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Nutrition How much feed? Is he done growing???

ciaraelise

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I got Chester from a pet store and they said it was several months old. they made it seem like he was fish months old but I definitely don't think so anymore.

​This was taken the morning hatter we brought him home. sorry selfies was the only way he would stand still for pictures lol.


This is him one week later. Definitely growing more.


One month home
(seriously so cute I can't handle it)



This is today. almost 9 weeks home!


Now I didn't think anything was off at all until I brought home my new boys Max and Hershey. Max is two and GIANT with a serious obesity problem. He's now on a diet. lol And Hershey is almost as big as Max without a fat problem. The family I adopted them form had both of the pigs fro their whole life after purchasing from a breeder. Max is 2 years old and Hershey is less than a year.

I am wildly unfamiliar with sizing and age with my piggie pals. But Hershey could eat Chester for breakfast and still need a side of carrots to be full and they are both under a year old. Does this seem right??

Some one help me out here with ages and sizes.

How old do we think Chester is?
Pet store claimed his was 6ish months old. I have no gage for aging!!

Are Hersh and Max just bigger pigs?
I believe they had diet issue at their old home and are now on a much healthier diet plan with loads of space to run and play. I think this will help with the extra fat they have pack on but they are still pretty darn big.

Will Chester get that big?
even his little head is-little!! haha is still growing? What age do pigs stop growing at? Am i feeding him enough? I switched him off of oxbow young cavy performance because I saw a lot of calcium spots in his cage while his hay is fresh timothy and he gets a good plethora of veggies everyday. I also stopped feeding unlimited pellets and now give him 1/8th cup oxbow adult twice a day along with his leafy veggies( romaine and red leaf lettuce) and his bell pepper, baby carrot, and cherry tomato, and sometimes a strawberry. He has two water bottles one with water and one with a gatorade dilute vet prescribed. He will drink the gatorade dilute bottle in three days but if I just give him water he will hardly touch it.


Here is Max


And Hershey
 
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bpatters

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Your pictures don't show up, so I can't tell anything about them.

You need a kitchen scale that weighs up to about 5 pounds or so, and you need to weigh them regularly. That's the only way you'll know if they're gaining properly, and besides, loss of weight is often the first sign that a pig is sick.

There's no way to know how old a pig is, unless they're very young or very old. But pet store pigs aren't usually six months old -- they're merchandise, and they want to move them as soon as possible.

Pigs are like people, they come in all shapes and sizes. There's absolutely no way to know if one pig will be half the size of another, or twice the size. They're full grown in length at about 9-10 months of age, although they may put on a little weight after that.
 

lissie

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Max is two and GIANT with a serious obesity problem. He's now on a diet.

What do you mean by him being on a diet? Guinea pigs need to eat all the time. Their digestive track needs food to move through all day long.

Are you feeding hay?
 

ciaraelise

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@bpatters I tried to fix the photos. They showed up fine when I was making the post but then i posted it and they were just links. I clicked them and they were invalid so i tried to email the administrator email it gave me but it said it was invalid . . . soo then I tried to edit the post but in edit mode you can't reattach anything. . . meep.
 

ciaraelise

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@lissie I mean healthy meal plan. 'Diet' as in what they eat on a day to day basis.

The family who had them before me gave them unlimited kaytee supreme pellets, tons of yogurt drops, and one carrot or celery stick a day with yellow and brittle hay.

I feed unlimited timothy that I drive about a half hour to get because the stores around me almost always have yellow hay. Where I get it is cheap and lush and not dusty.

I don't use KMS but I do use Oxbow adult which is significantly better than the kaytee stuff. I'm starting to integrate the oxbow pellets into there diet and wean them off of the kaytee. And not feed it unlimited but serve a breakfast and a dinner.

They also get veggies twice a day. In the morning they get romaine and red leaf lettuce and in the evening they get a mini bell pepper, baby carrot, and cherry tomato.

I give strawberries as a little treat every now and again.

Veggies also depend on what I have in stock at the store as long as it is healthy for the piggies.

Does that make more sense? I really don't have any doubts in what I am feeding the boys except if I took Chester off young cavy performance too soon. But I did that because he recently started to have a lot of calcium spots in his cage and I figured he must not need the alpha based pellets any more.
 

lissie

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@ciaraelise That sounds good. Thanks for the clarification.
 

ciaraelise

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No problem [MENTION=11509]lissie[/MENTION] :)
 
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