[Gpdd] HEALTH How do piggies get their Vit D?

[Penny Charlesworth]

Sandy wonders how piggies get their Vitamin D. I have started a new thread as we have wandered away from Doris's problems. Suddenly occuring paralysis seems to be just a blip in the piggies' metabolism not an ongoing deficiency.

We know that humans obtain Vit D through the action of sunlight on our skins. In the English papers recently there have been articles concerned with the sudden resurgence of rickets amongst children and it has been suggested that children these days do not go out in the sunshine as much as previous generations either through parents' fear of the dangers of sunshine or that of lurking strangers.

Whether our piggies obtain Vit D through sunlight has to be debatable as many never go outdoors and do not seem to be disadvantaged. My own herd usually spends time outdoors although this year, with the winter that went on forever and the current unbearable heat, the garden days have been few and far between. Even when they are outside, the boars' arks are partially covered with towels, the occupants choosing to spend most of their time in the shade. My large sow pen contains an old garden hammock frame, to which I attach large sheets, pegging the other end of the sheets to the side of the wire pen, creating a tent like structure. Some of the pen is left in the sun but the piggies prefer the tented part or the area beneath the shade trees. It does not usually get very hot in England but they all choose the shady areas even on a cooler day. There is probably an element of safety to be considered here too as they may believe themselves to be safe from predators flying overhead. No - we do not have condors here in the UK but the piggies do not know that.

I have found a discussion of Vit D deficiency on the Guinea Pig Forum. Here is the link.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=725314

I followed their link to a Power Point Presentation published by B.A.R. British Association of Rodentologists.

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:_...&hl=en&ct=clnk

It is not very technical if anyone wants to read it as it is not written by or for vets in order to confuse the layperson. You just have to scroll down to find the relevant pages.

On page 9 it tells us that piggies obtain Vit D from synthesis in the skin from UV light and from dark green leafy plants and grass. So piggies like mine who have a daily mountain of fresh grass should not be in danger of Vit D deficiency. Most piggies will be having dark leafy greens in their diet. Vit D is also an ingredient in many piggy pellets and on page 15 ( scroll down a lot more ) there is a table showing the Vit D content of some feeds ( this includes some for rabbits as B.A.R. deals with buns too ). These are UK feeds, of course, but the packets of overseas piggy feeds should have the ingredients listed on the side.

Penny and the Piggyfriends, munching on today's grass rations.