Overfeeding

[CavyCare]

This morning, I gave my pigs a huge pile of kale for BOTH of them to eat from, but it turns out one of them ate a little bit more than she should have, I think. I picked her up and all of a sudden she felt like a soccerball. She was heavier than usual and her stomach was larger. Am I overfeeding my guinea pig?

 

[CavyCare]

This is what she looks like.

 

[Piggies&buns]

One guinea pig only needs one cup measure of a variety of veg per day, plus one tablespoon of pellets per day. I put two piles of food down which are a distance apart so that each pig gets their own pile which helps to reduce the risk of one pig eating both piles ie one pig can’t be at both piles at once!
Don’t forget kale is high in calcium so needs to be fed sparingly.
It’s impossible to tell from a picture though if she is overweight. Weigh her and record her measurements every week.

 

[MilliePigs]

She looks okay to me, you could weigh her and see if she’s over weight if you’re worried

 

[MilliePigs]

You could try hand feeding which will make sure you know how much each piggie is eating plus it will take them more as well

 

[Wiebke]

This morning, I gave my pigs a huge pile of kale for BOTH of them to eat from, but it turns out one of them ate a little bit more than she should have, I think. I picked her up and all of a sudden she felt like a soccerball. She was heavier than usual and her stomach was larger. Am I overfeeding my guinea pig?

Hi!

Please check her for signs of bloat and see a vet promptly if she is indeed bloating up. Take the time to read our guide, so you know exactly what to look out for and what you need to do. Severe bloat can kill.

Kale is a variety of cabbage and can cause bloating. Like all cabbage it should only be fed in small quantities in a mix of veg. It is also very high in calcium, so you may want to be careful how much and how often you feed it as too much in the diet (which include the water and pellet calcium intake) can contribute to the formation of bladder stones.

Please do not overfeed your guinea pigs on veg and pellets; the more hay they eat, the healthier they are and the longer they live. Over 80% of the daily food intake should be hay.
Bloat, GI Stasis ( No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

 

[CavyCare]

Thank you for helping me! I'll weigh her later on today and try more methods to get them to excercise
more other than a hay feeder.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Bloat alert! Please be careful with kale, susceptible piggies can get gassy and bloat up from too many leaves. Acute bloat is really really awful and painful and when my piggy had it she needed morphine injections to stop her dying from shock because the pain was so bad. We limit her to 3 spinach leaves now then watch her closely and we had to cut out a lot of other leafy things...