Osteodystrophy and Satins

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:54 pm


The reptile lamp has worked very well for Heddwyn. I relied on that alone to take care of the Vitamin D aspect.

But note, this is an expensive light - $50 for the bulb. Still cheaper than dealing with a sick pig :-p I don't think the cheaper bulbs had the same ratings, which is why I went with this one.

I need to rexray Heddwyn and see what his bones look like now. I'm hesitant to remove all calcium. Becky, do you remember Dr. N's suggestion as to the amount of calcium? Is there a maintenance dose?

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Piggster

Post   » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:53 am


Cavyhouse - I'll contact you through the mailer tonight about getting in touch with his owner in Oakland. I'm starting a new job today so I'll be in touch after 6pm tonight. leebee from Cavy Spirit told me about Palo Alto performing neuters - that is great since SFACC isn't currently doing them.

Hopefully they do neuters on Saturdays so I can coordinate to get him neutered on the weekend. I spoke to my friend who so graciously is my " pig emergency" person and he is more than happy to help me get him neutered. I will be SO happy again when I have a car, which should be by the end of June.

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Becky

Post   » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:05 pm


I was giving him 75mg, but Nakamura wanted about half of that amount once we saw a reversal of the bone loss. I did cut it down to 50 shortly before the stone.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:19 pm


I was giving him 75mg, but Nakamura wanted about half of that amount once we saw a reversal of the bone loss. I did cut it down to 50 shortly before the stone.
Was that once daily?

I ask, because Heddwyn is now on 75mg once daily. If your advice was for once daily, I'll cut it immediately.

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CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:49 am


I picked up the Calcium lactate today. It's the TwinLab brand called "Calcium Lactate Caps". They are 200 mg caplets. I mixed it in with the Critical Care that I was feeding Zeuss. A lot of the Critical Care ends up on the towel normally so I put the whole caplet in. It was easy to mix.

He's been losing weight so I thought I should supplement with Critical Care. I think more than half of the Critical Care made it into Zeuss so that means I'm getting more than the recommmended 75 mg in probably. Should I switch to another method of getting the calcium in him.

I noticed someone on the Hollister thread mentioned mixing the calcium lactate with Odwalla Superfood. Is that liquid? Would that work better?

OUr vets are still out of town so I'm using the advice on this GL forum until they get back. You have all been so helpful!

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CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:36 am


ONe reason I tried the Critical Care for the Calcium was the comments on the Hollister thread about it being hard to get the calcium out of the pasty form so it could be syringed. I had no trouble with the consistency mixing it with Critical Care but obviously an accurate dose it hard to get if you have a messy feeding with Critical care.

Tracis
Let Sleeping Pigs Lie

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:56 am


This is Odwalla Superfood.

I usually see it in the refrigerated section of the produce department at the grocery store.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:33 am


Calcium lactate is dreadful to dissolve. I used to heat it up a bit in the Odwalla, then it would finally liquify.

I also gave 75mg twice daily for the first 18 months - but the OD was very severe.

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CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:04 am


The calcium lactate caps I am using comes in those caplets that you can pull apart and dump the powdery contents right into whatever you are mixing it with. Do you actually have to get it into a soluble state before feeding it or is it ok if the powder just mixes with the Odwalla Superfood (or whatever is being used)?

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:27 am


I found if it wasn't dissolved propery it just plugged up the syringe. I don't think it matters how much it's dissolved, as long as you can draw it up into a syringe for feeding!

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CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:56 pm


FYI: www.PetGuys.com is selling the light Mum showed on the previous page. They have a sale right now for $33.59 as opposed to $41.

We use PetGuys.com a lot. It is located in the San Francisco bay area so shipping isn't bad to us since we live here. The stuff usually shows up in 2 days. But they don't have a lot of recommended guinea pig products but are cheap for the stuff you do find. (No - we aren't on commission)

User avatar
Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:24 pm


Crud!

I just ordered a new one a couple of weeks ago from Big Apple Herp, and I paid much more than that :-p

Usually I shop around, but I'd found their prices to be consistently lower on these - ah well.

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