Foods to Help Elderly Piggies Gain/Maintain Weight?

[sarahpiggies]

Hi all, in the UK here and I have a fairly old piggie, Willow, who was fully grown when we got her as a rescue 6 years ago. She is the tri-colour Abyssinian in the photo below, snuggling with her best buddy Lyra! I think she is around 7 years old. She has had ovarian cysts with symptoms on and off between 4-6 years, now she has no symptoms. She was recently checked over by the vet who said she is doing fine (and cysts are still there but only small). Her teeth are perfect for her age apparently.

She is quite skinny though (around 750 g for the last 6 months and has very gradually declined to this. At her peak she was 1000g). I would like to try and get her weight up so she has more reserves in case she does get ill. I am wary about feeding critical care as she is eating hay, pellets and veggies fine and I haven't been able to find any information except "feed more calorific foods". Is there any particular foods that she might benefit from or other supplements/pre or probiotics considering her age? Or perhaps I could give a small amount of critical care each day? At the moment I have been giving her vitamin C supplement sprinkled onto lettuce/herbs in case she is not absorbing this as well.

Any help or advice from others experience with older piggies would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Siikibam]

I can understand your hesitation to syringe feed but there’s no harm in trying. I’d she doesn’t take it then fair enough. Some give oats or grated carrot and sweet potato to piggies that need to gain some weight after illnesses. Perhaps you could try that.

Hopefully others will be along soon with more advice.

 

[Claire W]

Has she been checked by a vet to make sure there is no underlying cause for her weight loss? That would be my next step.
As for calorific foods, you could try sweet corn or mini corn and plain porridge oats

 

[piggieminder]

Your piggies are absolutely gorgeous. I give my old boy (6) a small amount of oats about 3 times a week, it does seem to help keep his weight steady. Sadly they do seem to drop weight as they age despite still eating well.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all, in the UK here and I have a fairly old piggie, Willow, who was fully grown when we got her as a rescue 6 years ago. She is the tri-colour Abyssinian in the photo below, snuggling with her best buddy Lyra! I think she is around 7 years old. She has had ovarian cysts with symptoms on and off between 4-6 years, now she has no symptoms. She was recently checked over by the vet who said she is doing fine (and cysts are still there but only small). Her teeth are perfect for her age apparently.

She is quite skinny though (around 750 g for the last 6 months and has very gradually declined to this. At her peak she was 1000g). I would like to try and get her weight up so she has more reserves in case she does get ill. I am wary about feeding critical care as she is eating hay, pellets and veggies fine and I haven't been able to find any information except "feed more calorific foods". Is there any particular foods that she might benefit from or other supplements/pre or probiotics considering her age? Or perhaps I could give a small amount of critical care each day? At the moment I have been giving her vitamin C supplement sprinkled onto lettuce/herbs in case she is not absorbing this as well.

Any help or advice from others experience with older piggies would be greatly appreciated!

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Hi!

Please have older piggies vet checked to make sure that any treatable causes are dealt with, like arthritis.

Syringe feeding top up via bowl or syringe (only as much as they want to eat) or plain porridge oats can help a little but you have to be aware that the weight won't go on easily and won't stay on in older piggies, especially not if there are health issues like beginning organ failure etc. Older piggies will also start to eat less as their metabolism is slowing down.

 

[Freela]

First of all... what a cutie. Secondly, I think some weight loss is inevitable for older pigs, and they lose muscle mass as they age. You can often feel this through their shoulders/hips... you can feel the bones more clearly, as there is less muscle overlying it. Because muscle is heavier than fat, this can result in an older pig being lighter than they were in peak condition without necessarily lacking anything in their diet. I would weigh weekly at least to make sure there is no sudden change and you can try porridge oats or critical care, but this may just be an inevitable result of aging.