Harvey The Picky Piggie. . .

Barnyard Boars

Barnyard Boars

Junior Guinea Pig
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My Harv has always been kind of a picky eater, I feel like he doesn’t eat AS MUCH as he should, could be wrong. He loves veggies and such, but doesn’t seem to go crazy over pellets. I tried switching him off Tiny Friends Farm to Oxbow but just feel like he used to get excited over TFF and not at all for Oxbow and will barely touch it... he’s not as heavy as I’d like, is there a type of hay I could mix up with my Timothy to maybe excite him a bit more?
 
Guinea pigs are like people with their own tastes.
Mine aren’t overly keen on their pellets but as they make up less than 20% of the diet it’s not a problem.
So long as Harvey has plenty of hay which is about 80% of the diet and is eating veggies he should be fine.
Is his weight within the range for a piggy his age?
Is he pooping and wearing?
Check out the food threads on the forum for good advice
 
I’ve been reading lots on the food threads :D. He’s pretty good munching on the hay, maybe I’m just to used to how my Skinnie ate. He won’t touch anything with a vitamin C supplement unless it’s a red pepper lol, so sad as I stopped using the liquid drops as I read they didn’t do much, then got Oxbow tabs and he just won’t do it! :(
I assume he’s getting enough from his diet though so I’m not too worried about the supplementation.
He’s weighing in at 851g today which kind of worries me, however he doesn’t seem to be underweight. I’m also not sure of his age as he was bought from pet store, if I were to guess he’d be at least a year. I’m not loving his weight, that’s why I was curious if maybe I could mix up some hay or something different that’d put on a couple pounds. Would Orchard/Meadow help? :hmm:
 
I don’t know enough to comment on his weight but there are some experts on the forum who will be along later.
I never give my girls vit C supplement- they get enough from their food. Mine love red pepper too.
I use a wide variety of hays so they don’t get bored.
 
Mine love meadow hay the most, they also get Timothy. Pellets are the least important part of the diet so I wouldn't worry to much if he won't eat many, mines favourite are JR Farm grainless. I don't feed vitc suppliments as they eat a small piece of pepper every day plus other food including hay that contains vitc. Some pigs are very picky over their food, I find mine change their minds frequently about what they like. One of my pairs wouldn't eat peppers at all to start with but by leaving a little bit in the cage several times a week for 10 months it suddenly became one of their favourite foods!
 
Hi, Don't worry if he isn't eating the pellets so long as he is eating fresh veg and plenty of hay and maintaining his weight. Guinea pigs come in different sizes, most adults will weigh more than 850 but not all and as you say you don't know his age so he may still have a lot of growing to do.

Do not expect him to eat as much as skinnies. As they are hairless they need to eat huge amounts more than normal pigs as they burn off so much energy keeping warm. If you are worried about his weight weigh him daily at the same time/ same point in his routine.
 
As long as he hasn't lost weight you're doing good! He could still grow some more so you never know. One of my girls was the runt of her litter, she's 2 and a half years old and she last weighed in at 870 grams whilst her sister is around a kilo :)

My boy Iggy was quite poorly when I first got him and he's a year and a few months at 840 grams.

Hay is the main thing, so it's great he's eating plenty of that! :)
 
Don't worry too much about his weight as long as he is keeping it steady that is all that matters. Dennis was the runt of the litter and at his heaviest weighs in at 875g. This morning he was 840g. He tucks into hay like it's going out of fashion, loves his veggies and pellets. He is a very healthy and happy boy. The vet said he was large for a runt too! Maybe Harv is the runt too. What you need to be concerned about is the heft. Here is a bit of light night time reading for you:-

The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
 
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