Piggie's weight

@the3piggies

@the3piggies

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello! I'm still a very new guinea pig owner. I got my first piggie in the beginning of this month and I didn't realize at the time but she was sick with respiratory & GI issues. She unfortunately passed away recently =( I did, however, get two new piggies just yesterday, and I weighed them today and wanted to ensure they were healthy by asking what their weight should be. They are females from the same litter, and I believe one is a few weeks older as she is bigger, but they are both about 2 months old. The one that I think is older (Cocoa) weighs 10.4oz (294.83g) and the one that I think is younger (Cookie) weighs 8.9oz (252.31g). Is that healthy? Are they on the larger side, the smaller side, or average? What should the weight of a 2 month old female cavy be? Thanks!
 
There is no correct set weight. Rather it depends in the piggy and the body structure. The heft (piggy BMI) is the best indicator. What you need to look out for is weekly gain weight at this age. Please now give them a week to settle I. Before you weigh again etc.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
livpyman said:
Hello! I'm still a very new guinea pig owner. I got my first piggie in the beginning of this month and I didn't realize at the time but she was sick with respiratory & GI issues. She unfortunately passed away recently =( I did, however, get two new piggies just yesterday, and I weighed them today and wanted to ensure they were healthy by asking what their weight should be. They are females from the same litter, and I believe one is a few weeks older as she is bigger, but they are both about 2 months old. The one that I think is older (Cocoa) weighs 10.4oz (294.83g) and the one that I think is younger (Cookie) weighs 8.9oz (252.31g). Is that healthy? Are they on the larger side, the smaller side, or average? What should the weight of a 2 month old female cavy be? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi!

The weights are on the smaller side but that is not a worry. Important is your normal daily care. Keep in mind that your babies won't reach adulthood until they are around 15 months of age. That gives them plenty of time to realise their individual genetically determined optimum. Guinea pigs have a very large range of perfectly normal sizes/weights. The important bit is not whether they are 'average' but whether they are a good weight for their own size (BMI or 'heft') and not overweight or underweight.
At this young age, as long as your babies are active, eating and playing, they are doing fine.

Never be tempted to think that stuffing your babies with empty filler calories will make them grow faster or bigger - they will simply come out of their initial fast growing phase sooner and will then start building up life-shortening fat layers. Rather concentrate on a healthy grass/hay based diet to make them as fit and healthy as you can so they can hopefully enjoy a long and healthy life. The correct diet and being careful with fattening high sugar foods can add 1-2 years to a life and take your piggies from the lower end of the average life span to the upper end or beyond. It is never the quantity but the quality of what you feed that is making all the difference. The problem with 'average weights' is that they include at the best 50% of all piggies but that also means that the other mostly perfectly healthy 50% are considered to be 'wrong' in some way or other because of an entirely arbitrary human attitude to weight (which is frankly not the healthiest one). ;)

My Morwenna ('White Seas' in Welsh) was only 40g when born (which is about as low as it gets) and needed feeding support to make it through the first dodgy days. She always remained on the dainty side but she has just celebrated her 7th birthday and is set to become the longest lived of the three siblings despite having had the worst start and staying at the bottom end of the average weight range. My sisters Heulwen 'Sunshine' and Hedydd 'Skylark' even lived to celebrate their 8th birthday despite both being small all their life long.
Happy 7th wheekday, Mererid and Morwenna!

You may find these information guide links here very helpful. The weight guide teaches you how you can work out whether your piggies are a good weight for their size at any time of life ('heft' or BMI), how weight changes over the course of a life time and what you are looking out for during the life-long weekly weigh-in and body check. We cannot explain it all in every post for everybody but you will find lots of really helpful in-depth information as well as practical tips in our guides.
Weight - Monitoring and Management (all about weight and weighing)
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not? (teaches how to learn what is normal and not)
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets (diet is key to long term health and can help to promote a longer life span.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

The weights are on the smaller side but that is not a worry. Important is your normal daily care. Keep in mind that your babies won't reach adulthood until they are around 15 months of age. That gives them plenty of time to realise their individual genetically determined optimum. Guinea pigs have a very large range of perfectly normal sizes/weights. The important bit is not whether they are 'average' but whether they are a good weight for their own size (BMI or 'heft') and not overweight or underweight.
At this young age, as long as your babies are active, eating and playing, they are doing fine.

