Weight Guinea pig scales ?

[Qwertage]

I was just wondering what kind of scale is best to weight Guinea pigs? how much should they weight , what weight is too skinny, what weight is overweight?

 

[LittleSqueakers]

Any kind of scale that can weight accurately in grams and ounces and can weight 5 pounds is suitable. I got a nice one from Amazon that cost about $20.

It's not really possible to give an exact cutoff number for what qualifies as "too fat" or "too skinny", because guinea pigs come in different sizes and some just grow to become bigger or smaller animals. What you really want to pay attention to is what is called the "body condition score". It basically describes how much body fat the animal should have for it's size. One of the vets I worked with would describe proper body condition this way: running your fingers along their ribs, it should feel like the back of your hand. If it feels like your knuckles, they're too thin; if it feels like your palm, they're too fat. Of course, this was advice referring to dogs and cats, but it should be the same for just about any mammal.

 

[LunchBunchPiggi]

As long as you are feeding an appropriate diet, it's pretty hard to have a pig that is too fat, just based on what they consume. Most of the weight ranges that are still floating around as ideal were what was considered ideal for lab animals, so they're really not anything to go by. I tend not to worry about weight at all unless it's a number that is too LOW, otherwise, it's just a happy piggy in my eyes, even if it is a little chunky.