Advice Please....am I Feeding Too Much?

Chloe.123

Chloe.123

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
168
Reaction score
145
Points
330
Location
Gloucestershire, UK
Hi I hope I'm posting in the right place....
I'm worried that I'm feeding my boys too much and they're getting a bit fat! I've been looking at a few of the threads posted by other members on feeding and I seem to be feeding a lot more than everyone else.

I weighed them this evening and Bilbo is just over 5 months and weighs 1029g and Merlin is just under 5 months and weighs 963g. Does that seem like a lot? And should I cut down their veg? They go out in their run for 6-7 hours a day (when the weather allows) so have a lot of grass time.
Sorry about the long post and thanks in advance for any advice :)
 
hello :)

They could just be big pigs... We have had some BIG pigs in past. . I'd expect around 6 months to be 1kg mark for some pigs.

What are you feeding portion size wise? Can you describe it or better still take a photo :)
 
Ok thanks, that makes me feel better! :)

I will get a picture in the morning (if I remember). I usually give them bell pepper, cucumber, small amount of lettuce, coriander, occasionally add carrot or apple and I've recently added parsley. And they get most of that 2x a day.
 
I guess that fresh grass is like hay... they can eat an unlimited amount. Vets here suggest not more than 100g of vegs (no fruits) and only 5g of pellets (or nothing at all). Too many pellets usually make the pets very fat, but a natural diet based on grass and some vegs as you are doing with your piggies cannot change too much the shape of their body and cannot be wrong for sure... Their size depends also on the breed. My Calipso eats a lot, more than Calliope, but she is slim and definitely slimmer than Calliope. Grass is the best food for them. I haven't a garden, but I pick up a full bag of fresh grass a day for them. :D
100_6917.webp
100_6916.webp
 
rome_italy said:
I guess that fresh grass is like hay... they can eat an unlimited amount. Vets here suggest not more than 100g of vegs (no fruits) and only 5g of pellets (or nothing at all). Too many pellets usually make the pets very fat, but a natural diet based on grass and some vegs as you are doing with your piggies cannot change too much the shape of their body and cannot be wrong for sure... Their size depends also on the breed. My Calipso eats a lot, more than Calliope, but she is slim and definitely slimmer than Calliope. Grass is the best food for them. I haven't a garden, but I pick up a [you]full[/you] bag of fresh grass a day for them. :D
View attachment 66136
View attachment 66137
Click to expand...
Wow that's some fresh and green looking grass, lucky piggies. I don't feed my piggies grass as ours is always being sprayed by our gardener so I don't trust it and the park up the road everyone walks their dogs there. I can grow some but my gardening skill are very poor....piggy owner fail :soz:
 
I always think I am overfeeding my piggies too and then I see photo's of what other people feed their piggies and then I think I might be underfeeding them lol. I think the most important food for them to eat is hay and the percentage of veg a day for them to eat is not very high, I think 15% of their diet (someone correct me if i'm wrong).
 
Thanks for the comments everyone :) very lucky piggies with all of those greens! @rome_italy

I may have to cut down their pellets as well as they seem to prefer that over the hay sometimes. Could that be because they spend a lot of time out in the run on the grass?
@Kylie80 I'm glad it's not just me!
 
we have to be careful with the diet because the most important part of the diet is hay and when full they sometimes don't eat it... and vegs/pellets don't erode teeth. Anyway, also fresh grass contain sylica (?) which helps the teeth to be eroded, but hay is more important, also for their gut, their good bacteria in the gut and so on. The quantity of the vegs (and grass and hay) cannot be the same for all the piggies. My Calliope does not eat that much and her weight is quite good (800g). Calipso is very slim (700g) and is always eating something! Their methabolism is different, I guess. I think the scales can help us dosing the food, I mean the scales which show the pig's weight.:roll:
 
My guinea pig Molly had the same problem. For her, it was because she was a dominant piggy and therefore hoarded food away from my other guinea pig, Muffin. She gained alot of weight after I gave the guinea pigs these tiny homemade blueberry muffins. She loved them and wolfed them down, scaring Muffin away when Muffin tried to get one. Her weight went up and Muffin lost a ton of weight as well. The problem stopped when I started to forage for them.

Do you feed your guinea pigs sugary treats? If you do, that might be the problem. If you give any sugary treats, try to limit those to 1 per guinea pig per day.

If you are only feeding them grass, though, I think you might want to just feed them less. Perhaps you could limit their intake to 1 cup of greens a day per guinea pig (most sites recommend 1 cup of veg a day), supplemented with 1 or 2 treats for each pig.
 
