It's all my fault! Terrible guinea pig owner..

[Napalm]

I've just realized it's my fault Houdini is sick...and Picasso is well on his way. At the moment Houdini seems fine, he's not making that horrible crackling sound at all, and hasn't for hours. It's strange...but a relief for now...

Anyway, I now know why Houdini is having so many problems...because I have been stupid and spoilt him rotten with several serves of fruit and vegetables a day as well as random handfulls of pellets and lots and lots of grass. I have a big weakness for when my boys stand up on their hind legs and go nuts for me. This whole time I've thought I've been kind by giving into the boys standing up and begging for treats constantly, I've been making them sick...they are both quite porky, especially Picasso who however at this point seems fine. They both have pink/purple patches on their paws and have a history of URIs which have been treated, but even though the vet weighed the boys he never told me they were getting too big...ugh. Starting tomorrow morning the boys are going on a diet. It's not like I feed them a huge amount, usually it's the cup of 3 vegies a day plus grass and pellets, but when I'm out which is most days my mother likes to feed them apples, rock mellon, water mellon, tomatos...

I just thought to share this with new guinea pig owners on here who are going to be tempted to spoil their piggies that stand up and beg for treats. Please don't do it, because of my carelessness my boys are sick and I've spent a lot of money on vet bills as a result...hopefully reading this might stop someone making the same mistake...and always, make sure you are the only one that feeds your pigs and not other family members who walk past the cage and see a porky piggy stand up and beg them for snacks they don't need.

 

[daftscotslass]

Well in many years of owning piggies I can pretty safely say I have never met a truly overweight piggy. Just how heavy IS heavy? I have had piggies weigh upwards of 1.5kg and they aren't overweight, just big pigs. That's what your piggy in the photo looks like to me.

If their feet are red and patchy, what are you bedding them on?

What you are/were feeding them sounds fine to me bar the grass (offer unlimited hay instead), the only things I would omit are the fruits which should really be an occasional treat.

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Please don't feel bad, honestly it sounds like a coincidence. Some pigs are prone to illness, genetically so in a few cases, in which case all you can do is look after them as well as possible and just deal with anything that comes along.

As Lorna said, you do get big pigs, some can weigh as much as 1800g and still be fit and healthy, as long as the weight is proportionate to the size. You can overfeed piggies, but veggies don't really add to weight gain; it is the dry food that is to blame, and lack of exercise can contribute. This thread may help:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38805

Repeated respiratory infections can be symptomatic of other medical conditions, but I would first look at when the symptoms appear, what symptoms they are, and consider the environment and if the problem could be an allergy (sensitivity), rather than a bacterial infection.

 

[Wiebke]

Behind a history of URI's can be either a dust allergy or a heart problem, so it's always good to check those possibilities out.

Please be careful when easing your boys into a new diet regime. Do it slowly - a little bit less every day; don't cut them down completely from one day to the next, so their bodies can adjust and they can still make sense out of their life. Try to give them their treats in a way they have to work for them - hide them, so they have to look for them.

If your boys are really overweight, cut down on the dry food and reduce it over the course of two weeks. Reduce the veg to the 1 cupful per piggy per day of MIXED veg. If you want to give treats, rather give a LITTLE bit of fresh or dried herb (parsley, coriander, basil, dill, fennel, mint), but be aware that dried plants contain much more calcium and should only be given in small amounts or you get a problem with bladder stones. You can also try to get hold of apple or berry twigs for your boys to chew on when they feel hungry.

You can easily grow herbs in pots on the windowsill.

 

[Cyberpig]

I've been feeding my piggy all the things you were feeding yours, and he is almost 6 years old. He now can't eat sugary fruit anymore (leading to bloat), but otherwise plenty of vegetables (especially slightly gritty root vegetables) and some grass from time to time should be fine (he is not fat, but long, but runs around a lot). As others have said on here, some piggies just have a genetic disposition to become ill, it's not your fault. My previous two piggies were brothers and were bred to be blond (one of them was indeed dark haired). They both lived up to almost 5 1/2 and 6 years, but they suffered from a lot of different things (bumblefoot, kidney problems, skin problems, heart problems). My current pig is a "mongrel" and his parents were from very different backgrounds, and he has hardly any problems. Don't be too hard on yourself, just give your piggies plenty of exercise.

 

[squeakies]

i have two 18month old boars. chas weighs 1200g and dave weighs 1650g. they both eat the same food and dave is not a greedy pig. he has lots of exercise so I'm not worrying. i have mentioned this to the vet but he was not concerned as some pigs are big. i will need a hoist for him soon if he gets any bigger!

 

[econerd]

sounds like your feeding them the right stuff to me.

A tip about the respiratory problems, What do you use to clean them with? washing up liquid, bleach, proper small animal cleaner? Also cut out all aerosols in the room where they are. Air fresheners, deo, plug ins, anything stinky that gets into the air. The chemicals are bad for both you and them. Air fresheners dont get rid of the smell, just make it stink of something else. Also what bedding do you use? try care fresh or newspaper instead of sawdust.

Ive also read on here that a bit of watered down cranberry juice is good too keep away urinary infections and they like it.

He looks fine to me. Like someone else said, some animals are just more prone to problems than others. we have been lucky with ours but we had one we lost to a continual urine infection she couldn't shift and another to a chest infection.
they don't need all that much dried food, they should be on mainly hay with a few veggies, ours beg all the time but we dont always give in, and if we do its only a little bit of something, and as we have 5 (now 6 ) one carrot doesn't go very far. also dont be tempted to chop it all up, give them a nice chunk of carrot or apple so they have to lift it up and chase it around, gives them a bit more work to eat it. or chop it up tiny and hide it around for them to find, if they really want it they will go find it. We dont put any of our vegies in a bowl. We either let them out in the house and they have to come up to us to get it or we spread it around the floor.

Our girls love floor time. we built a hatch into the cage so they que up and wait to come out, we open it up and they all file out and have a run around, then they get their food. they also enjoy a warm day outside on the lawn. they have been out this morning running about but they are all worn out now and gone to sleep. they're all in here somewhere, lol.

 

[bexholmez14]

what veg is best daily? and is the dried food best measured? and should I keep the hay topped up at all times? (I'm a newbie?!)

 

[econerd]

any veg is ok, variety is the spice of life as they say. Cabbage, carrots, greens, a bit of apple, cucumber, grass, mine wont touch pears, mushrooms or oranges that r too sour, i have to get the kidys ones which are sweater lol, they dont get that very often.

And hay, just chuck more in when they ate it all, i get my hay from a farm i volunteers at so I'm lucky and can get sac full of it for nothing so i just pile it in there. they like to hide and play in it.

If you look on the pack of dried food it should tell you the measurement of what they should have, each one is different. I dont measure mine but i have 8 now together with the 4 babies so you cant really measure how much each one gets. I just fill the bowl up once a day, thats usually enough for them, they dont tend to eat it all anyway, they eat mostly hay. the dry stuff isn't all that important if they are getting enough hay and some veg, the dry stuff is what usually makes them fat, depends how many pigs * got but a small bowl full a day should be adequate.

 

[Laura-CCC4]

what veg is best daily? and is the dried food best measured? and should I keep the hay topped up at all times? (I'm a newbie?!)

Hi Bex, welcome to the forum.

The following thread may answer some of your questions with regards to feeding amounts:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38805

And the following threads may help with figuring out what veg to feed:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37030
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=42
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=49339