Obesity

Firstly Welcome to the forum!! And next time you want to ask a question please post it in the Cavy chat section.

I do not think that your pig is overally over weight and certainly not obese. I have females who weigh 1,500g. Some guinea pigs are just naturally bigger than overs.

What vegi's are you feeding him and how much? You might be giving him to much fruit or vegi's that are high in sugar.

That would make him 3.85 pounds if I am not mistaken. Exercise would be the key thing. Would you consider getting him a cage mate? That would shake him up some. 500 grams I feel is too much too lose. That is almost a pound. I would set the goal at 250 grams. If all you are feeding him are pellets veggies and hay I dont know what more you can do except as I stated in getting him a mate. I wouldnt give him any fruits just in case you do.

Get rid of the pellets and feed unlimited grass hay (timothy, bluegrass, orchard grass) and 1 cup of leafy green veggies a day. Also, make sure he has a large cage with various hidey houses and toys (see the main section of this site for cage and toy info) and adopt a (male or spayed female) friend. Also, give him an hour of floor time a day, with his friend.

Some pigs are just chunkier than others normally. If he's healthy otherwise, diet and exercise should slowly bring him down to a weight he'll stay at, and that should be acceptable, even if it's 1500g.

That doesn't sound like he is in danger from being too obese. Some piggies are just piggy then others. I have 4 girls and 2 of them could be considered a little "chuncky" . One of my females who is about 8 months old is already 2.4 lbs and she is still gaining quite consistently while my other girls who are around the same age are all aroung 1.9 to 2 pounds. I have a little girl who was weighed at the vet when she was 3 months old and she already weighed 1.6 lbs. She is now 5 months and weighs 2.2 pounds. However, the vet said that she does not have a lot of body fat and it is just how she is (he did some tests or something), but that I should try to limit her pellets while I am feeding the others. The best thing would be to keep his pellets down to 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup per day and feed him plenty of veggies and hay. A trick for exercising is to put veggies all around his play area for floor time and he will run around eating all of the veggies.

Obesity can be a big issue. My biggest female is only 2lbs 9oz, but she has already gotten ovarian cysts, which is what obese females get. She is thinish but very chunky around the middle.

Ovarian cysts seem to be more related to genetics and possibly other sows in the cage. Suzi had them when she was only 8 months old and 2 pounds.

Hmm. I thought cysts were from obesity, or I thought that is what GL said. Thanks salana.

Hi all,


Thank you very much for all your replies and advise.

I am a bit worried about his weight as I have been down to the vet to weigh him and have been advise that he should loose weight. He has had a checkup and he is healthy.
Although they told me he is the large size gunieapig so he will never be small and very thin. But he has got 2 fat patches under his belly and his skin is floppy under his chin, actually hanging down. Everytime he is out of the cage, he does run around without problems, the only thing its hard to excersise him as he only runs as much as he wants and then stops..

I have cut down his dry food, he gets very little of it and then plenty of veggies, he gets a variety of carrots, selleri, parsley, broccoli, some lettuce, cucumber and green, and also hay. He gets one cup of veggies in the morning and then hay and sometimes a little dry food in the evening.

I am actually on my way down to get him weighed today so I will let you all know if he has lost some weight later on and what the vet has said.

In regards to get him a mate, i am not sure if he would accept another guinea friend as he is 3 years old and has been on his own ever since I got him. They normally say you should get them both at the same time.
Has anyone of you introduced a new mate later on?

Thanks again all of you and speak to you later.

Monkan

If you get a baby male he should accept him. But not an adult, I think they would fight.

Ok. I might consider to get a baby boy as company for him..

Just hope it wont cause any problems.. Probably have to get an extra cage just incase... But I have read somewhere that male normally fights? Unless they have grown up together?

Perhaps a female is better if I get mine nutered? Or is that to risky?
I have read somewhere that it can be..

Have you got 2 pigs?

Where ever you have read that males fight is a load of rubbish! I have three boys living together. Yes there is always the risk of them fighting but its just the same with a male/female or a female pair. However, I used to have four boys living together but they kept bullying one of them. Two out of the three boys are brothers and have always lived together, I introduced them to the older male when he was 3years old.. He LOVED them. I never see him go anyway without them.

One of my 3lb 3oz pigs looks fine, normal. The other one has that flab of skin hanging under her chin and belly.. she looks fat! It does depend on the shape of the pig. Losing a couple of ounces wouldn't hurt I guess! A little baby friend for him would probably help!

Hi Rachy,


Just got back from the vet and good news! He has lost another 4grams, wippie!! That means, he was 1,8kg and he is now 1,7kg so thats 100grams since we started... I am pleased.. Its going slow but I guess thats just even better.. As one of the others suggested I am happy if he goes down to 1,5kg as he is a big guinea and I doubt he would ever be down to 1,2kg thats just a general number.. So we are on the right way and as long as he is happy!

Then thats whats counts...

I will still consider getting him a little friend, just have to prepar for it.
A bigger cage might be a case, though the one I have got is big..

What kind of guineas do you have? Mine is short haired and black with some brown spots.. Havent got a photo yet to down load but will soon..

Thanks for you great advise.

Monkan

The fat underneath the chin is normal. It's called a dewlap, and many pigs have it.

It's definitely possible to introduce him to other piggies even in middle age. Go to a rescue and ask them to help you pick out a friend for him. They might let you bring him in so he can meet all the pigs and you can see which one he likes best. And as for males fighting, I've had three boar pairs, two of them in a dinky little pet store cage (before I knew better), and they've all gotten along better than my sow pair.

I thought it was only rabbits that got dewlaps!

I have a pig with a dewlap, it is quite funny.