Diet Pellets

[Mad10]

Hi,
My daughter has 2 guinea pigs a boy who is about 1 year old, castrated and in good health and a girl who is about 5 years old, overweight and has a slight sore on her back leg. I have been advised that she needs to loose some weight, they have 2 egg cups of burgess nuggets, kale, celery, cucumber and peppers each day, with unlimited hay.
Does anyone know the best nuggets to help with weight loss or any other tips as her weight is making the sore worse.
Thanks

 

[Lady Kelly]

Has she always been overweight or is this a more recent development. If it's recent has your vet done any scans for things like cysts or arthritis which may stop a piggy moving around enough which can lead to scalding/sores where they sit in their own urine too much. I had this (without the overweight part) twice with my late bumble. First time it was found she had very large ovarian cysts and had an emergency spay and the second time we found she had arthritis in the bottom of her spine. If it is recent I would try and find the cause as it may be partially down to pain and discomfort which you can get medication to help manage and would then encourage her to start moving again.

The Burgess packaging should have the recommended daily portion of pellets for each piggy, however it's not always possible to control who eats more than their fair share. There are a few members on here who have gone pelletless with the diet but it does need research as you need to make sure that what they have access to gives them all the nutrients which are in the pellet.

Also another thing to consider would be scattering the pellets around the cage so that she has to move about and forage to find them

 

[Mad10]

Thank you, we have had her less than a year and she has always been quite round, the rescue I got her from cuts her claws and checks her tummy for tumours when I take her and felt all clear today. She does sit in her wee a lot and has never been very active. I think I will lower the pellets and scatter them.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Thank you, we have had her less than a year and she has always been quite round, the rescue I got her from cuts her claws and checks her tummy for tumours when I take her and felt all clear today. She does sit in her wee a lot and has never been very active. I think I will lower the pellets and scatter them.

It might be worth getting her vet checked for peace of mind. Bumble with the cysts was getting a dirty bum and a sore back foot and the day before I took her I noticed she didn't like her left side being stroked but you couldn't actually feel any lumps or anything. The ultrasound scan was routine to rule out problems but the vet called straight away, I don't think she was really expecting the cysts.

 

[Mad10]

The only problem I have is that my local vets whilst being very good do not have a vet that specialises so not sure if I would be wasting my time.

 

[Lady Kelly]

I don't know if you are UK based or not but we have a vet locator on the top bar which is vets that forum members have recommended. I could walk to my local vets which is a 10 mins walk but then I sit there while they look it all up on their tablets so instead I drive 20-60 mins across the city (depending on traffic) and it's definitely worth it for a vet who knows what they are doing