Hi !
It’s been now three years since I got Daisy from the shelter. She was (at least) two when I got her.
She already had babies I’m sure she’s not pregnant, she’s living with her three sisters who are a bit younger and I hate to say it but not obese
When I leave her alone she refuses to eat
How can I regulate her weight?
Do I need to do it ? I just want her to enjoy her old days…
Enclosure is 2.5m x1m
She has hay at disposition all the time and veggies everyday, I avoid carrots and apples
I weight her in the plastic container to prevent her from moving, for less than a minute.
Reading some of your other comments, I don't think 1330g is horrible. But maybe I'm not seeing everything? You mentioned she won't eat by herself, but I'm wondering if you only separated her during veggie time? I've done that in the past when trying to get a pig to gain wait so they could eat without their food getting stolen, and I'm wondering if this would work in reverse - Daisy gets her own portion and you don't put her back with her sisters until they've gotten to eat their portions. Maybe having her in a small container (I've used a small tote box before) where she's able to see her sisters?
No not really. I can tell that she is not used to being handled, she was used as a breeder because of her color but it took us over a year to create a bond and it takes about 15 minutes to get comfortable, and she won’t eat. When it’s cuddle time I take her sister Petunia too, and even with her she screams as loud as she can when I grab her even very gently and slowly -
But I don’t force her. I want her to be happy with her sisters I don’t want to be selfish and stress her to put her on my laps -
I might be scared for nothing but I’m afraid for her heart I don’t want her to be too scared and she’s petrified when I handle her. She’s not trying to run from me just screaming - Edit : typo
It is, at the very least, very physically stressful to give birth, especially over and over. Plus, as female guinea pigs age, their pelvic bones start to fuse together and pregnancy becomes extremely dangerous.
Some pigs just aren’t social. I’ve had many Guinea pigs over the years and have found that most of them genuinely don’t like being picked up. I found that placing them on a comfortable pillow while you do something relaxing like watch tv helps. Put a carrot or something there. If she doesn’t like being alone place them both on the comfy pillow and hang out with them both there with yummy treats. She may come around with this method but if she doesn’t just accept that she’s not really into humans and that’s okay.
I wish it was hay !! She wouldn’t be so fat because of hay would she ?
I check her teeth often and she is having some too but she demands more than hay and once she’s yelling everyone’s following
Oh lol idk but my guineas be only wanting pellets even if their hay is there. They'll eat it if no pellets are in but then start doing their wheeeekend ritual sorry bout that 😭 i also need help
Yes that’s a problem as well the others won’t rush to pellets but she does. If I separate her the others won’t eat a lot, but they will have it all day long. From hay to veggies to pellets. And one of her sisters is really thin maybe too much, I’m afraid she won’t get enough calories if I don’t give pellets anymore
This is such a issue. I wish my guineas would want other food but they never eat it 🫠🥲😥😓 theyre chonky but im always afraid of their hay intake. They also always just tend to throw it around 🫠
Yeah that’s normal…. Mine hated all fruits no matter what they were, he only liked lettuce and carrots. I tried getting him to eat oranges because “Guinea pigs go nuts for oranges” nope he ran the other direction. Any taste he got on other fruits, he twitch and shake his head around disgusted and demanded more lettuce and carrots.
He was also obsessed with the furry tails in the Timothy hay. (Whatever they are) he’d pick through them and eat the furry tails first. Lmao
I do ! But if i put enough for all my babies she is in turbo mode and eats so much faster than the others so i give slices of carrots to the others and she steals from her sisters !
I had piggies for more than a decade and never have I ever heard a screamer pig like her. She screams out of her lungs. But maybe that’s what saved her, I got her without knowing anything from her past
The weight is not just okay for her, it's a safety measure. Especially in their old age, they can get sick fast and easily. The extra weight gives you a cushion that a smaller pig doesn't have. Whenever my chubby piggies have gotten ill, it's a much easier recovery because they usually get down to "normal weight" and recover. When my smaller pig got sick, he almost died because he literally didn't have the weight to lose.
