[Gpdd] Health: Re: Stone Prevention/Cranberry Juice

[Leah McNeil]

Hi Luita & Bert & Ernie!
Please let me clarify my previous comment
about cranberry juice being bad for stone
piggies. Well, a lot of ya'll probably know 
that cranberry juice is good for piggies 
(and humans, etc.) with urinary tract infections
(UTIs) because the primary bacteria associated 
with UTIs is E.coli which prefers an alkaline
environment to grow (and cranberry juice makes
urine more acidic). Well, for stone piggies,
cranberry juice can actually throw off the
acidity of the urine and perhaps makes things
worse (according to my Vet). Now, this does
seem to be a topic of debate because unfortunately,
there just hasn't been enough research done
on our little piggie friends. But, there was
enough doubt for me so I took the cranberry juice
out of Brownie Bear's diet. I just wanna do what's
best for her, ya know. I have read that cranberry
juice has helped some bladder stone piggies and
then I have also read the opposite, so it's really
a judgement call on the Slave's part--to be quite
honest. Here's an excerpt from a website that I
found that explained it pretty well...

*******************************************************
In dogs and cats, the push to acidify the urine has
led to a slight increase in oxalate stones, which are
more common in acid urine. Pets taking cranberry
extract would be more prone to develop crystals and
stones, such as oxalate stones, which are more common
in acid urine. However, since the crystals and stones
that form in alkaline urine are much more commonly
diagnosed, pets with chronic stones would probably
benefit from acidification of the urine even with the
slight risk of stones forming in acid urine. Discuss
this with your veterinarian. 
*******************************************************

The rest of the article can be found at this
website...

http://www.ivillage.com/pets/expert/vet/articles/0,,287564_271844,00.html

It's a good read. Now, this article is addressing cats
and dogs and obviously, they are different than our
piggie friends, but the concept is the same.

So, I hope this clarifies my previous comment about
cranberry juice being bad for stone piggies. The truth
is that we really don't know. But, it stuck in my
mind that it Could be bad for stone piggies so I just
immediately took it out of Brownie Bear's diet to be
on the safe side. What's frustrating for me (and I'm
sure many other Slaves with stone piggies) is that
there is such a lack of knowledge and/or research on
our stone piggies and I feel like we're sort of
flying blind, if you will. I know that you want to
do the right things and keep Burt and Ernie as
healthy as possible (and you ARE doing the right
things). So, I hope I clarified my comments and
more importantly, I hope all Piggies and Slaves are
doing well.

       Love 'n Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeps,
          Leah...Slave to Brownie Bear :-)

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