Osteodystrophy and Satins

User avatar
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!

User avatar
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.

User avatar
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.

User avatar
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)?

User avatar
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!

User avatar
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.

User avatar
CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:57 pm


Don't feel too bad - the first item you ship has a high shipping fee - but then subsequent items are pretty cheap. For instance, when I checked the lamp, the shipping was $9 (very expensive) but then to add an 11-lb Midwest Playpen for guinea pigs was just $2 more.

So it definitely pays to group your order together.

peter94087

Post   » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:39 am


CavyHouse,

We've been struggling to find out what's wrong with our 3 year old Winnie (an American, not satin) and have decided to try the same treatment as your piggie; the UV lamp and 75 mg of calcium lactate twice daily.

The diagnosis of OD has not been made by a vet since dr. Nakamura is gone till next week (as you know), but some nice people gave the OD suggestion in a different thread (search for winnie in this forum).

Good luck to you and your piggie. We'll update here when/if we see any breakthrough.

User avatar
CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:11 am


Good luck with your Winnie. It's tough when you don't know what's wrong. I do remember seeing peoople warn NOT to do the calicum supplements unless you know it's OD because of the bladderstone risk. I have no idea how much calcium they would have to ingest for what period of time before it's an issue.

I think Dr. Nakamura is going to be quite busy when he gets back April 8. I have never seen a vet's vacation so well documented!

User avatar
CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Sun Oct 30, 2016 5:32 pm


On a recent thread, someone asked if I could get some x-rays of guinea pigs with Osteodystrophy from my vet, since he's treated a fair number of cases. Dr. N was great and provided x-rays of 3 piggies with OD that have come through my rescue. (I have received permission to post the x-rays from the owners. I'll split them up to help avoid confusion.)

I asked Dr. N about the calcium supplements for treatment and he indicated that it really neede more study to make any conclusions.

Acorn was a female Satin, who didn't develop OD until she was adopted by one of the GL members. You can get details here:

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=62978

Her xray:

Image

Post Reply