Slight diarrhea, not acting 100% himself
Oh okay, and today he has been more sleepy than usual. We did just introduce him to Morty so that might have made him exhausted. He's also chattered his teeth at me a couple of times in the past couple of days, but Im thinking he's annoyed with me hovering over him. I'm just not sure how to read him sometimes, and especially since the loss of George I've been watching over him so much.
Lynx, I've thought that too, but he never chattered at me before his cage mate died. It was only after when I was spending alot of time with him, so that's why I think it's likely just him telling me to stop being a helicopter. But we did switch our pellets over to Oxbow the week before his cage mate's death. Is it at all possible for the Oxbow to have that much of an effect on him? Especially stones in such a short amount of time?
- Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
It seems to me people in the past complained about the form of the added calcium in the Oxbow pellets. I do not know if they have changed their formulation.
It used to be the calcium in KMS Hayloft pellets was a better form. What kind of pellets were you giving before you started the Oxbow? I take it you are giving timothy pellets and not alfalfa pellets?
It used to be the calcium in KMS Hayloft pellets was a better form. What kind of pellets were you giving before you started the Oxbow? I take it you are giving timothy pellets and not alfalfa pellets?
- Sef
- I dissent.
It was calcium carbonate. I contacted Oxbow many years ago to inquire about that particular ingredient and a possible connection to calcium carbonate stone formation in guinea pigs, but they became very defensive about it and stopped responding to my emails. To this day I'm not a big Oxbow fan.
Lynx- Yes, he was given Timothy hay pellets, however they weren't the ones I would have bought for him. They were a cheaper kind of pellets with colorful additives to them, and my dad thought those were okay to give him. He was doing pretty good on those, but I wanted to switch him over to a different pellet gradually, thus the Oxbow.
And I appreciate all of the replies, I had a feeling the Oxbow pellets could have been the culprit. I've now switched him over to a brand that I saw to be closest to the calcium/phosphorus ratio for what people have seen to reduce stone formation. It's a brand I gave to my other piggies in the past and never had an issue with it, so I'm going to keep an eye on him from this point on. He's finishing up his antibiotics tomorrow and I want to get another urinalysis possibly to see if the UTI was cleared up.
And I appreciate all of the replies, I had a feeling the Oxbow pellets could have been the culprit. I've now switched him over to a brand that I saw to be closest to the calcium/phosphorus ratio for what people have seen to reduce stone formation. It's a brand I gave to my other piggies in the past and never had an issue with it, so I'm going to keep an eye on him from this point on. He's finishing up his antibiotics tomorrow and I want to get another urinalysis possibly to see if the UTI was cleared up.
Oh okay, I'm still skeptical of it due to the fact that I never noticed calcium deposits in his urine until I made the switch to Oxbow, so I'll continue on with the new brand I found.
It's Kaytee, but it doesn't have any additives like seeds or colorful stuff in it, just Timothy pellets. George and Fred both had it for their whole lives and never developed calcium deposits, but I know every pig is different. So I just want to give this one a try to see if he has less white in his wees, since it hasn't failed me yet.