Fat Piggy!

[MrsMichic]

Hello everyone

I recently adopted 2 rescue GPs callled Clive and Ben. They are adorable and thriving, which is great. However! Recently, Clive has got a bit fat. Well quite fat actually. But Ben hasn't - he looks normal! Why?!?!?! There's no health problems (had a vet check when I got them) and they share a cage so get the same food. Am I feeding them too much? They have Timothy Hay, RSPCA nuggets and at tea time I normally give 1 piece of kale, 1 leaf of greens, half a carrot, half a celery stick and a piece of cucumber each. It's all gone by the morning and they've eaten most of the hay! Is this normal or am I over feeding them? They are getting exercise in their run in the garden every day unless it's raining ( and eating lots of grass too!) Thank you in advance for any experience/advice! I have had piggies before but not for years :-)

 

[lauraboara]

Hi,
Great that you have adopted Clive and Ben - I am sure you are going to have a lot of fun with them.
What ages are your boys? If they are still quite young or teenagers then can be growing quickly and at potentially different rates. My boys (7 at the moment) are all mature adults and they vary from 1kg to 1.4kg depending on build but none of them are 'fat'.
What weight are they? Weight is a better measure then judging their size by eye. You can just use kitchen scales to weigh them - in a cosie / sack if they are jumpy and then minus the weight of the cosie.
This is a good thread to read for ideas on a balanced diet. Hay should be the vast majority of their diet (80%)
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
You are feeding carrots daily which I would be tempted to reduce to just a treat say once or twice a week - they are high sugar content and high Vit A so should be thought of as chocolate biscuits for guineas - tasty but a treat only!

 

[MrsMichic]

Hello, thanks so much for replying! The rescue centre said they were around 1 year old but I'm not sure how accurate that is. They had a few scraps when we first got them, but I put that down to new circumstances etc. then I read on this forum that they might be hormonal teenagers! I haven't weighed them, I will do that later - thanks for the tip. Clive is a different shape to Ben who is longer and leaner, so it could be that. I think he looks cute but I don't want him to be unhealthy! Great tip about the carrots, I will reduce the amount I give them. We occasionally give apples for a treat when handling them and I know they are sugary so not too often. They actually prefer dandelions! I'll check out the healthy eating thread, thank you for your help x

 

[sport_billy]

great post from @lauraboara

Pop the weights on the thread afterwards and we can hopefully help advise. Some piggies are bigger than others, It sounds like you are doing all the right things to be honest. We have a 1.5kg girl which is huge! But she is probably more active than our others piggies although she does lie with her head in the food bowl! But she is very healthy and is extremely bog framed compared to any other piggy we have had. Her cage mates fed the same are just over 1kg

 

[MrsMichic]

Thanks so much to both of you! I've weighed Clive and he's 1.3 or 1.4kg (wriggling!) he's also a bigger piggy than Ben who is around 1kg (wriggled too!) haha Clive loves his food bowl too! If they are both being fed the same then hopefully he's just having a growth spurt :-) he's definitely got longer too - what age do they stop growing? Thanks for the help x