Off Pellets...

[Kim Barkas]

I keep posting but keeping a piggy is so anxiety provoking, its like having a baby! Jewel is a 6 month old boar and has general diva-ish behaviour. He is waiting to be castrated so we can get him a girlfriend as he wouldn't bond with any of the boys at our local rescue.

The past week he has been going through tonnes of hay, pulling a lot of it out but he is also eating lots more. He is eating his veggies as normal (he is usually quite fussy) but has been completely off his pellets. The ones we buy have changed packaging but ive been assured they are the same formulation. We have been weighing daily and he has stayed at 720grams for the past 2 weeks. Pooing normally, tummy not swollen, weeing and drinking ok.

He is popcorning and still running around, although he has been more demanding of our attention (he gets a lot of this, we try to give him as much of our time as we can though we know its no substitute for a piggy friend). My gut feeling is that he is lonely. Due to see the vet on Friday for his preop checks so will mention it then but any advice? How worried should I be?

 

[Jesse's pigs]

I keep posting but keeping a piggy is so anxiety provoking, its like having a baby! Jewel is a 6 month old boar and has general diva-ish behaviour. He is waiting to be castrated so we can get him a girlfriend as he wouldn't bond with any of the boys at our local rescue.

The past week he has been going through tonnes of hay, pulling a lot of it out but he is also eating lots more. He is eating his veggies as normal (he is usually quite fussy) but has been completely off his pellets. The ones we buy have changed packaging but ive been assured they are the same formulation. We have been weighing daily and he has stayed at 720grams for the past 2 weeks. Pooing normally, tummy not swollen, weeing and drinking ok.

He is popcorning and still running around, although he has been more demanding of our attention (he gets a lot of this, we try to give him as much of our time as we can though we know its no substitute for a piggy friend). My gut feeling is that he is lonely. Due to see the vet on Friday for his preop checks so will mention it then but any advice? How worried should I be?

I would start to worry if his weight begins to drop quickly and his pooing changes. I would still ask the vet at the checkup but perhaps do try a new brand of pellets and see what he thinks. With my rabbit I went through about 4 brands until I found one he liked and stuck with.

 

[Janice C]

I keep posting but keeping a piggy is so anxiety provoking, its like having a baby! Jewel is a 6 month old boar and has general diva-ish behaviour. He is waiting to be castrated so we can get him a girlfriend as he wouldn't bond with any of the boys at our local rescue.

The past week he has been going through tonnes of hay, pulling a lot of it out but he is also eating lots more. He is eating his veggies as normal (he is usually quite fussy) but has been completely off his pellets. The ones we buy have changed packaging but ive been assured they are the same formulation. We have been weighing daily and he has stayed at 720grams for the past 2 weeks. Pooing normally, tummy not swollen, weeing and drinking ok.

He is popcorning and still running around, although he has been more demanding of our attention (he gets a lot of this, we try to give him as much of our time as we can though we know its no substitute for a piggy friend). My gut feeling is that he is lonely. Due to see the vet on Friday for his preop checks so will mention it then but any advice? How worried should I be?

Pellets are only a small proportion of their foods anyway so not a great worry if he's gone off them. You could try another type - small bag though in case he doesn't like these either! His weights stable so he's obviously getting plenty to eat.
Sounds like he's getting loads of attention and is quite happy if he's popcorning! He probably needs a friend as you'd already assumed. My neutered boar was lonely after he fell out with his brother but 6 weeks postop he was then given his own 2 wives and he's really happy!

 

[Wiebke]

Pellets make about 5-10% of the daily food intake. Eating more hay (which should be encouraged over pellets anyway) will compensate. If you are worried, please weigh your boy every day or every second day at the same time in the feeding cycle, like before you feed breakfast or dinner. The weight should be stable within a band of about 30-50g. You get more variance when you weigh in short succession.