Overweight Guineas

[piggylover213]

Hi all. Today during lap time i just wanted to check if my guineas were overweight and i heard on here somewhere that if you hold them you should be able to feel the ribs but for them not to be prominent and i tried this earlier and i cant really feel the ribs very well. We kind of had a sneaking suspicion as our two piggies are rather greedy little porkers! I was just wondering how i could get them to excercise on their own(theyre quite shy unless theyre in their hutch) and tips for reducing their food(they currently have one plastic cup leveled at the top i can send pictures if needed, occasionally there is some food left when i feed them(between 4 and 5 pm, usually around 4) they also have at least one handful of grass everyday, plenty of hay and often veggies especially on weekends and holidays.

 

[Swissgreys]

Obviously it is important to handle them and feel their heft, but the more useful measurement is probably their actual weight.
Try popping them on some scales and seeing what they weigh.
Then based on their age and sex I am sure people will be able to give more specific advice.

As far as exercise goes, do they get out into an open space very often
Floor time or a run in the garden?

Whilst my lot are quite active inside their house (they are still quite young) they are certainly a lot more active when they are out in a more open space.
I think if they have a cage that already offers this (a large C&C for example) then floor time is less critical, but many guinea pig cages offer enough living space, but not a lot of 'wild running' space.

 

[Squeaky Dreams]

i bet my piggies are overweight you can see tammys bell dangle when she stands up ive tried getting her running in a tude but she hides in it a poops and stuff in it so she never comes out ive tried egtting scales but mine broke so i dont know how she can lose wait

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all. Today during lap time i just wanted to check if my guineas were overweight and i heard on here somewhere that if you hold them you should be able to feel the ribs but for them not to be prominent and i tried this earlier and i cant really feel the ribs very well. We kind of had a sneaking suspicion as our two piggies are rather greedy little porkers! I was just wondering how i could get them to excercise on their own(theyre quite shy unless theyre in their hutch) and tips for reducing their food(they currently have one plastic cup leveled at the top i can send pictures if needed, occasionally there is some food left when i feed them(between 4 and 5 pm, usually around 4) they also have at least one handful of grass everyday, plenty of hay and often veggies especially on weekends and holidays.

Hi!

Lot of tips in this guide here! The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Be careful with pellets (they should not be unlimited and are often the biggest reason for overweight apart from fatty/sweet treats). Also stay off energy dense veg like carrots or sweetcorn, as well as calorific "healthy" treats like readigrass.

If you wish, you can try a restricted, but balanced daily diet of 1 slice of pepper, 1 slice of cucumber, 1 chunk of celery, 1 French bean, 1 1 in slice of spring greens and 1 sprig of fresh coriander per piggy together with half a handful (10g) of good quality pellets with unlimited timothy or meadow hay and see whether the weight is going regulate itself over the coming weeks.

Tips on how to encourage your piggies to exercise you can find in the link, but sprinkling their veg dinner around can help. If they are very skittish, try pegging a blanket over the top of the run to make them feel more secure.

 

[Adelle]

I feed my piggies unlimited pellets purely because i have an elderly girl in one pair and a baby in the other.
My girls used to be quite hefty, one slimmed due to age and health issues but the other just came naturally. She now weighs 150g lighter than she used to a year ago but she maintains that weight and is leaner- but a healthy weight now. She also no longer waddles as much as shes quite a wide hipped girl.

Due to bladder issues they now eat grainfree low calcium unlimited pellets, meadow hay in litter tray (no sugary additives like the apple n carrot versions), and unlimited high quality timothy in the racks. They dont get grass very often at all as it usually causes soft poos in some and gas in the others! As a treat they get a different kind of veg, a little fruit or a small handful of oat hay sprinkled in their trays for rummaging. They do get more veg than they probably should, a small plate 3 times a day, but their systems are used to it and they dont gorge on pellets for this reason. Floor time helped massively, spreading the veg over the floor for every meal meant they had to walk to get each piece. They are now in a large c&c cage and they do look great weight wise.

Limiting high quality pellets should help and avoid things with additives i.e stick to plain hays rather than dandelion/apple/carrot versions- give fresh veg instead of the dried kind found in treat sticks. X

 

[my4piggies]

try and feed 1/8th cup of pellets and between 1/2 cup to 1 cup veggies a day each x

 

[piggylover213]

Hi!

Lot of tips in this guide here! The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Be careful with pellets (they should not be unlimited and are often the biggest reason for overweight apart from fatty/sweet treats). Also stay off energy dense veg like carrots or sweetcorn, as well as calorific "healthy" treats like readigrass.

If you wish, you can try a restricted, but balanced daily diet of 1 slice of pepper, 1 slice of cucumber, 1 chunk of celery, 1 French bean, 1 1 in slice of spring greens and 1 sprig of fresh coriander per piggy together with half a handful (10g) of good quality pellets with unlimited timothy or meadow hay and see whether the weight is going regulate itself over the coming weeks.

Tips on how to encourage your piggies to exercise you can find in the link, but sprinkling their veg dinner around can help. If they are very skittish, try pegging a blanket over the top of the run to make them feel more secure.

Thanks! I dont think we normally have french beans but i think i could get my mum to buy some for the piggies. Overall i think the main two factors are that we do give them quite a bit of carrot and probably a bit too much food for two piggies although i do make them run up and down their ramp in order to get to the lower section where they have their food