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DOES MY GUINEA PIG LOOK OVERWEIGHT?

Joscelyn

Joscelyn

New Born Pup
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My guinea pig was overweight last time she was weighed at the vet. Its been about a month or so now and I've been limiting her food as much as I can. I have 2 guinea pigs and this one likes to steal my other guinea pigs pellets. I also give veggies at night, but I've been trying to limit them a little bit. I also dont give them fruit very often. She's 1 year old and I also just weighed her while holding her and weighing myself. I subtracted my weight to find shes 2.4 pounds. Should she still lose some more or should I go back to feeding her normally?
 

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The average weight for a guinea pig is 700 - 1,200grams ( 1.5 pounds to 2.6 pounds ) My piggies sit around 2 pounds. Your piggie is at a healthy weight. The only thing is, you should try and keep her at this weight. Maybe don't go completely back to the way you fed her before, because that was the diet that she got overweight on. Maybe keep the diet she has right now + a few fruit bits now and then. Also, your piggie is a gorgeous girl. she looked a little bit like my girl Robin. Do you know what breed she is? Robin is crested with 4 coat colours - here is a photoIMG-1005.webp
 
Thanks for replying I was really worried. The vet said she was way overweight and it scared me. I'm not sure what breed she is, but I would guess crested with 3 colors.
 
We can’t tell from a photo I’m afraid. Best way is regular weighing and hands on exam by you. That weight is reasonable for a year old. How much did she weigh at the vet? Do you weigh her weekly? It’s difficult to give a general ‘weight’ as piggies come in all shapes and sizes. So one may be a low weight despite being healthy etc. Heft is the best indicator of your piggies condition. As an example, the girls weighed in at 993g and 1.1kg at a year old.

Limit pellets to one tablespoon per pig per day. If you scatter feed, or put in two bowls then she can’t hog them. Have a read of the threads I’ve linked below.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Siikibam said:
We can’t tell from a photo I’m afraid. Best way is regular weighing and hands on exam by you. That weight is reasonable for a year old. How much did she weigh at the vet? Do you weigh her weekly? It’s difficult to give a general ‘weight’ as piggies come in all shapes and sizes. So one may be a low weight despite being healthy etc. Heft is the best indicator of your piggies condition. As an example, the girls weighed in at 993g and 1.1kg at a year old.

Limit pellets to one tablespoon per pig per day. If you scatter feed, or put in two bowls then she can’t hog them. Have a read of the threads I’ve linked below.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
Siikibam said:
We can’t tell from a photo I’m afraid. Best way is regular weighing and hands on exam by you. That weight is reasonable for a year old. How much did she weigh at the vet? Do you weigh her weekly? It’s difficult to give a general ‘weight’ as piggies come in all shapes and sizes. So one may be a low weight despite being healthy etc. Heft is the best indicator of your piggies condition. As an example, the girls weighed in at 993g and 1.1kg at a year old.

Limit pellets to one tablespoon per pig per day. If you scatter feed, or put in two bowls then she can’t hog them. Have a read of the threads I’ve linked below.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
I dont remember her weight at the vet but it was quite a bit above what she should have been. I also dont weigh her weekly, I only recently figured out that I could hold her with me on the scale. I do use 2 bowls when I feed them and she goes back and forth trying to make sure my other piggie doesnt get as much. What do you mean by scatter feed?
 
scatter feeding is when you scatter food around there cage and they have to look for it to find it
Pros of scatter feeding Cons of scatter feeding
- encourages natural foraging - Difficult to monitor eating habits
- prevents obesity ( as it can only eat what it finds ) - Harder to clean up
- prevents boredom - If your piggie doesn't eat it, it is just a waste
 
It’s better if you can place her on the scales rather than weighing while holding her. A set of basic kitchen scales does the job well enough. How often have you been weighing her? Please start doing it weekly at the same time.
 
Siikibam said:
It’s better if you can place her on the scales rather than weighing while holding her. A set of basic kitchen scales does the job well enough. How often have you been weighing her? Please start doing it weekly at the same time.
Click to expand...
We only have a scale where theres a certain place you have to put your feet. Also I can start doing that weekly.
 
Basic kitchen scales will work for your piggies. Enjoy 🙂
 
If you weren’t so far away and we weren’t under lockdown...😁🥺
 
Joscelyn said:
I dont have a kitchen scale. Only one with foot placements. Would it work if I put her in something like you did?
Click to expand...
It might do. Not sure if you'd get an accurate weight reading on such a light object though. Make sure you put the empty container on then set the scale to zero before adding your piggy!
 
You can not weigh a piggy by holding her on human scales.
Human scales have an accuracy of +/- 10 - 20%
This means if your normal body weight is around 130lbs, then the scales can show your weight as anything from 117lbs - 143lbs and still classes as 'accurate'.
This means the reading of 2.4lbs more when you stand on them with your guinea pig is not likely to be realistic at all.
Buy a cheap pair of kitchen scales from Amazon or somewhere like Walmart.
These will also have an accuracy of around +/- 10% but if your piggy weighs 2.4lbs then the difference will be a few ounces and much closer to their actual weight.
 
I agree. You can’t use human scales for weighing a piggy. They aren’t sensitive enough to small changes. Kitchen scales (for weighing flour, rice, veg portions etc) that can weigh in Grammes and ounces are the way to go. They are cheap as chips to buy. You just pop your piggy in the weighing bowl that sits on the scale and get an accurate weight.
 
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