Digging deep

[Widdlepiggies]

Lol does anyone else have a piggy that just likes to eat from the bottom of his bowl?
It’s all pretty much the same. It’s pellets with a little corn and small pieces of hay mixed through. But he’s just eating the pellets, but from the bottom.
He also literally digs with his little paws like he’s swimming to the bottom. I think it’s adorable but he makes a mess and spreads the food out all over the cage. I just love how they all have their own personality and little quirks.

 

[Wiebke]

Lol does anyone else have a piggy that just likes to eat from the bottom of his bowl?
It’s all pretty much the same. It’s pellets with a little corn and small pieces of hay mixed through. But he’s just eating the pellets, but from the bottom.
He also literally digs with his little paws like he’s swimming to the bottom. I think it’s adorable but he makes a mess and spreads the food out all over the cage. I just love how they all have their own personality and little quirks.

Hi

We no longer recommend to feed unlimited pellets and to not feed from a bowl. The more pellets your piggies eat, the less hy they eat - with life-shortening consequences since hay/grass fibre is what both teeth and digestion are laid out for; it should make over three quarters of the daily food intake. Veg, pellets and any treats all together only replace the supplementary role that wild forage used to have. The closer you come to a green plant diet, the better. Pellets should be only one tablespoon per piggy per day, ideally sprinkled over the cage (like their veg allotment) in order to encourage natural foraging behaviours.

As cute as your boy's digging for the golden pellet is, a more proportional diet can add 1-2 years to an average healthy life span and take it from the lower end to the upper; I have seen the difference in my own piggies when I made the shift about dozen years ago and suddenly had more of my piggies live to 6-8 years instead of an average of 4-6 years. There is also less of a risk of dental problems and overweight issues. Pellets (even the better ones) mainly consist of filler products and are highly processed.

Here is more helpful information:
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Widdlepiggies]

Hi

We no longer recommend to feed unlimited pellets and to not feed from a bowl. The more pellets your piggies eat, the less hy they eat - with life-shortening consequences since hay/grass fibre is what both teeth and digestion are laid out for; it should make over three quarters of the daily food intake. Veg, pellets and any treats all together only replace the supplementary role that wild forage used to have. The closer you come to a green plant diet, the better. Pellets should be only one tablespoon per piggy per day, ideally sprinkled over the cage (like their veg allotment) in order to encourage natural foraging behaviours.

As cute as your boy's digging for the golden pellet is, a more proportional diet can add 1-2 years to an average healthy life span and take it from the lower end to the upper; I have seen the difference in my own piggies when I made the shift about dozen years ago and suddenly had more of my piggies live to 6-8 years instead of an average of 4-6 years. There is also less of a risk of dental problems and overweight issues. Pellets (even the better ones) mainly consist of filler products and are highly processed.

Here is more helpful information:
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Thank you! My piggy was very sick when i got him and he was losing weight. So my vet recommended to give him unlimited until he is gained more weight. Because that was about the only thing he wanted. For my other piggy I give them portioned amounts.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you! My piggy was very sick when i got him and he was losing weight. So my vet recommended to give him unlimited until he is gained more weight. Because that was about the only thing he wanted. For my other piggy I give them portioned amounts.

Giving extra pellets isn’t the best way to put weight on them. It is with additional hay intake and/or fibre rich feed critical care

 

[Wiebke]

Extra pellets are not a healthy or sustainable way of putting weight back on; it's mainly empty calories that will come off as quickly as they have gone on. Pellets can be used as an emergency stop gap measure but for the long term they create more problems than they solve, unfortunately - pellets only contain about 10% fibre, which is what your boy really needs.

Hay or a fibre based recovery formula like a bowl of Critical Care (or a bowl of plain porridge oats as an added calorie boost for a fully eating guinea pig which is struggling to keep their weight on due to ongoing chronic health issues). But for a recovering piggy it is much better to feed him up with additional fibre and to be a bit more patient with the recovery. The body will put on weight again on its own when it is ready. Quality is always better than quantity in terms of calories because it promotes sustainable health and not just better numbers on your scales.