found that when I took romaine out of their diet and cut back on their beloved cilantro, 2 of my pigs urine lost that gritty feel upon drying.

 

[rubypig]

Hi all and thanks for your replies, I'm in Cyprus, I can get a hold of some other things sometimes but they are not always available, some things are also going and I wouldn't eat them myself so won't ggive them to my piggies, i
of coarse add other things when available but these are the main veggies I can get all the time. Leafy reds and greens are hard to come by, they are usually going bad when I find them, romaine and ice berg, sometimes butter lettuce are the usual. How should I arrange the above into a weeks menu? I'll add the extras as
i find them. They get fresh hay and pellet too. They have perfect poop and urine, I check
thw fleece for anything like that. Thanks

 

[bpatters]

[MENTION=21084]rubypig[/MENTION], can you list all the greens you have readily available and we'll try to help sort them out? Your pig may do fine with romaine. Some do, some don't. Butter lettuce is fine. Iceberg is not -- has almost no nutritional value. Some kinds of endive are good.

 

[NormaS]

You can always grow your own green and red leaf lettuce from seeds.

 

[Aleks]

You can always grow your own green and red leaf lettuce from seeds.

Someone made a thread a little bit back about how you can grow your own lettuce without seeds. I haven't tried it yet, but have been planning on trying it for a while now.
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85721#post749283

 

[rubypig]

That's a really good idea to grow my own but I'd have to waif for them so til then need to work with what I have :-/ I never have and never will feed them ice berg I know it's no good for them. Greens wise I can find celery sometimes, romaine all the time and generally Swiss chard is around, I can find rocket sometimes and spinach but I don't know if they can eat that? I have a 3 month old baby and I love my piggies so much so I'm trying to make a menu that's easy for me to handle too. Can someone help me out on arranging these baring in mind I want the best for my piggies and also make the menu as simple as possible, what things are good daily staples? I have 4 piggies so its alot of preparation but I'd do anything for them I love them so much. Thanks so much

 

[rubypig]

Sirry forgot to include the greens I previously wrote in my first post!

 

[Aleks]

That's a really good idea to grow my own but I'd have to waif for them so til then need to work with what I have :-/ I never have and never will feed them ice berg I know it's no good for them. Greens wise I can find celery sometimes, romaine all the time and generally Swiss chard is around, I can find rocket sometimes and spinach but I don't know if they can eat that? I have a 3 month old baby and I love my piggies so much so I'm trying to make a menu that's easy for me to handle too. Can someone help me out on arranging these baring in mind I want the best for my piggies and also make the menu as simple as possible, what things are good daily staples? I have 4 piggies so its alot of preparation but I'd do anything for them I love them so much. Thanks so much

Celery should be fed 2-4 times a week. Remember to de-string it before you feed it, though. Here's an easy way to de-string celery: http://www.howtohaveitall.net/how-to-de-string-celery/
Spinach can be fed 1-2 times a week. It's high in Vit A and oxalic acid, and kind of high in Calcium as well.

Edit: Nevermind, Swiss chard can't be fed daily. It should be fed once or twice a week.

If your piggies aren't having any calcium deposits when feeding Romaine then you can continue feeding that.

A good staple to have in their diet is green bell pepper.
If you haven't given this a look yet, then here's a great nutritional chart that will help you pick what veggies to feed your piggies: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22156

 

[bpatters]

Rocket is way too high in calcium to be fed as a diet staple. It can be used to supplement calcium in young pig and pregnant/nursing sows, but shouldn't be fed in very large quantities at all.

Swiss chard is higher than most lettuces, but not nearly as bad as rocket.

You really need a lettuce as their main leafy green food. Any of them except iceberg are fine, but some pigs have problems excreting calcium if they're fed romaine. If your pig leaves dried white urine spots, you should switch off romaine. Ideally, red and green leaf lettuces are good diet staples.

Parsley should only be fed occasionally, except if it's being used to supplement calcium in young pig. Cilantro is like romaine in that it can cause calcium excretion in some pigs.

A small chunk of carrot per day is ok, and about the same amount of tomato. Cucumber can cause gas in some pigs, so if you feed it, start off with a small amount and work up. Then feed about the same amount every day. If you notice your pigs having excess gas or soft poop then cut back on it.

They also need bell peppers daily -- it's about the best source of vitamin C you can get for them. Like humans, they can't make vitamin C on their own, so it has to be fed to them. Bell peppers are also called capsicum, and I can't imagine that you can't get them where you are.

Take a look at the chart here and you'll get an idea of what you can feed them: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22156.

 

[NormaS]

Ok, I triple check the chart and maybe [MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION] can double check my suggestions:

You can feed daily: 25 gm of cilantro, 1 baby carrot, 1-2 cherry tomatoes.
You can feed 2-4 times per week: 25 gm of parsley, a slice of a red tomato, slice of cucumber.
Since you only have romaine as a lettuce: I would start feeding eat and check the urine for calcium deposits. There are some pigs that have no effect whatsoever from romaine and you may luck out with yours. But if you notice calcium residue in the urine (usually a white, chalky residue) you will hace to decrease the romaine.
Swiss chard is very high in calcium so I would have care feeding it more than 2-3 times per week.

I think I covered all the vegetables you mentioned. What about peppers? Can you find some green peppers? They are very high in Vitamin C and can be fed daily.

Believe me, lettuce is relatively easy to grow from seeds and peppers as well. As soon as i find a new house to move into I'm starting my own vegetable garden for the piggies and for myself. I will be using heirloom seeds to avoid GMO's.

 

[NormaS]

[MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION] types faster than me

 

[rubypig]

Ok, I triple check the chart and maybe @bpatters can double check my suggestions:

You can feed daily: 25 gm of cilantro, 1 baby carrot, 1-2 cherry tomatoes.
You can feed 2-4 times per week: 25 gm of parsley, a slice of a red tomato, slice of cucumber.
Since you only have romaine as a lettuce: I would start feeding eat and check the urine for calcium deposits. There are some pigs that have no effect whatsoever from romaine and you may luck out with yours. But if you notice calcium residue in the urine (usually a white, chalky residue) you will hace to decrease the romaine.
Swiss chard is very high in calcium so I would have care feeding it more than 2-3 times per week.

I think I covered all the vegetables you mentioned. What about peppers? Can you find some green peppers? They are very high in Vitamin C and can be fed daily.

Believe me, lettuce is relatively easy to grow from seeds and peppers as well. As soon as i find a new house to move into I'm starting my own vegetable garden for the piggies and for myself. I will be using heirloom seeds to avoid GMO's.

Aha now that's VERY helpful! I checked the charts extensively when I first got my piggies and have based everything on then, the peppers are half going bad when I find them is the problem so it's hit and miss, the things I listed are the things I find continuously is why I just listed those, I used to give them many things very often but then went to the store only to find the latest shipment was old or they never had a shipment so it's difficult in that respect as I refuse to feed them anything I would eat myself, I've never tried rocket and won't be. They have no white residue in they're urine as the fleece is all dark colored so I know and they're poops are perfectly shaped, no gas to report and they live all the foods mentioned in my posts as I have been feeding them those for the past year with no probs. my problem would be knowing how often to feed each and balancing what's best for them with what's easy for me with being so run off my feet! Can cucumber and carrot be alternated every other day? Romaine and cilantro daily? Parsley every other day?