Eva's Urinary & Kidney Stones Page

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Actually this is quite common here in Sweden today. So common that when I went to the vet with a cavy that I knew for sure had a simple urinary infection the vet wanted to take X-rays and stuff... I convinced the vet she only needed medication, and that was hard. I'm not used to disagree with the vet! But I was right.

During all the years I've had cavies I've only had one who developed stones, and that was before I learned about how bad pellets can be for cavies. Since then I've only given Oxbow timothy pellets, which actually can be bought in Sweden. There's a link to the company that imports Oxbow pellets on Eva's Home Page.

Symptoms

The cavy will have problems peeing, and may be squeeking while trying to pee.

Cause

Usually too much calcium (from the food) building up stones in the urinary tract.

Treatment

This is something for the experienced vet! Often the stones may be removed surgically, or through some kind of ultra sound treatment.

Precaution

Do not feed food with lots of calcium, like alfalfa hay or alfalfa based pellets. There is still only one company that produces pellets for guinea pigs that has a reduced amount of calcium in it, the Oxbow company timothy pellets.