Exercise unmotivated guinea pig?

[Piggiesforever777]

I have a guinea pig who is above the healthy guinea pig weight and I don't know what to do. I have given her free rome but she just sits in the same spot for a few minutes and then she falls asleep in the same spot. I have tried diet changes but she shares a cage with other Guinea pigs and I don't want to adjust there diets as well. I have given her plenty of wooden toys and attempted to exercise with her many times but nothing seems to be working

Does anybody have any ideas that I can try? Thanks

 

[Janey]

Have you thought about feeding pellets separately - so when she’s out, the others get theirs and she only gets her portion? Changing the cage set up and/or floortime arrangements - perhaps a different area. It might also be worth a vet check too in case there’s an underlying reason that isn’t obvious.

 

[h.h.lovecraft]

One of my piggies eats pellets more than twice as fast as the other so I have started hand feeding them to ensure they get an equal amount and the one piggy doesn't overeat. It's a great bonding activity too, they are always so excited for me to come down and give them pellets in the morning. My pellets are really large though so I can just hand them through the cage one by one, which makes it easier.

From what I have read, pellets are the biggest cause of overweight piggies, so I would make sure you're not feeding too many either!

 

[Wiebke]

I have a guinea pig who is above the healthy guinea pig weight and I don't know what to do. I have given her free rome but she just sits in the same spot for a few minutes and then she falls asleep in the same spot. I have tried diet changes but she shares a cage with other Guinea pigs and I don't want to adjust there diets as well. I have given her plenty of wooden toys and attempted to exercise with her many times but nothing seems to be working

Does anybody have any ideas that I can try? Thanks

Hi!

It is very difficult to motivate adult piggies that are not interested in being active.

You may however also want to consider a vet check as to whether there could be a medical cause for her lifestyle, especially if you notice more than average sleeping.
My big Nerys - in my avatar picture - for instance had a twisted thight bone (happened in the womb) so she could never run and concentrated all her formidable energy on getting hold of and hanging onto any calorie she could wrap herself around. She still lived past the upper end of the average life span and died aged 8 from old age related problems.
The majority of my fat piggies have or have had a neglect background in early life where the body chemistry has changed to turn anything into fat reserves, even though they are on the same diet as my others.
None of those piggies were however very lethargic; for them, every bite they took was simply the internalised difference between life or death.

Please take the time to read our diet guide to find out whether your piggy is overweight (by feeling the heft around the ribs) and read the chapter on exercising with some practical ideas on making her move without chasing her around (which is animal cruelty). The guide link also addresses dietary issues like overfeeding pellets and calorific veg in combination with overweight issues and will hopefully answer your concerns in much more practical detail than I can in just one post. You may find it very helpful.
Here is the link: Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Free Ranger]

My shy boy hides because he's nervous and this means he moves around much less - he doesn't sniff about like the others. By adding an extra hiding box he moves a bit more because he goes from one hidey to the other. My new girl had a lot of long hair and I found she moved around more when this was chopped as she became more confident and had less trouble seeing and manoeuvring.

It's good to exclude any medical issues in case your girl wants to move more but doesn't feel up to it. My two pigs just don't want to - they enjoy lazing around! All I can do is make sure they get put somewhere different each day to motivate them to trot round a bit... currently this is outside in the evening cool and in poor weather I put a run in the dining room.