Please advice - How heavy is TOO heavy?

[cutemomome]

Hello all,
Its me again, the one making the poor piggies work for their food, and gloat in their misery by posting their pictures of reaching, climbing, running and jumping for veggies. This is why as soon as they are done with the eating, onto the beds they go to sleep!

Ever since I brought the girls home, I've been weighing them consistantly every sat. Both of them are brought home from shelters, and only 1 of them have a CONFIRMED date of birth - Beibei, 3/15/05. WIth my vet's help, the best estimate we came up with for Meimei, is around January of this year.
Meimei is now 1lb and 6 ounces. (AKA Chubby)
Beibei is now 1lb 3 ounces (AKA Little Chubb)

With all joking aside, I am wondering if there is a guide as to "Obesity Index" for piggies? I mean with their delicate spine structure and teeny piggie feet, I don't think being heavy is going to do them much good. (I am a 1st time piggie mom, so please do make advice, comments, suggestions *&^%). The vet had adviced me that they are not considered fat YET, and he assured me that he will alert me when he thinks a gym membership is in order.

Their weight gain is rather consistent, about 1.2 to 1.5 ounces every 2 weeks.
When do I expect them to stop growing in SIZE?
Is their a weight I could use as a benchmark to alert myself as when my piggie needs to join a Piggie YMCA?
Is there suppose to be a pattern in their weight change as they gp through the first year?
I follow the fellow advices of nightly playtime inthe living room, and bring them onto the porch playpen on Sat, (skipped 1 sat due to the overnite rain, soggy grass). Is an hour for flour-time too short?

Thank you all!!!


Ps. Has any piggie parents have any experience with vetnarian pet insurance?

 

[TurboPiggy]

Now I am wondering if my boys are gaining too fast.

Turbo
5-02 / 26.7 oz
5-08 / 27.2 oz
5-15 / 28.5 oz
5-22 / 29.4 oz
5-29 / 31.5 oz

Scooter
5-09 / 9.7 oz
5-15 / 11.3 oz
5-22 / 13.1 oz
5-29 / 15.2 oz

Niether of them have confirmed birthdates but Turbo is 5-6 months old and Scooter is about 7 weeks

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Your pigs sound and look normal. How many cups of pellets are they getting? Pellets are a main cause for obesity.

 

[cutemomome]

I feed them cavy performance, I was told it is more suitable for baby pigs, but also bit more fattening?

7am
2 TS of pellets
2 leaves of red leave lettuce
2 leaves of green leave romain
1/2 stick of japanese cucumber, the long and slim kind. (i drink that every morning too)
2 snips of kiwi (my husband's breakfast contribution)

5PM
WHen I come home from work, the veggies are ALL gone, but about 1/2 TS of pellets are still there. I take them out for floor time, and I give them 1/4 of orange, I get the other 3/4.

8PM
I take them to floor again, because this is usually the time we HUMANS in the household eat fruits after dinner, and give them some too. We've been giving them 1 strawberry (cut in half to avoid WWIII), 2 blueberries (they stain the fleece, so we only give them this at floor time) and for the past 2 weeks, some papaya.

11PM
Before I go to bed, I change their litter pan and water, and I leave them with again
2TS of pellets, and no fresh produce overnite.

Sat, when they are out in the yard, they have a patch of PIGGIE wheatgrass, usually a second or third cut from our juice wheatgrass.

I just thought of something else!
I am feeding them 100% alfafa now, because I read its more suitable for pigs.
Would it be better if I would be mix half timothy and orchard grass with the alfafa? The farms in Gilroy carry all 3 types.

Thank you for all your suggestions and feedback, it really makes me stay on my toes with my piggies, and lessen my "NONconfidence" with first time parenthood.

 

[Slap Maxwell]

Sounds like they are eating fine, but I would cut down on the fruit. I would say either one peice a day, or two or three peices 3 days a week. Citrus fruit should be limited as it leaves mouth sores.

I don't know what the standing is on having young cavies on a pellet free diet. This is very possible for older cavies, and is generally healthier as pelllets can cause obesity and bladder sluge. Ly or Voodoo will know if they are too young.

Personally, I would keep them on alfalfa. But they may need timothy instead, I don't know.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

Leave them on unlimited cavy performance until they are 6 months of age. Then cut back to between 1/8-1/4 cup per pig per day. Having one piggie that will reach 6 months before the other is the tricky part, but I would still give at least 1/2 cup of pellets per day for the two after your oldest reaches 6 months. Once your oldest reaches 6 months, start mixing hay about 50-50 alfalfa/grass hay until the younger pig reaches 6 months then go 100% good quality grass hay.

Cut the fruits down to one small piece of fruit twice a week. They are getting way too much fruit daily and not enough green leafy veggies. They need cilantro and bell pepper daily in their daily diets along with the leaf lettuce. And something like kale or other dark leafy greens 2-3 times per week. A variety of veggies is the key to good piggie nutrition. See www.guinealynx.info/nutrition.html for more information.

