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overweight pig

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tanith

I was wandering how i can get some weight off one of my sows when she lives in a group of 3. She's been pretty huge for a while now and all she seems to want to do is lie around and eat, she never runs around like the others and never has done realy, she's never been into popcorning either as it just seems to much effoert for her. When i put food in for them all she is always first to the bowl or the veg, warning off the others until she's had what she wants and then she's straight off for a lie down and munch on the hay again. Do i just have to accept she a bit of a porker or can i help her.
The dry food bowl is quite small and is filled a couple of times a day for the 3 of them, they get peppers, carrots, greens and a bit of apple occasionally(they don't like it much) and constant hay.
 
I've just weighed them in a tub on the kitchen scales so i hope it's fairly accurate.
Helga weighs 2lb 11 ozs and is 2yrs old
Inca weighs 2lb 9 ozs also 2yrs old
and the little one weighs 1lb 3 oz not sure but i think she's about 2-3 months

I was quite suprised to see Helga isn't loads more than Inca as she looks so much bigger. Are these weights over or about right?
 
Thats good then, i was just worrying a bit about it :) thanks for putting my mind at ease :)
 
Three of my boys are around the 3lb mark, so I would say shes fine ;)
 
Haha Fi, boys are tubby puddings!

Tanith I have a sow like that she has wide hips so looks huge but she isn't that big when I weigh her! ;D
 
I have big hips too but unfortunately it does show on the scales ;D
 
Forgive me for butting in here - isn't it unusual for guineas to be overweight? This is a question to anyone really. I can see how if they are given lots of fruit and have very little exercise out of their cage then they could be a little heavier, but i don't think i've ever seen a 'fat' pig. Generally don't herbivorous animals, like sheep, not get fat - they just eat what is required and keep eating high fibre vegetation on and off all day. I would be interested to hear some thoughts.
 
no i dont think pigs are often obese they are nice and chunky in my opinion

i love chunky pigs
 
I love chunky pigs too, lovely fat round faces. I would say the weights are about right too, all pigs vary, I think under weight is worse in any case. Ever see that really big fat cat on telly and in the paper? he got taken off his owners!
 
I love my piggies being chunky too but would hate to have been being cruel by making them over-weight. I just have this distant memory of Helga having a distinction between her head and her body! LOL :)
 
Some pigs could get overweight by being fed incorrectly I guess. Like these chocolate drops and other crap on the market aimed at being guinea pig treats.....if people dont know and regularly feed these....? Also, some fruit and veg is quite high in sugar and too much of these should not be fed and of course exercise is important too :)
 
I'd be far more concerned if I had an underweight piggy really. At the first sign of illness piggies tend to lose weight so if they have a bit extra then that's what is lost (hopefully!). Besides I lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve chunky pigs!
 
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