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I think my guinea pig is underweight

  • Thread starter Thread starter Member AR7
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Member AR7

My pig Navi, he's about a year and a half now. I just weighed him and my scale said 1lb 12oz. I translated that to grams and it said 793 grams.. and my female, she's a year, she weighs 2lb 4oz aka 1,020 grams. Should I be worried? I cannot afford to take either of them to the vet. Is this a medical issue? Should I feed my sow less and my boy more? My sow is with her daughter and I feed them 4 tablespoons of pellets every day and my boy 2 tablespoons.. what do I do?
 
No that’s normal. Guinea pigs vary in weight all the time . A female should weigh from 700 to 1000 ish they can be a little more or less.
 
I'm very worried. I cannot afford to pay for a vet bill. I'm living with my mom and grandma. My mom will start working on Monday.. we can't afford an expensive bill right now.

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Just weigh your piggy’s every other day and if it drops below 700g consider increasing the amount of food
 
What was he the last time you weighed him? Has he dropped at all?

All pigs grow at different rates but it would be worth keeping an eye on. My pig Iggy is a year and 5 months almost and is 900-1000 grams now. Does he live on his own or is he neutered and with the girls?
 
My Dennis was only 850g for the around the first 2 years of his life then he started gaining weight. If your piggy is healthy in all other ways I wouldn't worry too much.
 
You should try to start a vet bill fund.
Bills can be high and never come at a good time.
It’s worth saving a bit at a time from earnings or pocket money.
 
Julia Norden said:
My pig Navi, he's about a year and a half now. I just weighed him and my scale said 1lb 12oz. I translated that to grams and it said 793 grams.. and my female, she's a year, she weighs 2lb 4oz aka 1,020 grams. Should I be worried? I cannot afford to take either of them to the vet. Is this a medical issue? Should I feed my sow less and my boy more? My sow is with her daughter and I feed them 4 tablespoons of pellets every day and my boy 2 tablespoons.. what do I do?
Click to expand...

Hi! The individual weight can vary much more than you'd think, but it should be fairly stable in adults.

Please take the time to read this guide here. It shows you how you can judge whether a piggy is a good weight for its individual size at all stages in its life (by feeling the ribcage), what is a normal range and when you need to see a vet and what you can do with overweight or underweight piggies - if they really are this.
I have got several naturally dinky piggies that struggle to reach 800g but are perfectly well in themselves. My two sisters are going to turn 7 years over the summer so it doesn't impact on longevity, as little as it does with smaller humans. ;)
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight


PS: Can you start saving up a little for a vet fund every week as part of their maintenance cost, so you can afford to see a vet in an emergency whenever that becomes necessary?
 
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