When I took Betsy to the vet last week for a check up he said that she was a bit podgy and I was to cut down on the pellets. I only give the 5 of them their daily allowance in the morning in divided into 2 food bowls one at the top of the hutch and one at the bottom. They don't have access to them all the time. The rest of the time they have hay, hay and more hay and grass if it the girls day out. It is a strict 'here come the girls' or 'the boys are back in town' on the grass unless it is hutch clean day (LOVE that job! not) or it's raining otherwise the grass gets ruined. Then they get their veg at night. I asked him what he suggest I do to cut down on her food intake. He said I seemed to be doing all the right things and to carry on. He then said that she maybe starting to store fat for winter months! eh? what was all that about? I know that they are outside pigs but do their bodies really know this? I may have to change my vet!
 
Betsy said:
When I took Betsy to the vet last week for a check up he said that she was a bit podgy and I was to cut down on the pellets. I only give the 5 of them their daily allowance in the morning in divided into 2 food bowls one at the top of the hutch and one at the bottom. They don't have access to them all the time. The rest of the time they have hay, hay and more hay and grass if it the girls day out. It is a strict 'here come the girls' or 'the boys are back in town' on the grass unless it is hutch clean day (LOVE that job! not) or it's raining otherwise the grass gets ruined. Then they get their veg at night. I asked him what he suggest I do to cut down on her food intake. He said I seemed to be doing all the right things and to carry on. He then said that she maybe starting to store fat for winter months! eh? what was all that about? I know that they are outside pigs but do their bodies really know this? I may have to change my vet!
Click to expand...

The recommended daily allotment of pellets is 1/4 cup of pellets per guinea pig. Have you been feeding them this? Hope everything turns out okay.
 
Sorry for the lack replies.... @Lily_pig until recently they were getting 1 of the sticks that you hang in the cage and i think they're are quite sugary but luckily because they are quite expensive I haven't given them for a while! :)) I have also reduced the amount of pellets that I give to almost nothing... I think they're trying to make me feel guilty because every time I open the back door they squeak really loudly at me!

@Betsy I've never heard of them storing fat before either! It also seems a bit too hot to be thinking about winter.
 
Chloe.123 said:
Sorry for the lack replies.... @Lily_pig until recently they were getting 1 of the sticks that you hang in the cage and i think they're are quite sugary but luckily because they are quite expensive I haven't given them for a while! :)) I have also reduced the amount of pellets that I give to almost nothing... I think they're trying to make me feel guilty because every time I open the back door they squeak really loudly at me!

@Betsy I've never heard of them storing fat before either! It also seems a bit too hot to be thinking about winter.
Click to expand...

It has to be the sticks that are causing the problem. Like I mentioned, my guinea pig Molly gained alot of weight when I started to feed her treats excessively. I have seen those treat sticks for sale before and I know they are quite large. How often do you feed them? How large are the sticks you give them?
Overall, treat sticks are bad for guinea pig health. The treat sticks pet stores sell contain tons of grain and too much sugar for guinea pigs. Guinea pigs, being herbivores, are designed to eat only vegetables, mostly greens. Their digestive systems are designed to process fibrous greens we can not, such as grass and leaves. Sugar and grains, while liked many guinea pigs, are not part of their natural diet, and therefore they can cause weight issues if fed in excess.
Here is my advice: I wouldn't reduce the pellets; it is definitely the treat stick that is causing your problem. It is best to stick with feeding 1/4 of a cup of pellets each day and I wouldn't reduce the amount you give to less than this. I would also forage more for them and feed them plenty of what you pick (1-2 cups is what I would go for). Alternatively, you could feed this amount of fresh vegetables. Of course, it would be mean to eliminate treats completely. You could consider fruit to use as treats instead such as apple, grapes, etc. You shouldn't feed these excessively though, because they are very sugary. 1 small piece of fruit per guinea pig each day is recommended. You could also try giving them other treats like a raisin or sunflower seed per day for each guinea pig. I know it seems like this isn't alot, but because guinea pigs are not designed by nature to process sugary foods (they are herbivores by nature) and because they are so small in size, this amount per day is ideal for a healthy guinea pig.
Another idea I think you should try is making your own treat sticks for your piggies. If you do this, you can control what is in the treat sticks and add less sugars, seeds, and grains. You could make a stick made of healthier foods, such as dried carrots, hay, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top