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Guinea pig question

Lillian

Warren Veteran
Should guinea pigs that are fed on pellets be rather fat? I know guineas should have a good weight to them, but the two new girls are really round :?
 
To my knowledge the neighbours had them for a few months and they are both female, so it should be impossible for them to be pregnant. They don't look very fat, but you notice it when you pick them up. I'm guessing they've been overfed.
 
My dandy and Ruby aren't, thats why i'm asking cos these two new girls seem porky.

:lol: Was just saying as males are suppost to be bigger :lol: but my little men seem quite small.
Apple was quite a large lad, but that's probably as I spoilt him too much :lol:
 
There is a good chance they are just fat then if they are definately female and havn't been near a male. How old are they?

Reduce the number of pellets and veg they are getting and they should become nice slim piggies.

Saying this, one of my piggies was quite fat in comparison to my other four... we thought it could be ovarian cysts... she had an ultrasound that didnt show anything. This piggy has now gone to the bridge from an unrelated illness though, so we didnt know if she did have them or not.

My point is... this is another reason for unexplained 'fatness' around the rear of a guinea pig.... I really dont think this is what is happening in your case though as they are both fat which suggests it is food related.
 
There is a good chance they are just fat then if they are definately female and havn't been near a male. How old are they?

Reduce the number of pellets and veg they are getting and they should become nice slim piggies.

Saying this, one of my piggies was quite fat in comparison to my other four... we thought it could be ovarian cysts... she had an ultrasound that didnt show anything. This piggy has now gone to the bridge from an unrelated illness though, so we didnt know if she did have them or not.

My point is... this is another reason for unexplained 'fatness' around the rear of a guinea pig.... I really dont think this is what is happening in your case though as they are both fat which suggests it is food related.

I am told they are months rather than years old. They aren't as long or tall as Dandy and Ruby yet. I am going to get my mum to find out there actual age. Thinking about it they've been kept as indoor pigs in a cage, so less pellets more excercise? We've move them into a double hutch and they've been out in a run all day.
 
:lol: Was just saying as males are suppost to be bigger :lol: but my little men seem quite small.
Apple was quite a large lad, but that's probably as I spoilt him too much :lol:

I didnt know boys were bigger.. Only had one male for a few weeks many many years ago. We've always had girls :)
 
What sort of breed are they? Some are bigger than others, eg. coronets and agoutis. I had an agouti sow who was bloomin' huge! :oops::lol:

They can definitely eat too much dried food and veg though.
 
Just cut back a little on their pellets and they should slim down a bit! are they very active, i have a couple couch potato piggies who are very prone to being porky even though they don't seem to eat anymore than the rest. I force them to exercise buy putting their food, water bottle and hay apart so they have to travel a bit

I think it is always better to have them slighty tubby though as they can lose weight so quickly when they are unwell.
 
Our 2 girls (aged 3ish) are bigguns too, one in particular. They don't have a lot of hard food, lots of hay and some veg but they are not exactly lively piggies! I happen to have a Supreme leaflet next to me on the desk and it says average weight for sows and boars is between 750g and 1000g
 
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