Never be tempted to think that stuffing your babies with empty filler calories will make them grow faster or bigger - they will simply come out of their initial fast growing phase sooner and will then start building up life-shortening fat layers. Rather concentrate on a healthy grass/hay based diet to make them as fit and healthy as you can so they can hopefully enjoy a long and healthy life. The correct diet and being careful with fattening high sugar foods can add 1-2 years to a life and take your piggies from the lower end of the average life span to the upper end or beyond. It is never the quantity but the quality of what you feed that is making all the difference. The problem with 'average weights' is that they include at the best 50% of all piggies but that also means that the other mostly perfectly healthy 50% are considered to be 'wrong' in some way or other because of an entirely arbitrary human attitude to weight (which is frankly not the healthiest one). ;)

My Morwenna ('White Seas' in Welsh) was only 40g when born (which is about as low as it gets) and needed feeding support to make it through the first dodgy days. She always remained on the dainty side but she has just celebrated her 7th birthday and is set to become the longest lived of the three siblings despite having had the worst start and staying at the bottom end of the average weight range. My sisters Heulwen 'Sunshine' and Hedydd 'Skylark' even lived to celebrate their 8th birthday despite both being small all their life long.
Happy 7th wheekday, Mererid and Morwenna!

You may find these information guide links here very helpful. The weight guide teaches you how you can work out whether your piggies are a good weight for their size at any time of life ('heft' or BMI), how weight changes over the course of a life time and what you are looking out for during the life-long weekly weigh-in and body check. We cannot explain it all in every post for everybody but you will find lots of really helpful in-depth information as well as practical tips in our guides.
Weight - Monitoring and Management (all about weight and weighing)
Guinea pig body quirks - What is normal and what not? (teaches how to learn what is normal and not)
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets (diet is key to long term health and can help to promote a longer life span.
Click to expand...
Okay thank you so much! I will definitely make sure to read those guides.
 
livpyman said:
Okay thank you so much! I will definitely make sure to read those guides.
Click to expand...

The guides are all part of our New Owners guide collection, which you may find both very helpful and highly interesting. It is worth bookmarking the link, browsing, reading and re-reading at need as you'll take different things from a number of guides at different levels of experience. The guides format allows us to update and add at need. We have got one of the most comprehensive information resources available but we have tried to make the guides as practical, step-by-step and precise as possible so they are easy to follow when you are still insecure. Here is the access link, which you may want to bookmark: Getting Started - New Owners' Most Helpful Guides

You can always access our even more extensive information via the guides shortcut on the top bar but you are of course always welcome to ask any questions you have in our various Care sections, the most sensitive of which are specially monitored. But since we are all doing this for free in our own free time and we have members from all over the world and different time zones, the further information links are there to help you understand things we have mentioned in our answers in more depth or with all little practical how-to tips that would take us too long to spell out all the time, seeing that it takes me usually several days to write a guide and make sure that it is correct and complete.
 
Cookie&Cocoa said:
Hello! I'm still a very new guinea pig owner. I got my first piggie in the beginning of this month and I didn't realize at the time but she was sick with respiratory & GI issues. She unfortunately passed away recently =( I did, however, get two new piggies just yesterday, and I weighed them today and wanted to ensure they were healthy by asking what their weight should be. They are females from the same litter, and I believe one is a few weeks older as she is bigger, but they are both about 2 months old. The one that I think is older (Cocoa) weighs 10.4oz (294.83g) and the one that I think is younger (Cookie) weighs 8.9oz (252.31g). Is that healthy? Are they on the larger side, the smaller side, or average? What should the weight of a 2 month old female cavy be? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi guys!