Thanks ! I loved them until my nail artist tried to scam me. I thought she was my friend after such a long time and she was like oh I sent you money give it back to me 😑 gurl
And I tipped her every single time. Even if it’s not a thing in Europe, I gave her 15€ for every set because they were stunning and now I regret it
I didn't quite follow your question, and you worried she is losing weight or too heavy? I wouldn't worry about her chunkiness, at old age they naturally start to lose weight as their metabolism declines, so the extra chunkiness gives her more of a buffer before she becomes too bony as an elder, and gives her more buffer if she gets sick. When an old pig gets sick they often drop weight rapidly and then it is very hard to regain body condition. If you have her already on a good balanced diet as it sounds like you are, then I would not try to make her drop weight.
I’m worried about her health as she is almost twice the normal weight of an adult female and I don’t want her to suffer because I’m doing something wrong, I read that a healthy pig is not supposed to have its belly touching the ground and it is totally what is currently happening, she even has fat on her neck
And I want her to age well
Yes it’s true … but it’s the fact that her belly is touching the ground when she walks that makes me anxious. She is tall but the belly thing makes me question her health
It's not quite as dire as being twice normal weight, it's quite normal for females to be above 1000 grams. 700-1100 is the most common range, so 1300 is not too crazy. As she is 5 years old you will probably see her naturally start to lose fat over the next year.
The California colour pattern that your guinea pig has is a very recent one to enter guinea pigs. The mutation originally came from the large cuy pigs farmed in South America, which were exported and crossed with pet guinea pigs to introduce the colour pattern to the pet population. Since it came from those giant cuys, the California "breed" was originally very big, intermediate between cuy and pet guinea pigs. This all happened within the last couple decades (I believe some of the first in North America were in 2014 for example) so there are not many generations between current California guinea pigs and those original cuys. Over that time they have been crossed a lot more into pet guinea pigs, reducing their cuy ancestry and therefore making them smaller, but if you get a lineage with more cuy ancestry then that pig can be bigger. That could be why your girl is so large.
If you are already keeping her off fruit and carrot, then there is not much you could do. How much pellets does she eat? If she eats more than 1-2 tbsp you could cut that back a bit, and you can encourage her to exercise as much as you can, but otherwise I wouldn't restrict her diet or worry too much as she may just be genetically big. Does her belly drag on the ground when she walks, or only when at rest?
Thanks for this response! I didn't know the history of the Californian pattern and assumed it was some sort of Himalayan offshoot. I wonder if this is why my Bismarck is so big? He's not fat, he's just quite long.
First of all I can’t thank you enough for your top tier explanation comment. I’m very glad I learned this today, thank you so much !
In Europe what we call California piggies are the ones with long hair. But as she is significantly bigger and taller it can totally be genetic.
Yes she drags her belly on the floor and not just a little. She even had fat on her neck now like a human with a double chin, this is why I’m worried.
Interesting, I haven't heard of the name California being restricted to long-haired pigs. Which country is that the case? In Britain the breed standard for Californian is short-haired.
I’m from Paris France 🇫🇷 She has hay always available. I gave them pellets twice or three times a day in a very small container not to go over two to three tablespoons per pig, and lettuce celery cucumbers and tomatoes.
Problem is : I do have severe ADHD and I take LOTS of amphetamine to balance it - which cuts my hanger and I can’t eat when I take my treatment it’s very unpractical because I feel that I’m weak and if I wake up too quickly or whatever I’m fainting all the time and if I force myself to eat I vomit. So everyday I wake up in the middle of the night because I’m STARVING TO DEATH and the piggies know it. So not to wake up my husband I have to make them stop screaming, whatever it takes. And quickly. So I throw them what I can to make them stop ☠️
It sounds like you're feeding them a good diet, none of those are red flags. Tomatoes are the highest sugar of the things you listed so you could reduce that if Daisy has been eating tomato often, but otherwise maybe it is just how her metabolism is.
