Tangle
Junior Guinea Pig
For a quick bit of background, we were gave a home to Jemima and Fudge after another Forum Member posted that they needed a home and put us in touch with their owner. We collected them on Easter Sunday. Jemima had been bought over the summer last year as a pregnant sow and had had 3 babies in August. The 2 boys had a home already and we took Jemima and Fudge. The previous owners had some experience with guinea pigs and lots of other animal experience and the girls weren't neglected. Shortly after getting them we took them to a GP savvy vet, who declared she was very happy with them. When we got them Jemima weighed 885g and Fudge 760g. The vet felt that Jemima was the perfect weight, and guessed she was less than 2 years old.
We've been weighing them weekly and have noticed that they're both gradually increasing in weight. For Fudge that doesn't seem too much of an issue as she's still very lithe and also less than a year old. But Jemima doesn't have the excuse of "still growing" and is starting to look and feel a little matronly. This last week Jemima has put on another 30g while Fudge has put on just 2g, taking them to 975g and 815g respectively.
They're indoor pigs, although they have been going out on the lawn when the weather's been nice - but we've been strip grazing (and keeping them partly on the patio to try and wear their nails down a little!) so they haven't had access to huge quantities of grass. If they've been out on grass then they haven't had any veggies that evening.
They have free access to hay. We now weigh their pellets (Wagg Guinea Pig Crunch) and they're getting just 30g/day between the two of them split between two meals. We haven't been weighing their fresh veg, but we've been referring to the photo of "daily rations" and trying to make sure they get no more than twice that between them every day. It's possible that Jemima's getting more than her fair share of pellets and fresh food. Fudge isn't shy to wrestle a tasty leaf away from her, but will wander off from the pellets and come back whereas Jemima will often just stand there eating until they're all but gone.
So, oh experienced and expert piggie owners: Do we need to worry? Do we need to do anything? And if so, what do we do? Right now I'm struggling to see where we're over-feeding them, but they're both putting on weight that at least one of them doesn't need - and I'm figuring the sooner we address it the easier it'll be to resolve!
We've been weighing them weekly and have noticed that they're both gradually increasing in weight. For Fudge that doesn't seem too much of an issue as she's still very lithe and also less than a year old. But Jemima doesn't have the excuse of "still growing" and is starting to look and feel a little matronly. This last week Jemima has put on another 30g while Fudge has put on just 2g, taking them to 975g and 815g respectively.
They're indoor pigs, although they have been going out on the lawn when the weather's been nice - but we've been strip grazing (and keeping them partly on the patio to try and wear their nails down a little!) so they haven't had access to huge quantities of grass. If they've been out on grass then they haven't had any veggies that evening.
They have free access to hay. We now weigh their pellets (Wagg Guinea Pig Crunch) and they're getting just 30g/day between the two of them split between two meals. We haven't been weighing their fresh veg, but we've been referring to the photo of "daily rations" and trying to make sure they get no more than twice that between them every day. It's possible that Jemima's getting more than her fair share of pellets and fresh food. Fudge isn't shy to wrestle a tasty leaf away from her, but will wander off from the pellets and come back whereas Jemima will often just stand there eating until they're all but gone.
So, oh experienced and expert piggie owners: Do we need to worry? Do we need to do anything? And if so, what do we do? Right now I'm struggling to see where we're over-feeding them, but they're both putting on weight that at least one of them doesn't need - and I'm figuring the sooner we address it the easier it'll be to resolve!
