Diet Overweight sow

[Jake8771]

One of my sows will not lose weight no matter how much I try to get her to. She eats a cup of veggies per day, and I only give them 1/4 cup of pellets a day, plus unlimited hay. She weighs 2 pounds 11.5 ounces after eating her veggies, and about an ounce or so less before the veggies. My other sow is 2 pounds 3 ounces. Am I just wasting my time? It seems to go up and down through the year, sometimes she’s as low as 2 pounds 7 ounces, and over the course of a few months, she’s up at where she is now. No sudden weight fluctuations, it happens over a long period of time. The calico is the fatty in question

 

[Jake8771]

I should add, her weight in grams is around 1200 after eating, and a bit less before

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Both of your girls look perfectly healthy to me. An "overweight sow" is a relative term. They are herbivores, so it's pretty tough to get fat on hay and vegetables.

Every pig is different. Some are big, some are small. Unless she's ill and has mobility issues, she's probably exactly where she should be.

And just as an aside, I would prefer to have extra meat on my pig in case they ever got sick. I have had 3 boys in a row get very, very ill and lost a lot of weight. They were not small pigs to begin with, and having weight to trade for time helped them survive much longer than they otherwise might have.

I guess what I'm saying is, unless she has mobility issues, she's fine. Leave her be.

 

[Jake8771]

Both of your girls look perfectly healthy to me. An "overweight sow" is a relative term. They are herbivores, so it's pretty tough to get fat on hay and vegetables.

Every pig is different. Some are big, some are small. Unless she's ill and has mobility issues, she's probably exactly where she should be.

And just as an aside, I would prefer to have extra meat on my pig in case they ever got sick. I have had 3 boys in a row get very, very ill and lost a lot of weight. They were not small pigs to begin with, and having weight to trade for time helped them survive much longer than they otherwise might have.

I guess what I'm saying is, unless she has mobility issues, she's fine. Leave her be.

thanks for the reply! No mobility issues, although it is kind of loud when she runs lol!

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

And I'll add this as a relative comparison. Even though I had boars, my boys weights normally were as follows:

Pooper - 1450 grams
Sly - 1500 grams
Punkin - 1600 grams
Scooter - 1450 grams
Leo - 1400 grams

Simon - 1000 grams.

Simon is the smallest pig I've ever had by far. I cant get him to gain weight to save my life, so I've resigned myself to the fact he's just a small boy.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

thanks for the reply! No mobility issues, although it is kind of loud when she runs lol!

If she runs that's fantastic. I jokingly called Punkin, and now Leo, "Thumpy Bum" because when they run all you hear is ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump!

 

[TheGuineaPigGal]

She doesn't look that fat, as long as shes not having issues moving, shes fine!!

 

[bpatters]

The lightest sow I ever had hovered just under three pounds, all the rest were over.

Would you get fat eating nothing but salad? I don't think so. The only pigs who get fat are those who don't move much for some reason (arthritis, injury, etc.), and/or are overfed on pellets.

 

[Jake8771]

The lightest sow I ever had hovered just under three pounds, all the rest were over.

Would you get fat eating nothing but salad? I don't think so. The only pigs who get fat are those who don't move much for some reason (arthritis, injury, etc.), and/or are overfed on pellets.

so all your girls were heavier than mine? Shes always been larger than my other girl, but I just wanted to make sure that weight was acceptable. She moves great, actually I had to remove the house in the cage and replace it with a fleece forest because she jumped up on the top and I was worried she would hurt herself.

 

[Jake8771]

And now shes down to the 2 pound 8-9 ounce range. That was the normal weight I usually saw her at.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

See? She's doing great!

 

[Jake8771]

Overthinking everything is my specialty!

 

[Jake8771]

And now shes 2 pounds 7.5 ounces. She has digestive issues, and it seems like the better her system is working, the less she’ll weigh. Usually her sides are pretty fat because she holds food for a longer because of the slower digestion. She’s definitely been pooping a lot more today. I looked on my 2018 vet paperwork and her weight was 2.72, then in 2019 it was 2.9, I saw it as low as 2.6 over this last summer. Then of course she hit her career high of 2 pounds 11.5 ounces in the fall.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

One ounce fluctuation in a week is perfectly normal. Two ounces, not so much but still possible. Over that I'd start thinking about a vet visit. When I sent my baby guy Punkin over the Rainbow Bridge in October of 2018, he'd lost 4 ounces in 12 hours.

 

[Jake8771]

Oh yeah its nothing that fast or anything. She’s also in heat today, so she’s mounting my other sow today and probably not eating as many pellets. Shes perfectly fine and active, just focused on showing my other sow shes the boss today haha. After her veggies she was 2.85 as normal. Coincidentally, when she got down to 2.6 we had been traveling in the car with them and just got home, so she wasn’t eating as many pellets that day either.

 

[Jake8771]

Today her schedule is hay, bother her sister, hay, nap, sister, hay, etc.

its funny though, because the other sow has an implant because of her uterine fibroids, and I was recently thinking about getting her one as well because it would stop this heat behavior. Although it doesn’t last long, I know my other girl is probably annoyed too.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Yeah, it looks to me like she's just fine lol

 

[Jake8771]

Thanks for your replies, I do appreciate it. I have OCD, so things like this can trigger it, which means I have the constant urge to weigh her to satisfy my anxiety. It’s tiring, and obviously I can’t do that because it will annoy her too. Deep down I think she’s completely fine as well, but it’s hard to convince myself that.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I know how you feel, in a way. Not sure if you had ever read about my boys Sly, Punkin or Scooter. Three pigs in a row (well, Punkin and Scooter started at the same time) who had serious illnesses. I was obsessed with their weights, and even now with Simon on antibiotics I'm weighing him twice a day. He's finished them now, and I'm finding it very difficult to refrain from checking him. I HAVE to satisfy myself with the knowledge that he's ok. I'm at the point now where I can just pick up one of my pigs and know if he's gained or lost weight. So as long as I pick one of them up for a cuddle and don't feel anything out of place, I don't weigh them.

I DON'T have OCD, so I can only imagine what it's like for you.

Part of my paranoia stems from the fact that even though we did everything we could, in the end we lost all three of them. Sly was an elderly boy who had had repeated dental surgeries and was a couple months shy of his 7th birthday. Punkin and Scooter, however, were gone far too soon.

 

[Jake8771]

I’m so sorry you lost them, that’s just not fun to go through. Both of mine are 5 years old, we thought Mocha had cancer on her uterus, but it turned out to just be a fibroid. Otherwise we’ve had some mites and and a UTI, but nothing more.

yeah I’ve already weighed her five times today, luckily I have to work so I can’t do it more.