[Gpdd] HEALTH: bladder stones and diet

[Cindy]

As some of you know, I have some experience with bladder stones in 
piggies, having lost my Sunshine to them last year, despite surgery and 
all of our best efforts <sniff>.

I think I have learned some things about foods for piggies that might 
help those with bladder stones or sludge.  Will share those in case they 
might be of help to others.

About the time Sunshine passed away, I noticed that someone, either 
Friday or Tumbleweed, had bladder sludge, and my heart sank.  It turned 
out to be Friday.  However, a couple of months ago I realized that 
Friday no longer has sludge. 

Friday's diet changed when Sunshine's diet changed, and, from what I can 
tell, it took perhaps eight or nine months for Friday's sludge to go away. 

This is what I feed each day: timothy hay and pellets, small bits of 
green-leaf lettuce, a few small carrot pieces, a small piece of apple, 
dill, corn/corn silk/corn shucks, cucumber, red bell pepper, and turnip 
(the white root, not the turnip greens).  I feed half a grape tomato to 
each piggie a few times a week and uncooked oats (uncooked oatmeal) 
several times a week. 

I also give bottled water (not distilled), just the generic kind from a 
grocery store.

It seems that one of the biggest helps was eliminating cilantro.  I also 
eliminated parsley and kale (although kale was only an occasional treat).

It is very hard to know what to feed a stones piggie or a piggie with 
sludge.  I'm not saying this diet is perfect, but on this diet, Friday's 
sludge has gone away.

I also want to give thanks to all of the diet help I received from GPDD 
members and members of the bladder stones group.  This certainly is not 
a diet I developed on my own.  Could not have done it with the advice of 
others!

Hope this will be of some interest/help to others.

Cindy, Tumbleweed, and Friday