Healthy but fattening foods!

Status
Not open for further replies.
JayneG

JayneG

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
744
Reaction score
3
Points
310
Location
Chingford, London
I'm trying to keep my Erics weight up. He's 4.5 years old and has been losing weight recently. Vet not sure why but says could be his age. So I'm feeding critical care via syringe, but wondered what "good" fattening foods I can give? Do you know of any particular good veg I can give?

I'm going to cook some veg tonight and puree or maybe try some organic veggie baby food. I want to fatten him up if I can (within reason obviously!). He's gone from 1300 to 1060g and I don't want it going down any more.

He's on and off wanting the cc. Good idea to slip a spot of ribena in for encourage him (the no sugar one obv). He's off to vet for check up tomorrow.

Any tips highly appreciated please!
 
Good purreed foods like carrots, parsnip,, anything that can be mashed up. Obviously all veg is good for them but too much of one thing canbe bad so maybe mix it up as much as possible.

I would say banana but you don't wan to make him bunged up. The critical care is fantastic, it has everything he needs in that so just keep giving that and supplement with the veggies and not the other way around.

Good idea with the CC is wrap him in a towel or blanket and hold him upright to your stomach he will have to take the cc then, it sounds cruel but really its not and he will take it this way.

Hope he will be ok,

Louise
x
 
so it's def ok to boil the veg then? Wasn't sure if that was bad thing or not. He's such a wriggler and very good at avoiding the syringe. I think it's going to have to be a towel wrap! :-)
 
Galen's NutriPowder did a lot better at helping my dental pig gain weight, when given as a supplement to the regular diet. Critical Care did nothing for her, she needed weight gain and CC just wasn't doing that. Within a few weeks on NutriPowder she'd put a few hundred grams back on and was at her normal weight. She held it without any NutriPowder for some weeks, but other health problems came along which made her lose weight again, so she is on daily supplmenting with this for life. It does help her maintain her weight when given in a small dish daily.

Rolled/crushed oats or bran are also supposedly good for weight gain but I have no experience or knowledge of these yet.
 
Well boiling veg takes out the nutritional value, can you blend raw (can tell I'm a novice in the kitchen...lol) As long as it is cooled down it should be ok but I would prefer to give raw. :)
 
Right I'll look for this now. Is it easy to get in local stores do you know? I'm on it now thanks!
 
It's condition you need to put on, not weight - as such. There are 'fattening' foods like alfalfa, but the important thing is his condition. You can get a free sample of nutri-powder, which I did, and my underweight pig ate it happily but then he likes CC too. If they are eating voluntarily there is no need to syringe critical care, you can mush it up and feed it in a cucumber 'bowl' or a stick of celery or even wrap it in lettuce - they normally eat it quite happily then!

Good luck at the vets

Sophie
x
 
He was eating voluntarily, but seemed to go off it but this morning liked it again! I just bought some of the nutripowder and will try him with that too. Yes and sneaking some in via the veggie is a great idea.

Do you mean alfalfa hay?
 
Yes he's eating hay, pellets and fresh stuff. Other piggie is far greedier than he, but I don't want him getting below a kilo.
 
Alfalfa is fattening but obviously there is the issue with calcium content. My dental pig (Tuppy) doesn't tolerate much excess calcium; she's also 4.5 years old. Anything more than carrot or a bit of parsley and she's leaving chalky deposits in her pee. Some pigs will cope okay, but you'd have to weigh up the pros and cons.
 
Yes I wouldn't want to overdo the calcium, but he has kale and copes with this well. I wouldn't give both at the same time. They wouldn't argue though would they!
 
Someone's told me beetroot is a good conditioner but the leaves are poisonous.
 
I don't think I've ever tried them with raw beetroot, that'd be something new and interesting for them. Not sure about the leaves either but I think they're ok - anyone else know?

Love your pic - those piggie cheeks!
 
Aww thank you, that's my Daphne. She has a really lovely round face. x)

I'm almost 100% sure the leaves are poisonous, but if you top and tail the actual beetroot (cut off top and bottom) and feed the middle bit, that should be okay? Please wait for someone to confirm as I don't want you poisoning your guineas because of me! :x
 
Last edited:
Aaah well Daphne is adorable!

Yes I don't think I'll try the leaves either then. I'd rather be safe than sorry. But I think I try the actual beetroot with them. That'd be something new and hopefully tasty for them.

Eric went to vet this morning. I'm to continue feeding CC and giving bio lapis. He says he's happy enough though so I'm just to keep an eye on his weight. I'm having some nutripowder delivered too so will try that with him. Vet says to keep his weight over 1kg. He's put on 15g in one day (1086g this morning) so that's a good sign at least.
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
Well boiling veg takes out the nutritional value, can you blend raw (can tell I'm a novice in the kitchen...lol) As long as it is cooled down it should be ok but I would prefer to give raw. :)
Click to expand...

You can juice things like carrots but i dont think blending raw veg would work. Steaming is the best thing if you are going to blend it to give it to the pigs you dont even need to use a electrical steamer you can use a metal colander over a saucepan of boiling water with the veg in it all veg takes about 30 mins to be soft enough to blend hope this helps! Steaming takes out hardly any of the good stuff!
 
Thanks, she's a really pretty pig even though I'm biased, she also has blue eyes! xoxoxoxo

I have been and brought beetroot from a farm shop today, I am going to try them with it later, or tomorrow. They come with very long stalks as well as well as the leaves - I'm going to avoid those too, even though I might not need to?
I am going through a similar thing with Minnie, my Tort female. She's only a year old but possibly inbred and has recently been losing weight and has had some hairloss. I am almost 100% sure it's hormonal and we just need to wait for things to settle. In the meantime, I'm bulking her up on unlimited hay, dry bran and porridge oats. Have you tried baby food?
 
Blue eyes? Oh I haven't seen a piggy with blue eyes before!

Well the nutripowder from Galens is a huge hit with Eric. He's put on 40g in the last 5 days. He loves the stuff and is eating lots and is acting like a teenager again (erm he keeps trying to climb on his poor cage-mate!).
I may try some of it myself!

Wondered if this might help for Minnie Tracy?
 
Oh it sounds like it's been a real hit for you!
Well I was syringe feeding Minnie some baby food the other night, and when I'd finished it was raining (the pigs are in the garage, and you have to go outside and in again to get there) so I asked my dad to put her back for me. I told him which hutch she was in and he did it! Well the following morning I went to see the pigs, opened Daphne's hutch and there was Minnie - my dad had only gone and put her back in the wrong one! Ironically she's a lot happier and seems to be eating more in there :{
I am going to look into the Nutripowder and see what Minnie thinks, thank you for the suggestion :)
 
Glad Eric likes the Nutripowder! Beneficial for piggies and beneficial for piggie mummies' purses!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top