Not eating enough hay!

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DMS260820

My pig dot isnt eating enough hay. Shes obsessed with nuggets. I have finally got myself a table spoon measurement scoop to limit her nuggets. Il give 1 tablespoon once a day from now on.

I dont know if I'm giving too much veg? I give
2 slices of red pepper
2 slices of cucumber rings
A leaf of romaine or round lettuce

I give these veg meals twice a day. 7am and 7pm. What am i doing wrong? She has good teeth. Just been checked.

She eats the hay fine because i watch her , she is very interested in grass i pick
 
What makes you think she isn't eating enough? Is she losing weight?
 
You could cut out the nuggets? Or do you feed a hay based nugget? That might mean she's getting the hay in pellet form...
Apart from the first couple of days when we first adopted Theo, then our fatty chubster ladies, who hadn't met hay much before, the only problem mine have eating hay is that however much hay we put in the cage they eat it all up! I put over a kilo of meadow hay in the cage last night then topped it up woth timothy hay this morning but its all gone and been turned into poops. So many many poops...
 
Lady Kelly said:
What makes you think she isn't eating enough? Is she losing weight?
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Just pointed poops and never see her grazing like she used to alot. Maybe I'm just being ott. No she hasnt lost weight. I was feeding grainless selectives to her but she has decided she loves harringtons now.

I am thinking about going nugget free for both her and burnie
 
Have you tried a change of type of hay. I have found my guinea pigs can get very picky and I can waste quite a lot if I choose wrong variety. They are loving Dust Free Hay Meadow hay at present, but not keen on the B and M meadow hay.
 
worried val of york said:
Have you tried a change of type of hay. I have found my guinea pigs can get very picky and I can waste quite a lot if I choose wrong variety. They are loving Dust Free Hay Meadow hay at present, but not keen on the B and M meadow hay.
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lol I'm feeding this
B n m timothy
Fresh from local farm meadow
B n m meadow
Readigrass - as a treat
Readigrass oat - as a treat
Another brand of meadow
Alfalfa kings timothy.
Hand picked grass.

I think shes had the grass and is saying nope nothing beats this
 
Do you think maybe you are spoiling her with all the hay choice? Like maybe offer a basic meadow hay for a week then reintroduce the fancy stuff and she'll appreciate it more?
I know I did that with veggies, when we first got the piggies and I was home all day in the summer I'd offer 6 or 7 types of veg or fruit every day and fresh veg 3 times a day and they got really fussy...
Then once we got back to work its basically cucumber for breakfast and red pepper for dinner plus a bit of whatever else is in the fridge. Suddenly beansprouts and apple and broccolli once a week took on a whole new significance and they were fighting over stuff they ignored when they got it all the time!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Do you think maybe you are spoiling her with all the hay choice? Like maybe offer a basic meadow hay for a week then reintroduce the fancy stuff and she'll appreciate it more?
I know I did that with veggies, when we first got the piggies and I was home all day in the summer I'd offer 6 or 7 types of veg or fruit every day and fresh veg 3 times a day and they got really fussy...
Then once we got back to work its basically cucumber for breakfast and red pepper for dinner plus a bit of whatever else is in the fridge. Suddenly beansprouts and apple and broccolli once a week took on a whole new significance and they were fighting over stuff they ignored when they got it all the time!
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this is what my wife is saying. I think you could be right 👍 ive ended up will all these choices because of worry lol
 
Give them the cheap stuff for a week or two then try the luxury options again :) piggies are complete fussy divas if you spoil them but they probably evolved to eat one type of dried out grass and nothing else for a few months at a time... although its so hard to resist the cute hungry piggy faces!
 
PigglePuggle said:
although its so hard to resist the cute hungry piggy faces!
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I gave in to mine today. For some reason they got all excited and started their "boing boing" noise meaning "I hope food's coming ..... I hope food's coming ..... I hope food's coming ....." and looking at me like they hadn't been fed all week. When I had 5 piggies going "boing boing" and 10 little eyes looking beseechingly at me, well what's a good slave to do? They got a couple of handfuls of coriander which was devoured in 5 seconds flat!
 
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worried val of york said:
Have you tried a change of type of hay. I have found my guinea pigs can get very picky and I can waste quite a lot if I choose wrong variety. They are loving Dust Free Hay Meadow hay at present, but not keen on the B and M meadow hay.
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The dust free meadow hay is an absolute favourite and it really is dust free- great company.
 
Betsy said:
I gave in to mine today. For some reason they got all excited and started their "boing boing" noise meaning "I hope food's coming ..... I hope food's coming ..... I hope food's coming ....." and looking at me like they hadn't been fed all week. When I had 5 piggies going "boing boing" and 10 little eyes looking beseechingly at me, well what's a good slave to do? They got a couple of handfuls of coriander which was devoured in 5 seconds flat!
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It lasted that long??
 
Hope Dot starts eating her hay again.
If you've ruled out health issues she may just be trying to make you feel guilty about not giving her grass all the time
 
I can relate and I wondered about the same thing as you.
My Finn and Lara are given veggies three times a day, endless supply of Kaytee Timothy hay, and some pellets. They also get fruits as treats 2-3 of times a week. They are indoor piggies.

I wondered if veggies portion was too much but their poops are solid. :hmm: Not really sure what to make of it.
 
This the ration for one pig per day. Any more and I would worry they were filling up too much on veg and not eating enough hay. I don’t offer any fruit at all except hawthorn berries and rose hips when they are available.
 

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Merab's Slave said:
Hope Dot starts eating her hay again.
If you've ruled out health issues she may just be trying to make you feel guilty about not giving her grass all the time
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She only got a check up 2 weeks ago by simon, she has got what he thinks is cystitis but apart from that shes in good health. I have found a lump on her but it hasnt grown in around 4 weeks.
 
Beemz said:
Yeah that reply was for seven - my reply didn’t work properly for her but she was wondering if she was feeding too much veg 👍
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My Finn and Lara do get a bit more than that portion in the photo, because they get fed three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Their poops however are solid when I pick them up. They live in separate cages so I feed them exactly the same amount each.

Because they are indoor piggies, I visit them numerous times throughout the day, and they are on the main floor where I spend huge chunk of my time. They are really never out of hay, beucase I am not that far away from them for long.
 
Despite getting more veggies than others along with endless supply of hay, mine still eat their poop, :td:.
 
Eating poops is good if you are a piggy, everything needs digesting twice and the poops have good gut bacteria in. When little Puggle has bloaty tummy aches Jezebel shares her healthy poop snacks with her which is very kind!
 
She hasnt touched her hay last night whilst i was asleep. But she will gobble up readigrass oat hay. I know her teeth are ok because she ate every last bit of it with akot of infusiasm! Ive gave in to giving her this just because i need her to have fiber
 
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