Also try to give them an hour or more of floortime daily. In the cage, if you put their food and water on one side of the cage and their hidey houses/bed/etc. on the other side of the cage, that also encourages more exercise or better yet, if you have a loft, put the food in the loft where they have to run up and down to the loft to eat everyday.

 

[cutemomome]

Thank You LY!!
So let me see if I am getting this right, bear with me 5 more minutes.
1. Fruits should only be given as TREATS, like doggie biscuits.
2. The veggies I feed them measure out to be 2 cups, we always wash them the night before, dry and pack them into 2 ziplock in the fridge, so we can PROMPTLY cater to their Wheeks at 7am. We don't tear the or shred the veggies becaose i read (somewhere) it ruins the vitamin structure???
3. So do you suggest keeping the present amount of veggie and ADD the pepper and kyle? Or do I subsitute them for cucumbers? We've tried ciliantro, celery and endives before, they werent too crazy about them. Their favorite is cucumber and strawberry. They also like parsely, or at my husband told me so?!?
4. Miemi will be 6 month next month, so I think its time to buy some timothy.
5. Do I cut back on cavy performance when Meimei is 6 months, or do I just mix it with half cavy cuisine, and still gives the same 1/2 cup amount?
Thank you all for your patience with me!
Momo

 

[Ly&Pigs]

1) Yes, fruits should be given more as treats once a week since they are gaining alot of weight from all the fruits and give them one or two very small pieces, like maybe 1/2 a strawberry each and one other small piece of fruit to go with it and you can change what fruits they get each week. I know they love the fruit but it's not as healthy for them. My own girls used to get a small piece of fruit everyday but then I cut back to every other day and then twice a week and now only once per week. They get more other types of veggies instead of fruits.

2) I haven't heard the thing about if you shread or tear the veggies that they lose vitamin structure. I always tear my pig's lettuces up into smaller pieces instead of giving them the whole leaf.

3) You can either add more variety of veggies into their diet in addition to the 2 cups or substitute some of what they get for other things. If you only tried bell pepper by giving it to them once or twice, try again. What I did with my pigs is I would give each a thin slice and let it stay in there for quite a while and I would check to see if they ate it before I went to bed. If they didn't eat it, I took it out and tried again the next day. I have done that with several veggies and they usually would end up eating it except oranges and collard greens. They still refuse those. It took some of my pigs several days before they would even try some veggies. Some pigs love the red bell pepper more than the green because it has a sweeter flavor, also red has most Vit. C. My pigs eat any color bell pepper now. Here is a list of several high Vitamin C veggies you can try them with.
*Parsley - curly or plain (high in calcium, feed no more than 2-3 times per week in small quantities)
*Cilantro / Chinese Parsley / Corriander greens (good everyday)
*Celery leaves or celery cut into small pieces with strings removed
*Collard greens
*Mustard greens / Leaf Mustard
*Water Cress
*Garden Cress
*Swiss Chard, Red Chard
*Beet greens
*Spinach (feed in moderation, linked to formation of kidney & bladder stones, feed 1-2 small leaves 1 or 2 times a week)
*Carrot tops / leaves
*Peas in pods, Pea Shoots (not dried)
*Dandelion greens
*Grass - wheat, winter rye (grown in pots from seed)
*Kale - curly or plain
*Broccoli, Broccolini (stems are liked better than flowers)
*Broccoli Rabe / Rabe / Rapini
*Cauliflower / Broccoflower
*Brussels Sprouts
*Cabbage
*Red Cabbage
*Tuscan Cabbage / Cavolo Nero
*Savoy Cabbage
*Kohlrabi leaves
*Bell / Sweet Peppers - red, green, yellow (not hot or chile)
*Tomato (sores around mouth can develop; leaves poisonous; artificially
grown can be low in vit C)
*Tamarillo (leaves poisonous)

Be careful of the real gassy foods like cauliflower, broccoli, etc. feed those once or twice a week in moderation. The foods I listed are high Vitamin C foods, there are many other veggies that can be fed that have a lower C content. I will email you the whole list. Turnip greens are good for them too in small amounts everyday.

4) Yep and then mix 50/50 alfalfa/timothy (or other good grass hay)

5) You can mix 50/50 cavy performance and cavy cuisine until Beibei is 6 months then give 1/8-1/4 cup pellets per pig of cavy cuisine or you can give 1/8-1/4 cup of cavy performance from now up until they are 1 year old then switch them to cuisine. They actually need unlimited pellets until they are 6 months old.

 

[cutemomome]

Thank you so much Ly, I will now make those changes to their diet. We've just printed out your response and taped a copy on the fridge, and a copy by the piggie board with their weekly record sheet! I hope my piggies will stay healthy and happy with the new and IMPROVED diet!

