Underweight piggy - how to gain weight?

[Dilly's Piggies]

My 2 year old spayed sow Lottie is 950g which is okay but I can feel her ribs, hips and spine easily, she is underweight and I've tried a lot of things over the past months to get her to gain weight, like syringe feeding, giving more fruits, porridge oats etc but nothing works. Her weight was good, 1100g at 1 year old but then she got ovarian cysts and had to be spayed, since then she has been underweight. It's surprising because her appetite is great and she eats everything, she just can't gain weight for some reason. She has been to the vet multiple times in case there's a health issue however nothing has been found. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get more weight on her? Thanks in advance.

 

[DM030819]

@CavyConnoisseur It's a tough decision whether to just accept they're smaller or opt to feed more, as increasing portions can be detrimental to their health. Too many pellets or too much veg can be bad for them.

But increasing portions is the way to go. Pellets are very fattening so that might work.

Has her poop been tested as my Jon increased in weight a little after a course of Itrafungal for an internal fungal issue.

If she's happy and bright and not losing weight I'd be inclined to leave her as is. I hated my Jon being 900g when all of my other pigs have been 1100g + but he's just built smaller.

 

[sport_billy]

Agree with @Jaycey excellent advice above

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

@CavyConnoisseur It's a tough decision whether to just accept they're smaller or opt to feed more, as increasing portions can be detrimental to their health. Too many pellets or too much veg can be bad for them.

But increasing portions is the way to go. Pellets are very fattening so that might work.

Has her poop been tested as my Jon increased in weight a little after a course of Itrafungal for an internal fungal issue.

If she's happy and bright and not losing weight I'd be inclined to leave her as is. I hated my Jon being 900g when all of my other pigs have been 1100g + but he's just built smaller.

This is interesting... It would be fine if her body condition was good but it's not, she's underweight for her build for sure and it really bothers me. She hasn't had her poop tested but her and the other 2 pigs that live with her have had funny shaped poops for a while and I've never found out why. Her sister is also 950g but has a perfect body condition score so she's not underweight but could do with a little more belly, the 3rd pig is 1200g so obviously has no weight issues but still has weird poops. The 3rd pig Dolly came to me with a topical fungal issue over a year ago which was treated but maybe it affected the other 2 internally as they've always been weaker, they keep getting ill with things. I have 8 piggies in the same room, it's just the trio that are having funny poops, the herd of 5 aren't having any issues. Would I need to treat all 8 with intrafungol or just the 3? Will phone up my vet tomorrow and ask how much a poop test will be...

 

[Incredipigs]

My 2 year old spayed sow Lottie is 950g which is okay but I can feel her ribs, hips and spine easily, she is underweight and I've tried a lot of things over the past months to get her to gain weight, like syringe feeding, giving more fruits, porridge oats etc but nothing works. Her weight was good, 1100g at 1 year old but then she got ovarian cysts and had to be spayed, since then she has been underweight. It's surprising because her appetite is great and she eats everything, she just can't gain weight for some reason. She has been to the vet multiple times in case there's a health issue however nothing has been found. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get more weight on her? Thanks in advance.

I've always had the exact same problem with my smallest piggie, Toff. I'm pretty sure it's because Toff was the runt of the litter.

 

[Incredipigs]

My 2 year old spayed sow Lottie is 950g which is okay but I can feel her ribs, hips and spine easily, she is underweight and I've tried a lot of things over the past months to get her to gain weight, like syringe feeding, giving more fruits, porridge oats etc but nothing works. Her weight was good, 1100g at 1 year old but then she got ovarian cysts and had to be spayed, since then she has been underweight. It's surprising because her appetite is great and she eats everything, she just can't gain weight for some reason. She has been to the vet multiple times in case there's a health issue however nothing has been found. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get more weight on her? Thanks in advance.

I've always had the exact same problem with my smallest piggie, Toff. I'm pretty sure it's because Toff was the runt of the litter.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

I took Lottie to the vet today and they were quite unwilling to do any diagnostics as they said she probably doesn't have anything wrong, it's likely her sinus problems causing her to be thinner. But the issue I'm arguing is that she has a great appetite, just not for pellets, she rarely eats pellets... hay and veggies she eats tonnes of and she takes critical care like she's starving. The vet said she has 'failure to thrive' and struggles to absorb nutrients from food, so I'll have to syringe feed her for life probably. I just don't understand what's wrong or what I can do to pack some grams on her, she already has unlimited ad lib pellets but doesn't eat them and they are the main source of calories, maybe I need to find a different brand, perhaps she just doesn't like these pellets or something.