Diet How to give calcium to young pig

[Nikkipig]

I recently adopted a young guinea pig that is under 6 months of age. She's now in the same cage as Nikki, my 4.5 year old female. How do I give my young pig the calcium she needs, without giving Nikki too much? I tried giving her parsley, but only Nikki will eat it. If I mix it in with the pellets, Nikki will just eat most of it because she loves it. The new pig eats (some) other veggies, but of course she just won't touch the parsley.

 

[bpatters]

Alfalfa pellets, or timothy?

Will the new pig eat spinach or kale?

If you can find something she'll eat that has calcium in it, you can just take out of the cage a couple of times a day and let her eat with Nikki scarfing it all up.

 

[Saylavi]

I have to take Aurora out of the cage every day to give her apples, since she is just barely under weight. I'd do the same thing with your baby, but with a supplement or spinach or alfalfa.

 

[bpatters]

@Saylavi, why are you giving your pig apples every day? Fruit should really be only an occasional treat. Apples have a lot of sugar, and they can upset the bacterial balance in the digestive tract and possibly cause bloat if given too frequently. And once a pig has had an episode of bloat, they're more likely to develop it again. It can be fatal.

 

[Saylavi]

@Saylavi, why are you giving your pig apples every day? Fruit should really be only an occasional treat. Apples have a lot of sugar, and they can upset the bacterial balance in the digestive tract and possibly cause bloat if given too frequently. And once a pig has had an episode of bloat, they're more likely to develop it again. It can be fatal.

aurora weighs only 680grams while Luna and Stella weigh 798/803. Aurora is 5 months while Luna and Stella are 6, but stands taller and wider than them.

The rescue I got her from had her on a diet of 3 apple slices, 2 baby carrots, and 2 leaves of lettuce a day.
I have her on 1-2 leaves of lettuce, 3-4 strips green pepper, 1 baby carrot, (usually 2-3 stems cilantro) and 1 slice of apple per day.
Sometimes cilantro is replaced with basil, mint, radicchio, or forage and sometimes the carrot is replaced with a slice of orange.
I just don't like how skinny she is. Is there something I could give her besides Apple to help her gain weight without risk of bloat?

edit: when I got Aurora a month and a week ago she was 674 while Luna and Stella were 716/722, so in the same time period she has gained 24grams while they have gained 82/81

also I only noticed and started doing this about a week ago.

 

[Nikkipig]

Alfalfa pellets, or timothy?

Will the new pig eat spinach or kale?

If you can find something she'll eat that has calcium in it, you can just take out of the cage a couple of times a day and let her eat with Nikki scarfing it all up.

Timothy pellets, since that's what I've been using for Nikki.

Not it sure if Callie (the new pig) will eat spinach or kale because we don't have any. I'll try some. Hopefully it works. She's a bit of a picky eater so far, or maybe I'm just used to Nikki eating everything in sight.

She's also afraid to eat without Nikki right by her side, which is a bit of a problem. She won't eat in my arms, only in the cage right next to Nikki. I had a bit of a scare when I was kneeling next to the cage and holding Callie in my lap. She dived for the cage but I caught her before she got hurt. If I have them both out at the same time, Callie tries to burrow underneath of Nikki which in turn makes Nikki grumpy. Hopefully she'll become braver in time.

 

[bpatters]

@Saylavi, if she's gaining steadily, you don't have to try to put weight on her. Pigs come in all sizes and shapes, just like kids do. She may just be a different shape than the other two. Also, in general, sweets are not the way to go to get a pig to gain weight. Do they get unlimited pellets?
@Nikkipig, Callie will learn to eat from Nikki. Just keep putting the food in there, and she'll get the idea. I've never yet seen a pig that wouldn't eat what the other pig was eating.

 

[Saylavi]

@Saylavi, if she's gaining steadily, you don't have to try to put weight on her. Pigs come in all sizes and shapes, just like kids do. She may just be a different shape than the other two. Also, in general, sweets are not the way to go to get a pig to gain weight. Do they get unlimited pellets?

Ok... No they do not, they each get a small handful for lunch, a little more than 1/8 cup

 

[Nikkipig]

I went ahead and mixed some parsley into the pellets last night. Nikki picked out all of the pieces on top, like I expected, but Callie must have gotten to some of it because she'll gladly eat parsley now. So that's settled. That trick works wonders.