Diet: Controlling the diet of 1 of 3 piggies living together.

[Xebby]

I have three girls that all live in the same cage. They always have an unlimited supply of hay, I keep their bowls full of pellets, they also always have fresh water and get their daily diet of veggies (thanks to this site for the proper care!).

The problem I have is one of my three is always the first to the food and eats much more then my other two. Even when I'm filling the pellet bowls she's right there. She's also the one I find in the hay loft more then the others. Now I'm noticing that she's a bit more chubby then my other two. I've always noticed she eats a lot but now her body is showing it as well.

I just introduced my third pig to the group but Widget has always been a piggy pig. They all share their food nicely and I haven't seen any fighting. I have had my first two girls for about 4 months and they are about 7mo old now. My newest baby is 11mo old. I know they are all girls, I even had a vet conform that for me and I checked for myself.

The picture in my avi is Widget, the pig I'm talking about. That was taken on the day she came home but now she's a lot more round.

So, how do I control this? Is there anything I should be concerned about? Does she need a vet trip?

[akstrohm]

First of all, they should not have unlimited pellets at their age. They should have only 1/8-1/4 cup each of high quality timothy based pellets (such as Kleenmama or Oxbow) per day. Pellets are the smallest part of a guinea pig's diet. If your pig is really overweight, cut down to 1/8 cup each per day.

Exercise is an important part of weight too. How big is your cage? Do you give your pigs at least one hour of floor time per day?

Do you weigh your pigs weekly? Keep in mind that there is a large range of normal weights for guinea pigs.

What veggies are you feeding and in what amounts? What brand of pellets are you feeding?

[blackarrow]

Someone else mentioned having a very similar issue with one of three pigs just today (except that pig that poster worried about is the thin one, not the plump one, of the group). The problem is that it's impossible for us to tell if your Widget is too plump just from knowing that she's plumper than the other two, or if the other two are too thin, or if they're all just perfectly fine variations on normal. Some pigs are bigger than others, just like people are.

One thing, though, none of them should be getting unlimited pellets past the age of 6 months - it should be 1/8 to 1/4 C per pig, per day, and if they run out, they've run out. Do get a scale and keep track of their weights if you haven't already.

[Xebby]

The cage is 2 cubes by 5 cubes on the first and second level with an addition hay loft and also a forth "look out" level that is 2x2 cubes. I didn't have room to make it wider so I went up, it's huge! They also get plenty of floor time everyday.

The pellets and hay were both ordered from Kleenmama's Hayloft. I was feeding a timothy/alfalfa mix but changed to to strictly timothy now that they are at 7mo.

As for veggies, I'm a bit limited on what fresh produce is being sold in this town, it changes somewhat. I feed veggies 2-3x a day, they get lettuce everyday, a baby carrot per pig, slice of pepper, cilantro, and occasionally other veggies if they are in stock. basically I try to go off the chart from this forum: http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ants-list.html

I started weighing them when I first got them but have been slacking a bit on that part, guess I better get back into that routine.

[akstrohm]

You could cut out the carrot as they can be fattening and don't provide much nutrition. Definitely increase the bell pepper to at least 1/8 pepper per pig per day. And make sure they get at least a few other veggies over the course of the week in addition to the staples you mentioned.

Your diet and exercise set up sounds pretty good overall, so aside from cutting down on pellets, I would guess one of your pigs is just naturally bigger than the others.

Weighing weekly is very important not only to make sure their weight is appropriate but also to detect weight loss as soon as it occurs as it is often the first sign of illness.

[Xebby]

She's always first to the food and then finishes what the others two leave behind. I was just concerned if that might be a problem.

Even if I measure and cut down on the food how would I know if all piggies are getting enough?

[Toadies]

It sounds like you might be at home most of the day. Could you try putting Chubby in a travel cage, crate or section of a small portion of your cage just for veggie time? That way you could still give your other two their carrots and pellets without Chubby getting more than her share. Once veggie/food (pellets) time is over, remove leftovers of carrots, pellets and other high calorie things from the cage. I trained my boys from the get-go to go to their own pigloo for the veggies like carrots, peppers, corn (rarely given) but lettuce is a free-for-all. I also have a gorger and a nibbler and there's just so much you can do aside from permanent separation.