Before I took Meimei home from my colleague's place, we actually went to the petstores to look at accesories that we might need for a piggie. Maybe it is because we are still stuck in my doggie mode, the only neccessity we didnt buy that evening was the cage, because my husaband and I both think its too small. I mean with the proportion of our dog to her living area, we both thought the guinea pig cage size was a joke.

We looked at the piggies in Petsmart display, and that's where we both picked up the idea that they needs fruits. There was a 1/4 orange, a slice of apple/pear (i'm not sure) and veggies... Fortunately, we came home and surfed the web, and we found cavycages, and cavy spirit. Throughout the whole building process, the pictures in the galleries gave us insiprations and ideas, and fellow cavy parents are so helpful in the forum. I have truly learned a lot in here, and we are also very fortunate to adopt Beibei from cavyspirit, where Leah had spent countless evenings answering our questions.

Once again, thank you very much for your assistance and patience, I will keep an eye on their diet, and hopefully my 2 princesses will stay healthy and fit for many more years!

Ps. We are now officially addicted to piggies, that both of our laptops at our offices have the pictures of our girls as the screensaver.... What's wrogn with the pictures? ...... My friends tell me that newlyweds usually have their honeymoon pictures on display, not pigs!!! hee hee.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I am so glad I could help you. Did you get my email ok?

 

[cutemomome]

YES, thank you for the email too.
Actually, I am not a big veggie eater, we were going through the list and checking up yahoo images for the veggies we have not even heard of before *^^* (blush)
But I am proud to announce that I know every single Asian veggie you listed.!!!
And about grass, because we 2 can't tell any differnece between grass and ...grass, we just feed them wheatgrass on the patio on saturdays, but we didnt see you mention wheatgrass??? I assune OK?

Actually, Ly, could you also offer me some suggestions on vetnarian pet insurance program if you have any experiences or feedback before? I have signed the 2 piggies up, but because they were both surrendered, I have to first bring them to Adobe to get an OK first, (vet approved healthy and happy pigs), then wait for a 60 days period of ownership before their policies become effective, so it will be on july 11. I lost my previous doggie to disease, so I am kind of paranoid when it comes to my pets and medical conditions.....

Ps. I've been reading about some members are not posting probably, and is getting banned from the site.... English is my 2nd language, and I saw on FAQ that proper grammar, puntuation, speeling and capitalizations are required, kind of scared now...
Momo

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I have no clue about pet insurance. As far as your language, grammer, punctuation and all that, it's wonderful for english being your 2nd language. You have nothing to worry about.

 

[teriannia]

What about an adult with babies? I have 2 that are 3 months and a 3 year old together. I have been closely watching their weight. I have had the 3 year old for almost a month and he has only gained 2oz. The babies seem to be gaining about 2 oz. a week. Although one didn't gain for 2 weeks. I was ready to take him to the vet when he put on 2 oz. again.
I also have 2- 8 month olds.
I started 5 weeks with the 2 babies and have resuced 3 more from Petco. I'm addicted. The 8 month olds will most likely be rehomed.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

If you have adults and babies together you feed accordingly. Meaning you would give 50/50 on cavy cuisine and cavy performance and 50/50 on alfalfa/grass hay.

I don't know if you realize this, but if you buy pigs from Petco that is not rescuing, it's buying. If you want to actually rescue pigs, get them from rescues and shelters and stop buying them at Petco. Also, pigs at petstores are often missexed, sick and have mites and or lice.

 

[teriannia]

These are pigs that people drop off at Petco that they do not want. I took them and they visited the vet. Also I cleaned them up. Cut nails that were very long. And one had a very bad eye cut that is bettter now.
It makes it very hard for people to want to post on here if they get attacked. I have not posted alot of questions becuase of the reponses that I see. I have finally gotten brave enough, but maybe not.
I didn't pay for these animals.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I did not attack you, I merely was educating you on the difference between rescuing and buying pigs. If you are taking in pigs that are abandoned at Petco then I commend you for giving them a home and cleaning them up. When most people say they got pigs at Petco, they are usually bought. You never stated in your other post that you didn't pay for them and they were abandoned.

 

[teriannia]

I clearly stated rescue and although your message was well intended. The tone of the message was not. This is the way most posts are on here. Why do all the new people beg not to be attacked.
I am hoping to start a rescue. We have a 100 acre farm and are remodeling the house for our animals. 4 dogs, 1 cat, 1 cockatiel, and currently 5 piggies.

 

[Ly&Pigs]

You stated resuced 3 more from Petco. Most of the people here will agree that a statement such as that without additional information does not mean actual rescue. There are so many people out there that really believe if they go buy a pig from Petco that is sick or in poor conditions that they are rescuing that pig.

 

[John4216]

I am also curious to the question how heavy is to heavy? How does someone determine if their piggies are to heavy??

 

[Slap Maxwell]

I think if a female was over three pounds, and a male 3.4 pounds, I would get a little worried. But you really can't put a pig "on a diet" except for limiting or wiping out pellets, they still need all their veggies and hay.