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My piggy is eating very little veggies! 😳

Jessika Wilson

Jessika Wilson

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I have a piggy, James, who is 18 months old.
We have seen big behaviour changes in him over the past month, he is not as giddy and he is more calm and placid around our older piggy who is 2. He has mellowed out a lot as before he couldn't lay down for more than a minute without running around.
James used to eat a lot of veggies and although he isn't over weight I always worried that I was feeding him too much, he has a bowl of mixed veg once on a morning and once on a night, these last few weeks James hasn't eaten many veggies but still eating hay and nuggets, we was worried about him and took him to see the vet who gave him an injection to try and encourage him to eat which didn't really work but he said that he couldn't find anything wrong with him he just must be having a "off few days". The off few days have turned into weeks so we took James to see the vet again, still couldn't find anything. I have moved things around in his bedroom (he has the box room so he has lots of playing space) and moved his bed to see if it was boredom or he needed a change but still the same.
I am really worried that James isn't well, as only picking at veg when he feels like it isn't the norm for him but he is fine in himself apart from that, drinking lots and eating hay etc, still happily playing about. Can anyone give me any advice please?
 
Hay needs to make up the biggest part of his diet - around 85% of his diet needs to be hay. Veggies and nuggets are only a tiny part of their diet - they should only be viewed as supplementary only. It is far too easy to overfeed veggies. They only need one tablespoon of nuggets once per day and around 50g of veggies per day, whether you feed them in one go or split it up into two is up to you, but you say he has a bowl twice a day which could be construed as overfeeding depending on the size of bowl!

Have you been weighing him regularly?
 
The recommendation is about 1 cup of veggies per day per pig .
Hay makes up 80% of the diet.
The best thing to do initially is to weigh him each day and keep a note of his weight.
If he is losing weight you will be able to tell from this.
A variation of +/- 30g is nothing to worry about but a steady loss suggests some issue.
You did the right thing in taking him to the vet
 
Thanks for your advice guys 😊
I think I may of been over feeding him, his bowl is quite small but he has maybe a cup and half of veg a day. I have been weighing him for the last few days and he has been 2lb 10oz/2lb 11oz and hasn't had any loss of weight, I'm guessing the number would start decreasing if there was something going on? I have had a look on Google (though I hate to do this as information commonly contradicts itself) and that's a healthy weight for a piggy? Is that right?
Thanks again!
 
Healthy weight varies so much from piggy to piggy so as long as his weight isnt going down, then don’t worry.
 
Check the forum information threads for advice.
The info is excellent and is the result of years of experience.
It will help avoid confusion of conflicting advice.

Weight can vary.
I have one sow whose normal weight is around 1300g. She is perfectly healthy and active.
If my other 2 girls were that weight they would be seriously overweight as for them ‘normal’ is around 1150g.

Piggies are as unique as people.
 
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