Lightweight pig?

[gus and jack]

Has anyone got any tips on bulking up a piggy. Gus is about 6-7 months old but he still weighs under 700g. e fluctuates between 600 and 660 at the moment, the stress of travelling up the country for xmas caused him to lose a few grams I think but he's since gained them back. He's always been small, when I got him he was only slightly bigger than a large hamster and that was in October. My other pig Jack is 1kg and they both get exactly the same amount of food. Jack can't be stealing Gus's because they stopped getting on and I separated them. The only difference I can think of is pellets. I changed from pets@home nuggets to supa burgess pellets in December and it took me forever to get Gus to eat them and he possibly doesn't eat as many of them now as he used to. I would really like to get him up to a more robust weght.

 

[Aiki]

When I got my piggy she was only 2-3 months old and weighed only around 350 grams for the longest time. I then switched her pellets from nutriphase to oxbow's cavy performance and she gained 65 grams in 5 days. I don't know if that had anything to do with her pellets or not though.

 

[daftscotslass]

Pets at home pellets for guinea pigs are almost identical in ingredients to Supa Excel. Bear in mind he isn't anywhere near fully grown and probably will have a spurt of growth between now and 10 months old.

 

[baby piggie]

My piggie who i got from a pet shop a month ago is still quite small, i have no idea how old he is. I hope he gets a bit bigger soon, i am assuming that he is about 2 - 3 months old.

 

[piglover]

They do vary in size alot some piggies are just small and stay small, others are big and just get bigger! My 4 month rex is bigger than my 5 year old dutch! I should have called him 'Digby' I keep thinking I'm going to come home or wake up to a huge piggy with bits of cage hanging off him - he's huge! His 5 month cage mate is very small - probably a good thing though!

 

[maryh]

Do not worry too much about how much dry mix a piggie eats.80% of the food intake should be hay,fresh or dry grass,herbs,veg and fruit,in that order.The only guidelines for dry mix is that it should be free from all chemicals including colourants,and have a protien level of not more than 13 %.The mixes that contain molasses should not be fed.Some pigs remain around the 2lb mark and live long healthy lives.Like people,gp sizes can vary very much.I have a sow who is only 1lb.5ozs but she is as active as her friends.She has never been more than 2lb and is now 6yrs old.At the other end of the scale I have a boar who weighs in at 3lb. 14 ozs !.Mind you.he is a lazy whatsit.The only time to be concerned about weight is if there is a sudden bid drop in a short period,or a small continuing loss over a few weeks.Having said that the weights can fluctuate quite a bit and this is normal.Most piggies on reaching the sixth year lose weight slowly. Mary

 

[Pumpkinpiggie]

I have one boar who was an only piggie at birth. Rimmer is now 16 weeks old and is nearly as big as my sows already and they are nearly a year old. Each piggie is different in size.