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In A Tizz About Weights

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Tigermoth

Tigermoth

Adult Guinea Pig
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Sorry. Me again. I'm not sure how worried i should be about the weight of Jenny. I've posted before about how they don't seem to eat much hay and in all honesty I still see very little get eaten. To be fair though they still hide from me 90% of the time so sometimes I see a flurry of fluff darting out of the tray.

Currently hay is offered in a tray and in a toilet roll tube. It is in the hidey (but I was hoping to stop putting it there, it makes a horrible mess on the fleece) and I have just added a paper bag of it too. There is both timothy and orchard on offer. If I do see anyone nibble then it tends to be on the orchard. But the weight they did gain was when they only had Timothy.

19/1 - 800g (at the rescue)
23/1 - brought home
27/1 - 761g
29/1 - 756g
1/2 - 774g
6/2 - 732g
7/2 - 750g
9/2 - 739g

I have been weighing them at lunchtime, so between veg feeds, which they get at about 8.30 and 6.

If it helps Timmy was weighed on the same days.His weights are 700g, 800g, 802g, 827g, 787g, 807g 815g.

On the 6th we were a bit perplexed by the drop of 40g in them both. Seemed a bit suspicious for it to be the same loss in both of them so we reweighed the following day and there was gain, but not back to where they had been.

Part of my problem is I don't know them well enough to know if they are "well" iyswim. They are both behaving in the same way as they have done since we got them. If anything they are better than they were when we brought them home, but they are still skittish. I've heard the odd sneeze from one of them, not sure which though.

Do I need to do anything or keep on watching?

Thank you so much.
 
What did she weigh on the 23rd January 800g like in rescue on your own scales or has she never weighed 800g on your scales?
 
It's just fine. Guinea-pigs should be between 700-1200g. My guinea-pig was 600g. She hardly ate. Was just a petit guinea-pig. Some are. Just make sure there is no bullying, maybe get her out for 1:1 feeding. If your still concerned you could take her to the vets x
-Emma xx
 
I would not be overly concerned but continue to monitor. If it helps I am weighing my Katie and Fuzzy daily at the moment and they can fluctuate by at least 40g. Katie even gained 75g one day, though she is affected by temperature as she is a skinny. The sneeze was most likely a one off due to dust, but keep an eye out for any crusty eyes or laboured breathing. Could you try some meadow hay too to tempt them?
 
flintstones said:
What did she weigh on the 23rd January 800g like in rescue on your own scales or has she never weighed 800g on your scales?
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I didn't weigh her then, that was just the day we brought her home. She has never weighed 800g on our scales. We did wonder if there was a hiccup in the weight documentation between who was the bigger and smaller of the two as Timmy was 100g up on his first weigh here. But we still have the issue of the loss on our scales now.
 
helen105281 said:
I would not be overly concerned but continue to monitor. If it helps I am weighing my Katie and Fuzzy daily at the moment and they can fluctuate by at least 40g. Katie even gained 75g one day, though she is affected by temperature as she is a skinny. The sneeze was most likely a one off due to dust, but keep an eye out for any crusty eyes or laboured breathing. Could you try some meadow hay too to tempt them?
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Thanks. You say affected by temperature... I am sitting here wrapped in a throw because it is cold in the house. Could they be cold? And burning up sugars in a bid to keep warm? Is this permission to put the heating on...?

I'd been bringing them into the lounge for a bit of floor time, but I know they don't eat then so I shall give that a rest for a couple of days.

Oh and there don't seem to be many poos today. Just a few in the hay tray, none scattered about the place.
 
I would agree with @helen105281, and continue to monitor you may find she has a 30 grams weight increase next week.

Timmy maybe younger which is why his weight is increasing every week. Older piggies tend to stay around the same weight.
 
flintstones said:
I would agree with @helen105281, and continue to monitor you may find she has a 30 grams weight increase next week.

Timmy maybe younger which is why his weight is increasing every week. Older piggies tend to stay around the same weight.
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Doh! You know I hadn't even considered that he might be younger... The paperwork suggests he is the older pig, by a couple of months, but they were rescued from a hoarding type situation so I guess that it was an educated guess to their ages so not carved in stone.
 
Tigermoth said:
Thanks. You say affected by temperature... I am sitting here wrapped in a throw because it is cold in the house. Could they be cold? And burning up sugars in a bid to keep warm? Is this permission to put the heating on...?

I'd been bringing them into the lounge for a bit of floor time, but I know they don't eat then so I shall give that a rest for a couple of days.

Oh and there don't seem to be many poos today. Just a few in the hay tray, none scattered about the place.
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It's possible but Katie has no hair so that is why she is affected.
 
Jenny has lost again. Stayed the same last week and down to 725g today :( Timmy also down to 795g.

I don't get it, they have hay, they do sometimes eat it but still not as much as I would have expected. They have discovered they can get under the fleece though so seem transfixed by being under there. Hope the novelty of that wears off as I think they have eaten less the last couple of days.
 
That could be why, if they stay under there and don't get up to eat. My Sophie used to do that and we literally have to to use about 30 bulldog clips round the edge of the cage (3 by 3 C and C).
 
helen105281 said:
That could be why, if they stay under there and don't get up to eat. My Sophie used to do that and we literally have to to use about 30 bulldog clips round the edge of the cage (3 by 3 C and C).
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They really are down an evolutionary cul-de-sac aren't they? Managed to land themselves with a gut that requires constant priming with minimal calories for maximum effort, attractive to every predator that thinks it fancies a snack and so can't manage to get over the comfort of a good hidey hole to get that nutrition. Honestly. They are right up there with pandas. It's only their ability to breed that keeps them going as a species...
 
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