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Small guinea pig 360g?

Chaz161

Chaz161

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Hi. I recently got a female guinea pig a week ago from a pet shop where I was told she was 12 weeks old. She looked really small, smaller than my other 2 guinea pigs were when we had them. I weighed her when we got settled back at home and she weighed 300g. Is that normal for a 12 week old? She reached 370g in a few days but hasn't gained any more in the last couple of days. She is eating fine. I cant find anything online but I'm weighing her daily to make sure she is gaining weight
 
While there is no actual weight to age guide, on average a 3 week old piggy could be around 250g. So at 300g I would suspect she is either incredibly small, or considerably younger than you have been told.
What matters now though is that she gains weight.
 
All you can do is monitor her weight. You may find that her weight will jump up 8n spurts but if you are at all concerned get her vet checked. They do come in all shapes and sizes, perhaps the pet shop were misinformed? It’s a little small for a 3 month old piggi. If she is eating lots of hay then I would be inclined to monitor and see how she goes on

Do you have a photo of the little lady 😊
 
300g does sound low for 12 weeks, given that the cut off weight for separating baby boars from females is 250g which is normally reached at 3 weeks of age or so. It's possible she is just a runt or very small, but the main thing is that she is otherwise healthy and gaining weight over time.
I would take her for a vet check as she is from a shop, I would also double check her gender.
 
Ok thank you for all of your replies and advice. She seems very small and I wasn't sure if she needed anything extra. Here she is with my 6 year old. she is so sweet we are in love with her 😍
 

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She’s gorgeous!
Her care (diet etc) isn’t any different to an adult piggy - by the time they are weaned they are eating a normal adult diet - so you don’t need to do anything out of the ordinary.
 
My Jupiter was 335g at 9 weeks old while his sister was 581g. Jupiter was so small he'd walk through the gaps of a c&c grid with ease. With the correct diet he soon put weight on and while he is one of my smaller pigs, he's still a decent 1050g at the age of 2.

As long as she's otherwise healthy (pop her to the vets for piece of mind) then a good diet of mainly grass hay (Timothy/meadow/orchard), with 1 cup of veggies and 1tbsp of pellets a day will soon fatten her up. She's such a pretty piggy.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Edible And Forbidden Veg And Fruit List With Vitamin C Grading
 
Super cute! I am wondering if she is just a lot younger than you've been led to believe. A lot of pet shops are selling pigs that are only 4 or 5 weeks old. She may be a smaller pig overall, but she will definitely grow a lot over the next year!

Here is Tomie when we got her, next to average-sized adult Leela. She was probably 4 to 5 weeks old or so. She grew to be a small-average pig as an adult (about the size of Leela in this pic but slimmer built.)

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Aww they are beautiful 😍 Yes I am thinking that she is a lot younger than I was told. I will be getting her checked at the vet to make sure she's OK although she is eating and settled well, I will be weighing her later on to check that she has gained. Thank you so much for all of your replies x
 
Chaz161 said:
Hi. I recently got a female guinea pig a week ago from a pet shop where I was told she was 12 weeks old. She looked really small, smaller than my other 2 guinea pigs were when we had them. I weighed her when we got settled back at home and she weighed 300g. Is that normal for a 12 week old? She reached 370g in a few days but hasn't gained any more in the last couple of days. She is eating fine. I cant find anything online but I'm weighing her daily to make sure she is gaining weight
Click to expand...

Newborn babies can weigh between 40-120g - that is 3 times between the smallest and the largest; this difference carries through in life and tends to get even larger. Yours is at the lower end of the spectrum. It is very likely that your baby will always stay on the dainty side but that is not in itself a problem.
My Begw was just 210g (less than the weight of a 3 weeks old baby at weaning age) when she arrived here as a supposedly 8 weeks old boy. The gender was wrong but I have come to the conclusion that the age was correct. She is coming up to 4 years now and although at the bottom end of the normal weight range, she is going strong and is healthy in herself.

For long term health and longer life span it is much more important that you concentrate on a healthy normal diet to help her make the very best of her genetically determined optimal adult size rather than on average weights and on overfeeding/verweight. Your little one can still live a normal healthy life span and - with a little luck - even live to a ripe old age.
My Morwenna was just 40g when she was born to a newly rescued highly pregnant sow in very bad state from a long term indiscriminate breeding/in-breeding situation and needed a helping hand in her first days. She was always a lot smaller than her two litter sisters but has nevertheless outlived both (her sister mererid by just a matter or a few months) and has lived to not just celebrate her 8th birthday but also as the so far only piggy of mine has blessed me with making it to her 8th adoption day. And she more than up for what she lacked in size with her personality! Just to say...

Focus on a healthy weight/size ratio (BMI or 'heft') because that is key. Guinea pigs don't have a concept for longevity; they measure their lives in happy todays - as long as you give your piggies those happy todays, as far as they are concerned, they have a good life however short or long it lasts. Quality always comes before quantity.
As long as you concentrate on a good diet and an enriched life with activities that cater to their various species instincts (like spinkle feeding veg and pellets around the cage instead of using bowls) and their senses, you cannot fail your piggies. The rest is out of your control anyway.

Please take the time to read these links here; you may find them interesting and helpful:
- Weight - Monitoring and Management (chapter 3 deals with how you feel for the 'heft' to check which ball park the individual piggy is a healthy weight in)

- Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets (we strongly recommend to only feed 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day to encourage eating as much hay and grass we well as to not feed certain veg and fruit groups for improved health and a greater chance for a longer life. A good diet can really add as much as 1-2 years to a healthy life span.)

- Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs (Something for all the senses and perhaps some more ideas for you)
 
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