[Gpdd] Health: Encouraging Piggies to Drink

pat schuett bunzella at yahoo.ca
Mon Apr 10 14:01:44 EDT 2017


Hi Cindy,
I have had a number of bladder stone pigs, and though I (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) don't have one at the moment, my head is still crammed full of research on this nasty issue.  
It sounds to me as if you already have good information and have enacted most of the strategies I know to help prevent or slow down stone formation.  I live in a very hard-water area so I use distilled water for my piggies and (this was suggested to me by Ann Evans) I also add a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to each gallon of distilled water.  Most of my piggies seem to like the flavour of this, and it also helps to acidify the water.  As I understand it, piggies tend to have very alkaline urine which some people think promotes bladder stone formation, so changing the balance to more acidic might help to discourage or slow down stone formation.
I would have to say that of the three stone pigs I have had, some drank lots of water and some (despite my best efforts) drank very little. Though it makes sense to me that getting them to drink more should help to dilute and expel bladder sludge (rather than allowing it to accumulate and form stones),  that one quality honestly did not seem to have much effect in how rapidly my piggies formed stones.  The bad drinkers did not form stones any faster than the good drinkers.  
I am admittedly reporting on a very small sample and there may have been other risk factors in my herd which I didn`t know about and which undid the benefits of drinking more, but that is how it worked with my piggies. So I would say, do what you can to encourage drinking, but don`t feel as if you are failing Eddie if you can`t increase his water intake.
My very best wishes for you and Eddie ---
Pat and the Prairie Pigs


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