Weight - why isnt she putting on weight?

[Krystina]

Hi, I rescued 2 guinea pigs from Lancashire Guinea pig rescue about 6 weeks ago and have been weighing them weekly. One of them has been consistently putting weight on, but the other is pretty static at only 620g. She's not a baby, the rescue said over 1 year.

They started off the following weights:
Dancer 604g
Oreo 547g

Then the weekly weights are below:

Dancer: 610g, 613g, 631g, 620g, 625g, 621g
Oreo: 557g, 593g, 650g, 647g, 677g, 717g

According to the Internet, Dancer should weigh much more than this for an adult piggie, which has me concerned.

Should I be worried or is this OK?

Thanks x

 

[Piggies&buns]

You can’t go by what the internet says for weight. There is no one correct weight for a piggy at any age - the healthy range for an adult piggy is huge (anything between 600g right up to 1600g is normal).
She may simply be a smaller piggy, has reached the size she is going to get and is now maintaining. It doesn’t mean she is necessarily underweight or that there is any problem.

Check her heft. The guide below explains more about this - it’s about putting your hand around her ribs and seeing if you can feel the ribs with a bit of a fat layer.
If a heft check shows that she is bony, not carrying any fat and is underweight, then at that point I would see a vet to rule out any potential health issue, feed a higher proportion of hay (add extra hay piles (remove any hay racks or bags you may be using and instead just put in loose piles so they can really get amongst the hay)). Potentially look at if their bond isn’t functioning but only after ruling out any health issue first ie bullying isn’t occurring and she isn’t being prevented from eating.

Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Krystina]

Thanks, I'll have a go at checking her heft
The rescue said her sibling had quite a few health issues so I hope it's not a sign that she's unhealthy

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

I have currently got two rescue adoptees (first cousins) which have both stopped growing at 6 months old and are just about below 600g. They are coming up towards 3 years old now. They are well in themselves and their heft around the ribs feels right - the are neither under- or overweight.

As long as they have a happy normal life while here, I don't mind how long. After all, their genetic inheritance (which is not great) is not their fault and they have the same right to a good and loving home as other piggies. Dryw in the middle is now 4 1/2 years old and is another smallish one with dodgy genes but I bless every day she has with me and every day she is coming closer to an average life span. Her litter brother died at just one year of age.

I have lost several seemingly healthy normal sized piggies at a younger age than this trio. Several piggies who were just about 800g in the prime of their lives and with not the nicest genes have lived to celebrate their 8th birthday whereas their mother and their 6 sisters from the rescue born last litter have all sadly died at a young age. You just can never tell. But you can always make a rescued life count.