Bladder Sludge

[22_smyts]

Hello,
I have a male guinea pig who is 7 years old. He has had bladder sludge for the past week; He was already on what I had thought to be a low calcium diet ( - cucumber and capsicum(bell peppers) but e doesn't eat much of them - carrot, baby cos lettuce (romaine lettuce), grass, lucerne free hay and bedding hay - from the Cavy Cottage which we only got recently, a month or two ago and he has been eating it - I was happy he had been eating it because he suffers from his teeth growing to fast). Now I have tried dropping his diet even more - I don't give him any more baby cos lettuce (romaine) or bedding hay (because I don't know what is in it) but he still has bladder sludge.

My guinea pig (Devil) doesn't squeak while he urinate. He is away hungry and hates how I don't give him much of a variety with his food. He mostly eats grass and carrot and has been drinking fine (is there something in his water???). Does it Matter what type of grass I give him???

When I went to the Vets last year for my guinea pig (Leon who had a bladder stone), the vet said that it is most likely too much calcium which caused this but he also said that they are not too sure and that it could be something else (maybe vitamin??). At the start of this year I was instructed by the Vet to give Devil a lot of vitamins to help with a big cyst in his mouth (which has now successfully healed) but lately I have been trying to focus on a low calcium diet.

I need to help him before it is to late because he is to old for a surgery. What should I do? How should I change his diet? Should I do something to his water? Should there be anything for me to look out for? Any advise? Could someone please help me understand what is going on with him?

Thank you,
From my lovely guinea pig, Devil.

[Lynx]

Some info on hay (which is dried grass) here:
www.guinealynx.info/hay.html

Yes, do stop the romaine. Have you read over the stones page thoroughly and the links to additional pages?
www.guinealynx.info/stones.html

Increasing his fluids (syringing water) can help flush his bladder.

Were the vitamins you gave a multivitamin? They can cause problems due to the possibility of overdosing the fat soluble vitamins. I believe in rabbits, giving multivitamins can contribute to stones.

[bpatters]

Some pigs are just stone prone, and nothing you can do will prevent stone formation. You don't have to restrict his diet that severely for it to be a low-calcium diet. You can feed red or green leaf lettuce, bell pepper, small chunks of tomato/carrot, slices of cucumber/squash, and occasional bits of fruit.

What will help is exercise and fluids. It may help if you syringe fluids to him. Exercise will keep any sludge in his bladder in suspension so it can be urinated out.

[22_smyts]

Thank you,
I forgot to mention that I feed him tomato (which he eats) and sometimes give him critical care (apple and banana flavour).

[bpatters]

Critical care is high in calcium.