Nutrition Over wieght piggies?

[livichi7]

Hi! So I have just adopted two new guinea pigs which I assume are girls. The girl I adopted them from does not really know for sure, that is just what the pet store told them. Anyway, one guinea pig is significantly bigger than they other. One piggie looks pregnant and they other looks like a baby. She told me she fed them a handful of hay, and a huge box of pellets per day. It just confuses me why one is bigger than the other. I am really hoping one of them is not pregnant! So can anyone tell me the signs of being pregnant and if they are not, how to help them loose wieght/cut back on diet? Thank you!

 

[HollyG]

Pet stores are really bad at sexing guinea pigs. Because of this, there is probably a good chance that your pig could have gotten pregnant at the pet store. I'm not nearly an expert but maybe pictures would help. Also, either way I would take them to the vet for a wellness check. I did that when I first got my guinea pig just to make sure everything is okay. The vet can tell you the genders and if one is pregnant and help estimate the age of the pigs.
Your pigs need unlimited hay. They also need unlimited water, good quality pellets and some veggies. There is a ton of information on the site about what their diets should be like. If they are eating the right amount, have a big enough cage and get floor time, then they shouldn't be overweight.

 

[livichi7]

Thank you! These are not my first piggies, so I know the whole routine I adopted them from a family who got them from the pet store (I did not get them from the pet store.) So the food they were getting under the family?s care was a small handful of orchard grass and a huge thing of pellets. Little vegetables every other day. They said over the phone that they were both boys but then when I got there they were both girls. I?m not sure how long they have had them, I am still waiting for there reply. One is very small and one is a little big. I am just worried about the larger one being pregnant. I am trying to find a vet near me but there seems to be no exotic vets to take them to!

 

[HollyG]

Oh I'm sorry! Are they siblings, or did they say they were the same age? I know there are weight guides at the Guinea Lynx site that can help determine age, but if she's pregnant obviously she would be heavier than average. I would think even if you see a regular vet they should be able to determine whether or not the pig is pregnant. I wouldn't make a routine of going to a non-exotic vet but I'd think s/he could tell whether the pig is pregnant.
Also, this thread discusses how to tell if a guinea pig is pregnant: https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...inea-pig-is-pregnant-And-how-far-along-is-she

 

[livichi7]

They said they were not sure if they were sibilings or the same age but they did get them together and the same time. I called a bunch of just regular vets asking if they could check a guinea pig, but they said no. I am very stuck on what to do right now Tomorrow morning I am going to give a “home exam” to see if I can maybe tell the gender for the mean time. It is just strange how one is very small and one is very big

 

[bpatters]

Guinea pigs are no more the same size than people are the same size. You can easily have two pigs, same age, and one weigh up to twice as much as the other.

That's not to say that one of them isn't pregnant. You can turn them both over and compare their private parts and see if they're the same. If not, separate them immediately. If the female is pregnant and miscarries, she can get pregnant immediately, and back-to-back pregnancies are very hard on sows and the second litter of pups.

See that link HollyG gave you. That may help you determine if one is pregnant. If it were me, I wouldn't waste a vet visit on it at the moment. She either is or she isn't, and if she isn't very far along, the vet can't determine pregnancy anyway.

Adult pigs should be limited to 1/8 cup of pellets per day. Unlimited pellets are only for pups under six months and pregnant/nursing sows.

How much do the pigs actually weigh?

 

[livichi7]

Okay so I have an update. I talked to the family and they are around a year and a half old. They got them together, so I would assume they were sibilings. I give my other piggies 1/8 of a cup and they seem to be at a good wieght (they are sibilings.) When I got the new piggies, the had almost like a cat food type of feeder that produces a ton of pellets, the tub was over flowing. She said the had little hay and veggies. Could this be a cause of being over wieght? Also, because they just got home, they are nervous and hiding, so I cannot pick them up, so i cannot wiegh them. I am noticing the bigger piggie is drinking a lot more water than the other piggie.

 

[bpatters]

The major, and almost only, reason for pigs being overweight is eating too many pellets. Inability to move can also contribute, but that's a rarer thing.

 

[livichi7]

The piggie that is bigger runs around fine, and likes to run around. They girl I adopted them from assumed pellets were the main food source so She probably is just over wieght and I freaked out because I have not seen a piggie that big before and my other girls are not that big. In the morning I am going to try to get her out and check both of their sex, and exam under her belly to see if I can feel anything moving. I will post if I have any news. Thank you!

 

[livichi7]

Oops another question! So she is over wieght, besides cutting back pellets and floor time are there any other ways to help her loose wieght or does she need to really loose any?

 

[bpatters]

We can't tell you whether she needs to lose weight until we know how much she weighs. If you don't have a kitchen scale, they're widely available for about $15.