I just weighed my piggies again because I read I should weigh them every week.
They each gained about 2 pounds. A week ago, Cookie was 8.9oz (252.311g), and Cocoa was 10.4oz (294.835g). Now, Cookie is 10.1oz (286.3302), and Cocoa is 12.1oz (343.0292g). Is this normal? Again, they are both about 2 months old and I'm hoping they're just eating more now that they're in a home but I just wanted to make sure they're not overeating or anything.
Thanks!
 
It sounds like they have settled in nicely and eating a good amount of food. As long as they get unlimited hay and a little veg they should do very well x
 
Cookie&Cocoa said:
Hi guys!

I just weighed my piggies again because I read I should weigh them every week.
They each gained about 2 pounds. A week ago, Cookie was 8.9oz (252.311g), and Cocoa was 10.4oz (294.835g). Now, Cookie is 10.1oz (286.3302), and Cocoa is 12.1oz (343.0292g). Is this normal? Again, they are both about 2 months old and I'm hoping they're just eating more now that they're in a home but I just wanted to make sure they're not overeating or anything.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi!

That is a generous weight gain but as your two are on the small side for their age, actually a good sign that they are settling in and that they are profiting from your good care. Please make sure that the main food source is hay and that you do not overfeed on life-shortening veg like carrots or fruit or that you overfeed on pellets; quality is more important than quantity in the long term. You still have over a year until they reach adulthood and to realise their genetically determined individual optimum weight for their size.

As long as your piggies are lively and are not losing any weight, they are doing fine. You will find that the weight gain can slow down or even stutter a little after a big advance.
 
Bill & Ted said:
It sounds like they have settled in nicely and eating a good amount of food. As long as they get unlimited hay and a little veg they should do very well x
Click to expand...
Okay I'm glad! They always have unlimited hay but they won't eat any veggies :( I've tried just about every kind I can think of but hopefully they settle in a bit more soon and start to eat veg! Thanks for your help <3
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

That is a generous weight gain but as your two are on the small side for their age, actually a good sign that they are settling in and that they are profiting from your good care. Please make sure that the main food source is hay and that you do not overfeed on life-shortening veg like carrots or fruit or that you overfeed on pellets; quality is more important than quantity in the long term. You still have over a year until they reach adulthood and to realise their genetically determined individual optimum weight for their size.

As long as your piggies are lively and are not losing any weight, they are doing fine. You will find that the weight gain can slow down or even stutter a little after a big advance.
Click to expand...
Hi!

Okay I'm glad! I don't think I'm overfeeding pellets, but how much should each piggy have a day? I'm currently feeding them each 1/8 of a cup of pellets (about, I cant be sure exactly how much each of them eat) so is that okay? Thanks for your help!

(Also I just realized I meant to say they each gained 2 ounces, not pounds aha)
 
Cookie&Cocoa said:
Hi!

Okay I'm glad! I don't think I'm overfeeding pellets, but how much should each piggy have a day? I'm currently feeding them each 1/8 of a cup of pellets (about, I cant be sure exactly how much each of them eat) so is that okay? Thanks for your help!

(Also I just realized I meant to say they each gained 2 ounces, not pounds aha)
Click to expand...

You are feeding the right amount of pellets (15 ml = 1 tablespoon = 1/8 cup). You can always find more detailed in-depth information in our green guide links. They are always worth reading and often contain some really interesting stuff that is not boring at all. ;)
 
Wiebke said:
You are feeding the right amount of pellets (15 ml = 1 tablespoon = 1/8 cup). You can always find more detailed in-depth information in our green guide links. They are really worth reading and often contain some really interesting stuff that is not boring at all. ;)
Click to expand...
Alright thank you!
 
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