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Weight gain for mini pigs.

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lizzie_71

lizzie_71

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I have never had a very young baby before, but last week I took on Magnum who was born on 29 July, making him only 5 weeks old when he came to us.

I weighed him on his first day and he was 215g. One week on he is 259g, a gain of 44g. Is this normal? Or is he gaining too much or too little?

For reference, my big boy Ruffle, aged 1, weighs 1.2kg.
 
It is on the high side of regular, but not at all unusual for a piggy coming to a good home; they tend to have a higher growth/weight gain rate at first.

You will find that things normalise in the longer run; for the first six months a weight gain of 20-30g is about average, but it can be a bit more or less.
 
Thanks Wiebke. I will keep an eye on him, but he is probably just enjoying all the hay and vegetables he is getting in his new home rolleyes
 
lizzie_71 said:
I have never had a very young baby before, but last week I took on Magnum who was born on 29 July, making him only 5 weeks old when he came to us.

I weighed him on his first day and he was 215g. One week on he is 259g, a gain of 44g. Is this normal? Or is he gaining too much or too little?

For reference, my big boy Ruffle, aged 1, weighs 1.2kg.
Click to expand...

Pip is only 10 days old and she already weighs 175 grams. I just hope she's going to be a big piggy not a fat piggy. ;)
 
The Highway Man said:
Pip is only 10 days old and she already weighs 175 grams. I just hope she's going to be a big piggy not a fat piggy. ;)
Click to expand...

You may find that her growth rate will slow down sooner than with other piggies; my Telyn was a huge girl (over 500g at 8 weeks old); she was a kilo by six months old, but stopped growing much after that. By 12 months old, she was a very normal 1200g.

Please start very gradually reducing the amount of pellets you are giving once the growth rate slows down any time between 6-9 months old from unlimited to the one or even half handful that a mature guinea pig needs once it has reached its adult weight and the body has settled down between 12-15 months old. As you are finding, piggy growth and final size can be quite different, so you have to go rather by stage of development than absolute weight.

Guinea pigs with a lower birth weight - except runts - will often keep growing for longer (sometimes even as young adults before the age of two years old) until they have come close to their optimum size and weight once they come to a good home.
 
Just a quick update - this week Magnum gained 51g and now weighs 310g. He is visibly bigger than when we first got him too, and is gradually getting used to being handled.

I am not really concerned, because he was small for his age when we got him. He seems happy and healthy and that is what really matters.
 
Just a quick update - this week Magnum gained 51g and now weighs 310g. He is visibly bigger than when we first got him too, and is gradually getting used to being handled.

I am not really concerned, because he was small for his age when we got him. He seems happy and healthy and that is what really matters.
 
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