How to make a chunky pig lose some weight

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We have a herd of four guinea pigs. Three of them are at a healthy weight, but the fourth one, Penne, has gotten a bit too chunky. Penne is around 9 months old and the dominant sow in the herd. Once she was fully grown, she slowly started to grow in width. Her weight is not immediately concerning, but definitely outside of what's healthy in the long term (says the vet). She's completely healthy and generally pretty active.
Our piggies get unlimited high-quality hay, and a cup of veggies per pig per day. We already avoid more calorie-dense vegetables like carrots. The veggies are spread in the cage and not usually finished in one sitting. She is not territorial about food, but if there is a bit of a standoff over a piece of food that's particularly desirable for some reason, she usually wins it. They only get pellets (grain-free, nutritionally complete) as treats, the chunky pig gets at most 1 or 2 pellets a day. Their diet is already pretty lean, the only way she can gain weight from it is by overeating hay and maybe having a bit more than her fair share of vegetables.

Does anyone have any tips or ideas to help Penne lose a bit of weight? Ideally without impacting the others too much?
 
Weight ie the number on the scales is not indicative of what is healthy for themselves. The adult weight range is around 800-1500g so you can see that those numbers don’t really tell you anything about a particular pig.

What you need to do is check her heft to determine if she is healthy for herself.

If you do determine you can’t feel her ribs at all then she would be considered overweight.
Their diet sounds to be a good one so actually it doesn’t seem there are any adjustments you can make there. It’s not really possible for them to overeat hay.
If you are concerned she is getting more veg than she should be then hand feeding their own portion so you can control that she isn’t getting more than she needs.
The only other thing would be to encourage more movement but honestly, that is much easier said than done.

The guide below explains how to check heft and what to do is a pig is found to be overweight

 
The link isn't working, but I found the page via the search and it's quite helpful, thank you! To clarify, I did mean her heft when I say she's overweight, that's why I did not include her weight in my post. She weighs around 1250g, but it's a lot for her frame. It is possible to feel her ribs, but more difficult than it should be, and she carries quite a bit of fat around her neck and belly.

Why would weight gain necessarily be attributed to veggies rather than hay? I have seen this repeated a lot and I am a bit confused, since hay has around the same amount of calories as most veggies, even a bit higher than something like lettuce or cucumber. Is it appetite? Or is there some other difference I am missing?

I am asking because ours often prefer hay over veggies. Of course, I am fully aware that they need constant access to hay, but I wonder if it would help to get hay that's slightly less nice, or mix in some straw so they have to work a tiny bit harder when sorting through it.
 
They cannot overeat hay. Their bodies need to graze on it all day long. If they don’t get enough, they lose weight rapidly and their gut slows.
They can’t become overweight by eating hay, their metabolism is fast and constantly processing it.

If you were, for example, feeding a particularly rich cut of Timothy hay as their primary hay source then it may be possible to give too much of that particular type - the result is most often soft poops and digestive issues (we have seen it happen with a soft cut Timothy hay) rather than weight gain - and our advice has always been that such rich hays are best as a treat in small amounts mixed with something like a meadow hay. But it is still not the same thing as them being able to overeat hay in general.

The usual culprits for becoming overweight is overfeeding veg, pellets, treats and lack of activity. Veg and pellets are just a tiny and supplementary part of the diet replacing the wild leaves and other plants they don’t have access to.
The general advice in this kind of situation would be check portion sizes of veg and pellets and that carrots / corn would be something to mention not to feed.
However from what you have said so far there is no issue with the way you are feeding them - pellets are limited and carrots etc aren’t given. There is nothing obvious that needs to be cut down/out.

With that said, would it be worth considering that as she is the dominant sow, she may well be getting more veg than you think - perhaps through forcing the others to give up theirs (a perfectly normal function). Hence the suggestion to hand feed hers to her - it’s the only way you can rule out her overeating veg as a possibility.
I also wonder that as you have said that they don’t eat their veg in one sitting, is it possible that she goes around hoovering up the other bits at a later time even if she isn’t forcing the others to give theirs up?
Perhaps remove anything that isn’t eaten in a short period and then offer it again later on in the day? But not to her if she has already had her one cup handfed to her for the day.
I just mention this as mine get their veg once a day and there isn’t a single piece left outside of 10 minutes after feed time.

There is also activity levels both in and out of the cage to consider.
Genetics maybe?
Can you definitely feel an unhealthy amount of fat on her ribs when compared to the others?
I’d not mix straw into the hay.

You don’t seem to be feeding yours any differently to the way I feed mine though - their enclosures are entirely filled with meadow hay with it refreshed two, if not three, times a day. A little over one cup of veg (lettuce, pepper, coriander, cucumber on a daily basis with the occasional something else thrown in), pellets are just a few (around 5) each but only twice a week (three times in winter (or a few oats instead of the third serving of pellets) as a boost (particularly for my 7 year old) as mine live out in my insulated but unheated shed). Dried forage is sometimes mixed into hay and lots of access to fresh grazing in summer. Lots of good activity. Nobody has become overweight by that. The eldest (almost 7 years old) was dominant in his previous pairing (submissive in this pairing following the death of his original cagemate) has always had a slightly larger belly but heft has always been fine (a nice thin fat layer can be felt on the ribs).

sport_billy

Thread 'A Comprehensive Hay Guide for Guinea Pigs (incl. providers in several countries)'

1 List of available types of hay (with description and pros/cons)
2 Hay comparison chart (with nutritional values explained)
3 Assessing the quality of hay
4 Storage
5 Suppliers (UK - USA - Aus)
6 Further information, hay racks and hay treats


This guide has been written by @G&C in 2019 and updated for UK sources by @Lorcan in 2023.
The forum would like to thank them for all their hard work in researching and producing this very helpful and thorough guide!


Hay is...
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