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Old guinea pig help

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Lloyd

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I have two 7 year old female guinea pigs and I'm trying to help them gain weight. I've tried an apple puree with oats in but they don't like the oats, I used regular porridge oats. They eat their vedge, pellets and hay as normal but are still pretty thin. I was wondering can barley seed or grass help them gain weight, i grow it for them in the summer so I know they like it. Or what other vedge or any other methods of weight gain is there.one of them is currently ill(chest infection thats getting sorted) and really need her to gain weight as fast as possible
 
hello, as piggies get older they do lose weight, we tried all manner of things to no avail to get one of our elderly ladies to gain weight as she got older but couldn't really find a way. She was only 940grams at her heaviest and when she was 7 she had gone to around 720g she was a tiny piggy. Weight depends on lots of things like size of frame etc.. some are big pigs some are mini pigs.
As long as weight is stable they dont over think it. What do they weigh?
 
My older boys 6.5 and 7 years have lost 2-300g over the last 3 years. The vet didn't want them to lose more and I have managed to hold them steady over the last six months by feeding soft timothy hay as their main hay, plus a generous pinch of dried mixed forage and a handful of oat hay daily. I tried lots of the normally suggested tips like porridge oats, banana and bran but they wouldn't touch it. It can be hard to keep weight on the oldies, it is natural for them to lose weight as they age so try not to worry too much.
 
Lloyd said:
I have two 7 year old female guinea pigs and I'm trying to help them gain weight. I've tried an apple puree with oats in but they don't like the oats, I used regular porridge oats. They eat their vedge, pellets and hay as normal but are still pretty thin. I was wondering can barley seed or grass help them gain weight, i grow it for them in the summer so I know they like it. Or what other vedge or any other methods of weight gain is there.one of them is currently ill(chest infection thats getting sorted) and really need her to gain weight as fast as possible
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For all asking they both weigh around 900g, the ill ones always been pretty small but she's got that old skinniness with it and seems like with others mentioned she won't really keep any weight despite eating tones
 
piggieminder said:
My older boys 6.5 and 7 years have lost 2-300g over the last 3 years. The vet didn't want them to lose more and I have managed to hold them steady over the last six months by feeding soft timothy hay as their main hay, plus a generous pinch of dried mixed forage and a handful of oat hay daily. I tried lots of the normally suggested tips like porridge oats, banana and bran but they wouldn't touch it. It can be hard to keep weight on the oldies, it is natural for them to lose weight as they age so try not to worry too much.
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Thanks ill have to try the oat hay. My issue it they've got 4 others with them, 2 of which are fatties (in a positive way i love them) so I'm having to separate to try get them to gain the weight
 
They really love the oat hay. Separating them to eat sounds like a good idea, it will give them a chance to eat without quicker younger piggies pinching all the food! My other boys (different cages, younger and not slim!) smell the 'special foods' and get really excited rattling cage bars and begging, they sometimes get a tiny pinch but usually have to make do with a normal hay top up or a handful of grass when I can get it.
 
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