Do Guinea Pigs lose weight in the summer?

GuineaPigsPipPumpandJG

GuineaPigsPipPumpandJG

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi,
I weighed my Guinea Pigs today, and I noticed they had lost a large amount of weight since I last weighed them (4th April.)
My largest girl piggy lost 110g, my other female lost 70g, but my male put on 10 g (I'm not really worried about him)?
They have been going out in their runs and it has been good weather, so they might just be exercising more? I don't know, but i've read that piggies lose weight in the summer as they don't sweat so they loose weight to cool down or something?
My girls and boar always have shade in their runs, but my boar (Abyssinian) just likes to sit in the sun, but he put on weight, not lost it. I haven't made any change to their diet, so I was just wondering why my girls might be losing weight?
 
The weight loss is something to keep an eye on for sure, but as it was over an almost 3 week period it isn't necessarily significant.
It would be better if you could switch to weekly weighing for a while to keep a closer eye on it.
 
Swissgreys said:
The weight loss is something to keep an eye on for sure, but as it was over an almost 3 week period it isn't necessarily significant.
It would be better if you could switch to weekly weighing for a while to keep a closer eye on it.
Click to expand...
Ok, I will try to weigh them every week! I am just worried as my girls are usually very chunky/big but now are losing the weight. Is it heat related?
 
It’s not possible for us to say it is heat related, and I think it would be irresponsible for us to pass it off as heat when weight loss can sometimes be related to an illness, we wouldn’t want to give you a false sense of security that it is heat, equally we wouldn’t want to worry you that it is an illness! Keep an eye on their weights.
.
Are you in the uk? My only thinking is that it isn’t actually particularly hot - daytime air temperatures are within their tolerance range. If they are in an area that traps heat, then it obviously is going to be much warmer than that.
My boys (a 1.1kg piggy and a 1.35kg piggy) have not lost weight due to warm weather in the past even with last summers extreme temperatures, but given they can munch on the grass all day long, their food intake vs exercise ratio must be balanced enough to not cause weight loss!
 
Piggies&buns said:
It’s not possible for us to say it is heat related, and I think it would be irresponsible for us to pass it off as heat when weight loss can sometimes be related to an illness, we wouldn’t want to give you a false sense of security that it is heat, equally we wouldn’t want to worry you that it is an illness! Keep an eye on their weights.
.
Are you in the uk? My only thinking is that it isn’t actually particularly hot - daytime air temperatures are within their tolerance range. If they are in an area that traps heat, then it obviously is going to be much warmer than that.
My boys (a 1.1kg piggy and a 1.35kg piggy) have not lost weight due to warm weather in the past even with last summers extreme temperatures, but given they can munch on the grass all day long, their food intake vs exercise ratio must be balanced enough to not cause weight loss!
Click to expand...
Ok, thankyou! They have been doing a lot of exercise but my boar just sits there in his box eating hay, lol :)
I will keep an eye out for illness and for a sharp decrease in their weight! :)
(Also my girls are usually 1.2kg and 1.15kg)
 
I don’t think there is a need for concern at this points but definitely weight watching is the thing to be doing!
Ensure your girls are getting plenty of hay while in their run if they aren’t on the grass.

Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
When weighing make sure it’s at the same time each week. Heft is a better indicator of condition than weight.

As an aside my boys have also lost some weight but are okay condition wise.
 
GuineaPigsPipPumpandJG said:
Hi,
I weighed my Guinea Pigs today, and I noticed they had lost a large amount of weight since I last weighed them (4th April.)
My largest girl piggy lost 110g, my other female lost 70g, but my male put on 10 g (I'm not really worried about him)?
They have been going out in their runs and it has been good weather, so they might just be exercising more? I don't know, but i've read that piggies lose weight in the summer as they don't sweat so they loose weight to cool down or something?
My girls and boar always have shade in their runs, but my boar (Abyssinian) just likes to sit in the sun, but he put on weight, not lost it. I haven't made any change to their diet, so I was just wondering why my girls might be losing weight?
Click to expand...

Please see a vet if you are worried. Guinea pigs should rather put on weight during the time they eat rich fast growing grass.
That amount of weight loss in just over 2 weeks should ideally be vet checked.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
Wiebke said:
Please see a vet if you are worried. Guinea pigs should rather put on weight during the time they eat rich fast growing grass.
That amount of weight loss in just over 2 weeks should ideally be vet checked.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Click to expand...
I will. (also I don't have grass for my pigs I only have concrete but I grow them grass in the summer months and they get dried grass a couple of times a week.)
 
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