Osteodystrophy and Satins
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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!
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!
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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.
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- Let Sleeping Pigs Lie
This is Odwalla Superfood.
I usually see it in the refrigerated section of the produce department at the grocery store.
I usually see it in the refrigerated section of the produce department at the grocery store.
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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)?
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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)
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)
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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.
So it definitely pays to group your order together.
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.
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.
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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!
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!
- CavyHouse
- Supporter in '11
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:
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: