General question regarding hay intake monitoring

Gadzy

Gadzy

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Hello,

I have one Guniea pig who since I had her is very fussy and will make out she is hungry and hold out as long as possible for treats, greens and nuggets. Very very selective and I freshen hay up daily and numerous times daily to

I was wondering and I think someone did mention it in an old thread on one of my sadly passed pigs that hay is the key for them maintaining their weight? I weigh mine weekly same time and day etc, but I am struggling to work out if she is eating enough hay etc.

I have orchard hay and Timothy, the other Guniea pig loves her hay and eats any form of hay and sometimes is there eating hay even when the greens come. Good sign! The other is the total opposite. If she was just eating greens and nuggets would her weight be stable or no?

Just trying to learn and work out a few things which is in the best interest of her healthy diet and of course teeth!

Many thanks ☺️
 
Yes hay is their main food intake and when you feed in the right proportions then it is hay which maintains their weight.
One cup of veg per day and one tablespoon of nuggets per day and then 75-80% of their food intake is hay.

If you overfeed veg and nuggets then it is possible for a piggy to maintain weight on those but not be eating enough hay.

So the question comes down to whether you are feeding the correct portion sizes of veg and nuggets and/or whether she is eating just her own portion or whether she may also be pinching her friends!
 
Thank you! I am going to cut right down on the pellets and maybe even take them away for a couple of days and see. Her weight is stable and good from the last couple of weeks, but I wasn’t sure if it because she was pinching others greens etc and she is choosing the nuggets over her hay I see it often! She is very very bossy
 
Nuggets do need to be just one tablespoon (for a multitude of health reasons) but if you have been overfeeding them and then you stop then you may see weight loss but it’s not necessarily unhealthy weight loss - it can be loss of yellow fat.

You could hand feed veg portions to each piggy and even handfeed a few nuggets each so you can be sure nobody is eating more than they should and then see what happens with her weight
 
Thanks for the help :)… she’s been eating more of the Timothy hay this evening. I kind of wish she preferred the orchard hay because it’s softer and it puts my mind at ease knowing it’s hard to get a hay poke from that!

Is it best to just have it led more flat on the floor to try minimise this? It could be because it’s a new type of hay to her so it’s more interesting too?
 
yes it could be that she is interested in a new type of hay

Yes keep a pile of Timothy quite flat on the floor
 
Not sure what you suggest, I think it was just a new hay she was interested in, but not sure if this is a normal behaviour from pigs, but I’m currently using orchard hay and the blend Timothy from hay box. She just seems to be picking out certain bits and leaving the rest… it could be the type of Timothy she doesn’t like? Trouble is I have a lot of it. Might need to try a meadow hay next and see or she’s just a super fussy eater? May not do greens or pellets to see? She seems to be interested in the slightly smaller bits, not the big long strands that are bigger than her lol
 
Yes they can be picky and what was good last week is despised the next week!

As you are using the blend, are you finding she is eating the softer leaf parts and leaving the hard stalky bits? If so then I am not actually surprised. My experience of the coarse cut Timothy (and consequently the blend version given it contains it) is that they hate it! Not one of my animals will eat stalky Timothy at all - I’m also not alone in that, I know I’ve seen others on here say the same thing.
I feed just meadow hay. I used to give some orchard as well but haven’t done for a year or so.

I would not withhold veg.
If you are giving the right size veg portion and as I suggested giving it to them by hand feeding then she cannot be eating more than her share.
What has her weight done over the last few weeks?
 
What are classed at the leafy bits? She definitely picks out all the fuzzy seed heads, don’t think she likes those long hard stalky bits no. It’s more the softer grass bits which are smaller strands also.

I have cut back on the pellets to the normal amount and greens and her weight is OK, I don’t think it has dropped much and her poo looks good, so she might be eating more than I think? Just when I watch her it’s very picky eating with the hay, she just wants me to be giving nuggets all the time, claiming she’s hungry!

I’ll try some of the meadow hay from haybox and maybe mix it in with the blend haybox hay. Think my old pigs weren’t sure of the blend mix hay, can’t remember
 
The softer grass bits are the leafy bits. Most do like the seed heads. So all in all, she doesn’t sound to be a fussy piggy and actually she sounds to be perfectly normal. They are supposed to forage through and pick out the nicest bits.

They are also masters of manipulation. They are like toddlers and will try to get sweets all the time. To them the nuggets are the sweets. It’s important you don’t give in as she will then demand more and more as she then knows you are a soft touch!

If her weight is stable and nothing else is being over fed, then she sounds to be absolutely fine to me.
 
Is the meadow hay from hay box quite coarse still? I can’t remember trying it
 
Gadzy said:
Is the meadow hay from hay box quite coarse still? I can’t remember trying it
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I don’t use haybox anymore - was cross with the way they changed their delivery limits without notifying. I amended a subscription order and suddenly found my order no longer within the delivery criteria.

I get my meadow hay by the bale from a local farm for a fraction of the cost of haybox
 
Hello again and thanks for all your time and help

Bit of an update, I have cut back to the required pellets and veg and they have both lost a bit of weight, understandable I guess?

They are definitely very picky with their hay and I am starting to get a bit worried. It’s not going down much and I am refreshing it. I’m gonna pop out and try get some meadow hay. I think the foraging aspect is throwing me off a bit, nibbling and one bit then discarding and then constantly looking for seed heads and if not there their like blow this! I’m more worried about their teeth if they’re not eating enough hay. Health wise they seem fine…
 
How much weight have they lost?

As I said they will lose weight if you were previously overfeeding pellets but have now cut down. That’s not necessarily a problem.
Monitor daily for a while longer and see what happens. If their weights stabilise then they are eating enough hay and there are no concerns.
 
Gadzy said:
Is the meadow hay from hay box quite coarse still? I can’t remember trying it
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I find it quite coarse, though not as coarse as some I’ve bought. Mine will eat a fair bit of it, as a change from their usual timothy hay.
 
Yes you do. You don’t want them to be left with only the bits they deem not good enough/inedible.
Mine get new hay twice a day regardless of what condition the remaining hay is in - they want to be able to forage through fresh hay and adding fresh hay usually sparks their excitement
 
Yeah, it’s a strange one, she’s obviously lost weight cause she’s not constantly woofing pellets now and veg. I have three different piles in there with orchard Timothy blend and meadow hay in separate piles. She just constantly looking for big seed heads in the blend and if she can’t find any she’s looking at me like what’s the rest of this stuff?! I’m not sure I can try anymore. She was around 1110 when eating more of the pellets and veg and was around 1075 first thing this morning. Trouble is I don’t know what her stable weight was or is cause she’s only 8 months old so will probably need to see over the next week if it’s stabilises around 1075 each morning?
 
Gadzy said:
Yeah, it’s a strange one, she’s obviously lost weight cause she’s not constantly woofing pellets now and veg. I have three different piles in there with orchard Timothy blend and meadow hay in separate piles. She just constantly looking for big seed heads in the blend and if she can’t find any she’s looking at me like what’s the rest of this stuff?! I’m not sure I can try anymore. She was around 1110 when eating more of the pellets and veg and was around 1075 first thing this morning. Trouble is I don’t know what her stable weight was or is cause she’s only 8 months old so will probably need to see over the next week if it’s stabilises around 1075 each morning?
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That is only a 35g difference so would still be well within normal fluctuation at this point (and likely due to the reduction in pellets) so not of concern.
She needs to lose at least 50g for you to have to become worried about her
 
Gadzy said:
Yeah, it’s a strange one, she’s obviously lost weight cause she’s not constantly woofing pellets now and veg. I have three different piles in there with orchard Timothy blend and meadow hay in separate piles. She just constantly looking for big seed heads in the blend and if she can’t find any she’s looking at me like what’s the rest of this stuff?! I’m not sure I can try anymore. She was around 1110 when eating more of the pellets and veg and was around 1075 first thing this morning. Trouble is I don’t know what her stable weight was or is cause she’s only 8 months old so will probably need to see over the next week if it’s stabilises around 1075 each morning?
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It’s tricky …. mine can be a bit picky - I find putting fresh hay in 2 x daily as @Piggies&buns says does encourage them to be more Interested and eat - I sometimes put a bit of forage mixed in with the hay
One week they prefer one type the next week another
You could order some sample boxes from hay suppliers and maybe put some hay in a cardboard box …it’s a bit of fun for them
As you say monitoring the weight over these next few days will give you a better idea
Good luck
 
Piggies&buns said:
That is only a 35g difference so would still be well within normal fluctuation at this point (and likely due to the reduction in pellets) so not of concern.
She needs to lose at least 50g for you to have to become worried about her
Click to expand...
If I was overfeeding greens and pellets, if she lost 50grams, would that still be in the ok wheelhouse? They are going to loose a fair bit I think because I’ve put their diet in more of a balanced one
 
Roselina said:
It’s tricky …. mine can be a bit picky - I find putting fresh hay in 2 x daily as @Piggies&buns says does encourage them to be more Interested and eat - I sometimes put a bit of forage mixed in with the hay
One week they prefer one type the next week another
You could order some sample boxes from hay suppliers and maybe put some hay in a cardboard box …it’s a bit of fun for them
As you say monitoring the weight over these next few days will give you a better idea
Good luck
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think their both gonna loose some now I have their diet more balanced. It may take a few days for the weight to stabilise on the balanced diet, if it’s significantly less by midweek I’ll pop her to the vets, but I think it’s ok! It’s hard to tell at the minute as I don’t know what her normal weight is as she’s been growing etc
 
I reckon more than double the amount, and she would woof them all. Always at the bowl till they’re gone. I’m getting in a bit of a mess with which hay to feed as I have so many so I’ve mixed it all in one and throwing it in there. It’s only been a couple of days on the proper diet so she may still be loosing some? I have asked the vet to just check her teeth over in case to be sure. Her poo looks normal/good on the diet of less pellets and veg so she must be eating hay otherwise it would be really runny?
 
Piggies&buns said:
I know you have reduced their pellets now, but how much were you giving them?
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Just trying a samples box from happy hay. They absolutely woofed the sweet green hay which is a rye grass or isit a mix? Not sure they can eat a lot of that one? The meadow hay from them is nice and soft too so might get some of that. What’s your thoughts
 
Oh I forgot to say the vets checked her teeth etc and said all ok, nothing should be stopping her eating, no spurs etc so think she’s just fussy! 😫
 
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