Pippin'sMum
Alpha Buck
Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice/thoughts on my little boy Smartie, a Nethie cross. He's about 5 years old and bonded to Toffee, a doe about twice his size. He's had problems with his bladder most of his life, with several trips to the vets with urine scald and thick urine, he was x-rayed early last year but only a 'normal' amount of sludge was seen in his bladder, no problems with his kidneys. I keep his underneath around his bits clipped and regularly wash and cream around there to keep him clean and help with the scald. He is the only one of my four to be troubled by this.
I feed him and Toffee and small amount of Burgess Excel Light (he's a bit overweight, being quite greedy) they have about a level tablespoon full of pellets once a day between them, they have unlimited hay (baled 'horse' hay), Readigrass and lots of different veg. They also have a grassed run, he spends a lot of time grazing when there is grass growing, obviously not so much at the moment. I feed spring greens, carrot, parsnip, sprouts, kale (although a limited quantity, a small handful each once a day about once a fortnight), various salad leaves, small pieces of apple and/or pear, a mouthful of banana each, broccoli (again a small quantity occasionally, it seems to cause a few dirty bottoms), pak choi. sweetheart cabbage, etc. They each have a bit of four or five of these, to cover about a teaplate twice a day. They have one large cabbage leaf between four, a piece of carrot, half a sprout, etc, so I don't think I'm overdoing the veg. They have two large bowls of water, which are changed at least once a day.
I took him a couple of weeks ago to the vets and saw a locum, who told me he just can't process calcium. I stopped feeding pellets to them, and am always careful not to feed veg which is reputed to be high in calcium. After about 10 days I started giving a small quantity of pellets again, and today I've seen an area where he's wee'd and it's dried to a yellow patch of sludge again. It's not like crystals, more like a splash of paint almost. He is clean and dry underneath (I check him every day). Sometimes he can go for weeks without a problem.
Any ideas? I'm worried about cutting down on calcium in their diet because of the effect on their teeth, and of course I have Toffee to consider as well. I'd be interested to hear any experiences with this problem and how to deal with it. He sometimes seems distressed, trying to lick around there, and he gets fed up with me clipping and washing round his bottom.
Thanks in anticipation.
I feed him and Toffee and small amount of Burgess Excel Light (he's a bit overweight, being quite greedy) they have about a level tablespoon full of pellets once a day between them, they have unlimited hay (baled 'horse' hay), Readigrass and lots of different veg. They also have a grassed run, he spends a lot of time grazing when there is grass growing, obviously not so much at the moment. I feed spring greens, carrot, parsnip, sprouts, kale (although a limited quantity, a small handful each once a day about once a fortnight), various salad leaves, small pieces of apple and/or pear, a mouthful of banana each, broccoli (again a small quantity occasionally, it seems to cause a few dirty bottoms), pak choi. sweetheart cabbage, etc. They each have a bit of four or five of these, to cover about a teaplate twice a day. They have one large cabbage leaf between four, a piece of carrot, half a sprout, etc, so I don't think I'm overdoing the veg. They have two large bowls of water, which are changed at least once a day.
I took him a couple of weeks ago to the vets and saw a locum, who told me he just can't process calcium. I stopped feeding pellets to them, and am always careful not to feed veg which is reputed to be high in calcium. After about 10 days I started giving a small quantity of pellets again, and today I've seen an area where he's wee'd and it's dried to a yellow patch of sludge again. It's not like crystals, more like a splash of paint almost. He is clean and dry underneath (I check him every day). Sometimes he can go for weeks without a problem.
Any ideas? I'm worried about cutting down on calcium in their diet because of the effect on their teeth, and of course I have Toffee to consider as well. I'd be interested to hear any experiences with this problem and how to deal with it. He sometimes seems distressed, trying to lick around there, and he gets fed up with me clipping and washing round his bottom.
Thanks in anticipation.
