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New Owner Of Guinea Pigs Please Help

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Martin knight

Martin knight

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Hello and thank you for reading I sincerely hope you can help me. My name is Martin I live in the U.K. and I am a proud owner of two wonderful piggies.

Fox and Rocky are both boars and we bought them from a private seller through a local school breeding program, this is a legit run program we did a lot of research beforehand.

As a new owner I am struggling with their feeding primarily i stock them up with a cup full of veggies every evening, I give them muesli with pellets and fresh hay every evening too. But I am concerned as they are 11 weeks old one weighs 330 grams and the other is 354 grams. From what I have read within these very helpful forums this is underweight should I take them to a vet because they have not gained weight in the last week and seem not to have touched their muesli with pellets.

Thanks in advance a new and concerned forum member!
 
Hello and welcome to the forum

Here are a bundle of useful links which we call a starter kit for new owners." Starter Kit" Of Information Threads For New Owners

A piggy's diet should be 80% fresh hay, with the remaining 20% bring fresh veg and finally pellets. Mueseli feeds are not very good for piggies as they tend to pick out some parts they like and leave the fibre. Piggies need a lot of fibre. It is best to feed a complete pellet which includes VIT C.

Piggies vary a lot in weight and even within the day the weight can fluctuate. For example if you weigh after a meal they can seem heavier. If you weigh after a wee they can weigh lighter. So it's a good idea to weigh at the same time for comparison.


Is it possible that they are filling themselves up on hay and veg and leaving the pellets? Have you seen them both eating? If they are not eating or if they are eating less then it would be good to get them vet checked as loss of appetite in piggies is a worrying feature.
 
Thank you for your kind reply I will stop feeding muesli and get pellets this weekend.

We are noticing that practically all the hay is eaten and they eat all the veggies we provide, cabbage, carrot, cucumber etc.

They do have a good appetite but they haven't gained weight in a week.
 
Martin knight said:
Thank you for your kind reply I will stop feeding muesli and get pellets this weekend.

We are noticing that practically all the hay is eaten and they eat all the veggies we provide, cabbage, carrot, cucumber etc.

They do have a good appetite but they haven't gained weight in a week.
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That's good they're eating all the hay.Make sure they have a constant supply and it's good you're switching from muesli to nuggets.
 
A good tip is that with piggies is you can never give too much hay. I give mine fresh hay in huge piles twice a day and even then there are days I have to give more as they've eaten most of it. Hay is excellent fibre and also keeps their teeth ground down so don't worry - you can never over feed hay.

I'd weigh them in a few days at the same time eg before or after a meal whatever is your preference and then see what change there has been. If they are eating well and are perky there is no immediate problem. However if they still don't gain weight in a few days then I would consider a vet visit.
 
Thanks very much for your advise i have given them more hay this morning as what I gave them last night had all been eaten. Perhaps I was giving them too little?

I will weigh them in a few days and see whether there is an improvement
 
Make sure they have unlimited hay. Always best to be changing left over hay than them running out. It is the most important part of their diet as Vicki has said above. They may not like the brand of pellets possibly? Wagg/Harringtons Optimum go down a treat as do Burgess normally. Weigh once a week, those weights wouldn't concern me... You may find they have a growth spurt soon.
 
Welcome... mine get tons of hay - twice a day.. sometimes it all goes, sometimes there is some left but its fresh twice daily cos they poo and wee on it and lets face it... no one wants to eat it after that ...... :D
 
Thanks for everyone's advice I have given hay by the bucket load since this advice has come in and I will be getting wagg on Saturday to see if this helps in anyway!

You have all given great advice so thank you for that I'll keep you posted on their weight
 
Hello guys as promised am update on my future one and pigs weight. Thanks to you all they are improving massively.

Rocky has put on 29 grams in two days and Fox has put on 27 grams.
This is such a good improvement, I am now feeding wagg mix which they love, unlimited hay and two cups of veggies daily.

Thanks for all your help
 
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