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Filtered water / bottled water – calcium bun?

H

HappyHop

Warren Scout
After hospitalisation, involving X rays which showed slight bladder sludge and slight inflammation of the bladder my male 2.5 year old lop is on antibiotics, cisapride and metacam.

I have changed his diet to a lower calcium one but was also recommended to use filtered water as we are in a hard water area.

My question is – which is better
!. To use bottled water – have read on here Deeside is good
2. Get a Brita water filter – will this remove enough of the calcium?
3. We have a filtered water drinking tap in the kitchen but was told when it was first fitted not to give to babies or pets – not sure if it goes through the water softening process first?

I am so confused and really do not know what to do for the best? ANY advice on this would be extremely appreciated.

Many thanks
Nikki
 
Deeside is the lowest calcium content water I've found, available in Waitrose. Having said that, Tesco do some small bottles of something called Sno water, which appears to be even lower.

Brita filters do remove calcium, but if you do need it to be really low, a low calcium bottled water is the only way to go, in my opinion.
 
My bun Oliver had the exact same thing with xray to confirm and a bladder flush. I use Asda Eden Falls 2 litre bottled water as it has 10mg of calcium and Tesco has the 5 litre water - not sure the name and it is 10mg also. I also give Oliver an Oxbow urinary care tablet daily and so far no problems. Hope this helps.
 
Just as a comparison, Deeside as 4 mg. Volvic is also low, at around 10 mg (can't remember the exact figure). Depends on how low you want to go really (and how severe the problem is), as well as obviously getting hold of the water!

I have a bottle of the Sno water in front of me here and it is 3.7.
 
Thats great, thank you so much for the replies,
I really appreciate it as not had to deal with this problem before



SarahP said:
Just as a comparison, Deeside as 4 mg. Volvic is also low, at around 10 mg (can't remember the exact figure). Depends on how low you want to go really (and how severe the problem is), as well as obviously getting hold of the water!

I have a bottle of the Sno water in front of me here and it is 3.7.
Click to expand...
 
Not got any advice but I'm wondering if I could ask you what foods you have cut out to make your bunny's diet low calcium? Lilly's got cystitis which may be random but it could also be as a result of bladder sludge (if the infection comes back after antibiotics they'll investigate to see if there is anything like this causing the infection) so I'm thinking of cutting her calcium down a bit just in case! I live in a very soft water area so I won't be changing to bottled water unless there is good evidence that she is having a problem with sludge, I have no idea which foods are high in calcium for bunnies though!
 
Green leafy veg are relatively high in calcium, eg. spring greens, carrot tops, parsley etc. Also most pellets, especially if alfalfa/lucerne based.

edit: and dried herbs, eg dandelion.
 
Oh dear Lilly has loads of spring greens :oops: we get through a packet a week nearly :oops:

Her normal veg routine is a spring green leaf almost every day, then a handful of herbs up to twice a day, then every so often she'll get other treats such as banana, kiwi, grass, dandelions, carrot... so spring greens are her main veg... I'm going to have to think carefully about what I can replace it with!

Do you know if dill is high in calcium? She had a whole bag of that this week after never having it before so I'm suspicious it might have set off her urinary symptoms, her wee stank of dill!
 
SarahP said:
'fraid so, yep!

Have a look at this: http://www.guinealynx.info/diet_order-cal.html

It's American, so some of the names aren't the same as ours (spring greens are collard greens) etc, but it's quite a good guide for how much is in what.
Click to expand...

Thank you that's a really good guide!

I bet it was the dill then! Poor bunny, I feel bad I didn't realise it had so much calcium! Well that's going straight onto the no list! She's had spring greens for ages so I'll still feed them to her, but much more sparingly and in smaller portions because she loves them, struggling with what to replace them with though, spring greens are great because they're so cheap for so much and she loves them, herbs are so much pricier, I always have some in for her but I give them to her less so they last longer! Just going to have to up my herb purchases!
 
If her gut can handle it, savoy cabbage is lower in calcium. I feed it to my piggies rather than greens, to keep the calcium low.
 
I forgot to add I changed my pellets from excel to oxbow timothy bunny basics t as the excel has alfalfa under the name of lucene. I feed florette the bagged stuff, some coriander, celery and small pieces of carrot. If by any chance u use the readigrass I found it brought on sludge.
 
That guide is really helpful, thank you.

I have cut out spring greens for now too - shame as she loves them.
Interesting that Lilly had a bout of cystitis as Miss.E had this around the same time last year and now has bladder sludge - not sure if connected but interesting.
I have also cut down on pellets, she has science select so need to see if Timothy basics are lower in calcium.

I tried her on the deeside water last night - her face - wish I had a camera! She tried it - looked at me as if to say "whats this human - what have you done to my water ! Actually I love it !' Bless !

Thanks for all the advice everyone, it is so much appreciated
Nikki


nickybunny1 said:
I forgot to add I changed my pellets from excel to oxbow timothy bunny basics t as the excel has alfalfa under the name of lucene. I feed florette the bagged stuff, some coriander, celery and small pieces of carrot. If by any chance u use the readigrass I found it brought on sludge.
Click to expand...
 
No - she LOVED it - never seen her drink so much !

Thanks for the tip, the bunnies get bottled water, everyone else has tap - spoilt - much :) !!!!
if it means she drinks more then so be it
 
Hehe, we go on special trips to Waitrose just to get the Deeside water for the piggies! :lol:
 
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