[Stones] HEALTH: Diet for the stone prone?

[admin at guineapigs.org]

Hi Elizabeth,

Are the pellets you use timothy or alfalfa-based? What about fresh  
fruits and veggies?

I had a sludge piggie that the vet recommended we cut down drastically  
on the pellets. We would give her about 1 teaspoon of timothy pellets  
a day, all the timothy hay she wanted, and fruits and veggies. We  
selected veggies based on calcium content and calcium/phosphorus ratio  
(there's a nutrition chart available for download that shows calcium,  
phosphorus, oxalic acid, vitamin C and some other useful info). We  
were able to find a combination that kept sludge to a minimum.  
Luckily, she did not form stones.

Other piggies we've had with bladder stones did not fare as well, and  
surgery was required. In all cases the stones returned, as we weren't  
able to find the "magic combination" of diet, water, and supplements  
(herbs or medications) to keep them from re-forming.

It's generally agreed that getting a piggie to drink more water, as  
well as regular exercise, may help keep stones in remission. Some  
people use a small vibrator held on the piggie's lower abdomen to try  
and help calcium sediment stay suspended in the urine and not settle  
in the bladder where it can eventually form a stone.

Other piggies develop stones in the kidneys; sometimes they will  
migrate down the ureter to the bladder, where they collect more  
crystals and get larger.

On the negative side, no one management method works for every piggie.  
On a more positive side, some people on this list have found something  
that works to keep the stones away. Also, a female piggie has a better  
chance of being able to pass stones, as their "plumbing" is a great  
deal less complicated.

I hope Buckley feels beter soon; hopefully something will work for her.

Tex