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Really fat female

W

WinterAddams

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi, I have two guinea pigs, Nymeria and Bubbles, Nymeria is a slim american pig and Bubbles is a fat peruvian pig. They are both around 1 and half years old and females.
Nymeria - 989 grams
Bubbles - 1230 grams

Nymeria is about 3/4 months older than Bubbles but Bubbles is so much bigger than her. She even has some neck fat and two fat balls on her sides (has had them for over a year now, we thought she was pregnant).
Bubbles can reach her butt and eat cacoetrophs, yet is lazy and walks moving her butt differently compared to Nymeria.

They thing is we give them the same amount of food every day, veggies 3 times a day, they always have hay and pellets only a bit at night. She eats pretty fast but Nymeria seems to eat almost as much.

I'm not sure if Bubbles is naturally fatter due to being so much bigger (could she be a cuy?) or if she is obese, I hope someone can help.
 
Have you had her checked over by a vet.

I am not alarmed at the weight some piggies are bigger than others.

Can you post a photo of her please?
 
Adult piggies do tend to vary widely between 800-1200g. Some piggies are naturally small, some are more rounded (especially certain breeds), and others are just quite long so tend to carry more weight without looking large. I have a piggy that is around 1100g now, she was closer to the 1200g mark but she was overweight so I have been limiting pellets.

We have a guide here to weight and what is healthy and what is overweight/underweight. The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight very much worth a read as it will answer a lot of your questions around the difference in weight between the two and allow you to check for yourself whether Bubbles is just a large lady or whether she's a chubbster :))
 
Our big pig Clover is in that weight bracket, and was obese when we adopted her due to being kept in a hamster cage for 2 years with a badly healed broken leg. Now she isnt obese and has toned up a lot with a big cage and lots of exercise, but she still weighs 1190g heavy. I suspect she may be part cuy as she is... big, bulky shoulder muscles, quite coarse facial features, bad attitude...
A vet can advise you best, its rare for piggies to be really obese but if in doubt cut out the pellets and scatter feed veg so big pig has to jog about to get the veggies... maybe twice a day veggies and cut out any high carb fruit and veg?
 
WinterAddams said:
Hi, I have two guinea pigs, Nymeria and Bubbles, Nymeria is a slim american pig and Bubbles is a fat peruvian pig. They are both around 1 and half years old and females.
Nymeria - 989 grams
Bubbles - 1230 grams

Nymeria is about 3/4 months older than Bubbles but Bubbles is so much bigger than her. She even has some neck fat and two fat balls on her sides (has had them for over a year now, we thought she was pregnant).
Bubbles can reach her butt and eat cacoetrophs, yet is lazy and walks moving her butt differently compared to Nymeria.

They thing is we give them the same amount of food every day, veggies 3 times a day, they always have hay and pellets only a bit at night. She eats pretty fast but Nymeria seems to eat almost as much.

I'm not sure if Bubbles is naturally fatter due to being so much bigger (could she be a cuy?) or if she is obese, I hope someone can help.
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

The weights are both within the normal adult weight range.

You may want to consider feeding less veg. Hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake, veg only 10% and 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day 5%.

Please have a look at these guides here. You measure the weight/size ratio around the ribs and not the neck or the belly. The explanation what to look for exactly is in the weight guide.
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Good news vet says all is okay. I think she is just a big pig, we had a big abby/peru cross she was 1.4kg
 
One thing thats really funny is how she walks, she looks like she is maneuvering a vehicle but can't quite get it right, slightly dragging the weight of her butt around 😁
She can run if needed though, I suspect she is just naturally plump.
 
WinterAddams said:
As you can see, Bubbles is much bigger, and it isn't just her fur 😆
Click to expand...

They are both lovely, but the difference in body weight and size is nothing to worry about.

I've had litter sisters that were 500g difference in body weight (ca. 1000g and 1500g respectively at the peak of their lives). Fidgety, energetic Nia, who was the one that ran my large group despite being one of the smaller sows, lived to nearly 6 years old and big fat Nerys with her twisted thigh bone (must have happened in the womb) to a most respectable 8 years. ;)
 
WinterAddams said:
One thing thats really funny is how she walks, she looks like she is maneuvering a vehicle but can't quite get it right, slightly dragging the weight of her butt around 😁
She can run if needed though, I suspect she is just naturally plump.
Click to expand...
As long as she gets space to run around and exercise and not too many pellets she's probably fine, I love it when my fatty pigs run around its hilarious, especially my fatty floofy pig Jezebel who does adorable chubby floofy pants zooming and leaping :)
 
There is a wide range of normal weight in pigs... right now I also have one on the big side and one on the small side. Leela has always been a slight little thing, Hadley is what my kids refer to as 'thicc.' LOL!
 
Freela said:
There is a wide range of normal weight in pigs... right now I also have one on the big side and one on the small side. Leela has always been a slight little thing, Hadley is what my kids refer to as 'thicc.' LOL!
Click to expand...
Oh yes, Bubbles is most definitely a thicc chunky girl hahaha
 
My two have a similar weight difference - 1000g and 1300g approx. They have had the same difference in proportion since they were 8 weeks old and now they are 2 and 1/2! The other main difference is length, the bigger one is a good inch and a half longer if not 2 inches so their piggy BMI probably works out about the same!
 
I have one girl who is naturally chunky.
Jemimah is usually around the 1300g mark but she still runs around, doesn’t get overfed she’s just a big girl.
Her sister was the same.
One of my other girls is very petite under her fur so it’s a bit like humans.
Some are naturally slender and some of us aren’t.

I do think both your girls are beautiful
 
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