Overweight Piggy

[schnicksy]

i have 4 piggies all living together in (mostly) harmony now the hormones have settled down again. Anyway...

My youngest piggy (Molly - 9 months ish) looks like she's getting quite porky. Are there any hints and tips for getting her on a diet without effecting the others too much. She seems to constantly eat (more than a normal piggy). It's like she never eats enough. I caught her sleeping by the food bowl, wake up, nibble then sleep again.

Edit: I wasn't sure if I should put this thread here or under food or something else. Apologies if I messed up.

 

[The3LittlePigs]

Honestly I wouldn't bother with diets.. Unless you're feeding bad commercial feeds and not the good stuff it's unlikely your piggy will get fat enough to cause an issue and I'd be reluctant to give them less than what they want.

 

[Wiebke]

i have 4 piggies all living together in (mostly) harmony now the hormones have settled down again. Anyway...

My youngest piggy (Molly - 9 months ish) looks like she's getting quite porky. Are there any hints and tips for getting her on a diet without effecting the others too much. She seems to constantly eat (more than a normal piggy). It's like she never eats enough. I caught her sleeping by the food bowl, wake up, nibble then sleep again.

Edit: I wasn't sure if I should put this thread here or under food or something else. Apologies if I messed up.

Hi!

What you can do for portion control is:
Serve veg and pellets in a bowl each per guinea pig 2-3 times a day in portions that can be eaten in one go, so there are no leftovers that can be hogged. 80% or more of the daily food intake should be unlimited hay, which they can eat in between meals and be all the healthier for that! Guinea pig back teeth (the ones that matter) are ground down by the silica in grass and hay which are very abrasive; to counter that, guinea pigs have some of the fastest growing teeth of all rodents. Their guts have also evolved on digesting mainly hay and will be at their best if their diet is not too rich. This means overall better health and a longer life.

Please also reduce the amount of pellets and veg you are feeding. All of your girls are now past the quick growth phase, so too many pellets results in overweight. Pellets should make only up to 5% of a piggy's daily food intake and is the one constituent that they can even do without.
Keep veg to a nutritionally balanced choice of veg to around 50g per piggy per day.

Please be aware that guinea pigs have a very large natural weight range; some breeds are also stockier than others. You check whether the individual weight/size ratio is OK around the ribs, as described in our weighing guide. On a good, balanced hay diet with only a comparatively small amount of pellets, you can be sure that your guinea pigs will reach all their own optimum and won't be overweight. You have to factor in that a top piggy in its prime will always be a bit heavier than the bottom piggy; that is how a hierarchy works.
Please stay off sugary/starchy veg and pellets if possible (i.e. too much fruit, root veg, seed of grain). If you can, switch to timothy based pellets over grain or too rich alfalfa/lucerne based pellets.
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time

 

[schnicksy]

Thank you @Wiebke They always have hay but it sounds like I need to be a lot stricter with their pellets. I may get extra bowls - I quite like the idea of that. They share at the moment but there's no harm in having extra.

The other 3 seem perfectly okay. It's just Molly who seems chunkier. I don't want her to end up with health problems because I've been irresponsible (accidentally).

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you @Wiebke They always have hay but it sounds like I need to be a lot stricter with their pellets. I may get extra bowls - I quite like the idea of that. They share at the moment but there's no harm in having extra.

The other 3 seem perfectly okay. It's just Molly who seems chunkier. I don't want her to end up with health problems because I've been irresponsible (accidentally).

Molly is now at the age where she has finished her initial growth phase and is developing her female figure. But she no longer needs as many pellets and can go down to an adult diet.

 

[schnicksy]

Molly is now at the age where she has finished her initial growth phase and is developing her female figure. But she no longer needs as many pellets and can go down to an adult diet.
View attachment 62383

I love that picture! I definitely need to try that.

 

[rome_italy]

I had a guinea pig very long ago who became fat and died for something correlated to the bladder/kidneys; now I know the reason... he was fed with a quite great amount of "proper" and "good" commercial food (at that time there wasn't a great knowledge and I just followed my vet's advice). Now my two pigs eats fresh grass and vegs ONLY. One of them (the brown-white one) is eating almost all day long and the portion of the food I offer is huge. But they are slim and lively... moreover their droppings and pee have no smell at all.
Pets don't need concentrated and dry food; in nature it does not exist...
Here in Italy the best exotic vets never recommend pellets now. Try to cut them off from the diet of all your pigs and if you are concerned about the vit C it is very easy to introduce it: buy the drops for newborns and put 2 drops mixed with 3ml of water into a syringe. Pigs love its taste and in case of excessive vit C it is eliminated with urine. The cost here is 4,50€ for a little bottle which lasts 1 month for two pigs.