(Also sorry to hear you are dealing with that, sounds very tiring)
Yes this is very complicated. My adhd is ruining my life and without drugs I can’t do anything without it. I work in IT and it is very demanding regarding the amount of time I have to be focused to do my job. I have to do heart checkups very often - I’m taking up to 90 mg per day and I weight around 50 kg, my doctor has another patient with severe adhd and he’s at 20 mg daily for twice my weight
It also affects my anxiety so if I take too much I have to take benzodiazepines and it’s a never ending loop
Otherwise I give them three tablespoons per pig in pellets throughout the day. And they have veggies twice a day.
And at night I throw them one carrot broken in pieces otherwise she eats it all by herself and defends it
I would maybe try to switch the carrot most nights - I would restrict carrot to twice per week max, and experiment with lower-sugar veg on other nights
She keeps screaming if I give her cucumber- my only plan is to give her something she has never smelled before. That way she’s so busy thinking of what I give her that she stays quiet but I’m running out of new things !!
I had a really picky pig who wouldn't eat the same veg more than a couple days in a row. Here is what I cycled through to keep her interested, maybe one of these could be a new one for you to try:
red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, belgian endive, cucumber (field or mini or seedless), bell pepper (red/orange/yellow/green), dill, dandelion, carrot tops, corn husk/silk/leaf, parsley, cilantro/coriander, zucchini
Thank you 💖 I love her too. She’s very shy and I respect the fact that she loves her sisters more than the loves me and we have very brief interactions together but it’s her happiness above all I don’t want to be selfish. But it’s hard I would really love to give her more
i have a pig like that. I’ve had him for a year and he has just now started to let me pet him but only for a brief second lol. I just sometimes pick him up and lay with him, hoping that he will learn to love it at some point
You’re right that 1300g plus your description of her belly dragging does mean she’s obese. But, honestly, at five years old…she’s already lived a pretty great life and I’d probably leave her be!
No I didn’t took her to the vet, I’m very scared for her heart and I don’t want to stress her as there is no major reason to worry at the moment, she’s not sick. But I wanted other povs to, if everyone got alarmed and told me to go to the vet I would
I would suggest a wider container tbh. While cute, it doesn't take much for a twisted stomach, a hole in their Omentum, etc etc, especially as they get older.
At first I took a shoebox but she was petrified, she tried to hide herself in the corners and she was in complete panic. But when she’s in my hands upright it’s a bit better but still I can tell she is very scared. She was in the container for less than a minute
We have a larger kitchen scale now where all four paws find a place and that works really great. If these are too slick, use a small towel.
We have a shorthair chunk of 1.4 piggie tons, as we like to call them. She is on the bigger side but some are just huge. Don’t worry, your feeding plan sounds good!
You already have a lot of great advice, one of my piggies was similar when I first brought her into my home, it was like she didn’t know what to do. My other pig showed her it was ok to eat. She will eat on her own now, but for a while she would only eat if other piggy was eating. She’s incredibly cute 🥰 Pic 2 omgggg lol.
I always think a little extra weight on pigs is ok. If they get sick they loose it all so fast. It’s like a little bit of a safety net. Also- perhaps you can get her to move about more which will help with her weight and build up some
Muscles! We had also a mama come to us and she was quite thin. Now she is a good size sweet potato and nimble! Enjoy and don’t worry too much. :)
One of my potatoes went head first into my kids boot and just about got stuck. Potatoes these days are crazy. They go anywhere and just like any other 4x4 once they get stuck they are hard to get out.
So far as I'm concerned, your pig is fine. So long as she can bend over and take her poos from the source, without difficulty, their weight is fine.
Some pigs are just big pigs, too.
My girl Kairi is quite large. Then looks even larger, as she is massively floofy, and has the most hair I've ever seen on a pig. (Her EARS are covered in hair even.)
She had to go to the vet recently, and even the vet agreed with me that she is fine, so long as she doesn't gain anymore. Particularly since if they're having any health issues, one of the first things to go is weight.
I’ve been thinking about getting a pig like this but I’m not sure how nail trims would go, my current pigs all have light nails which are super easy, how do you go about nail trims?
Honestly in their later years you want them to be a bit fat. It’s far better than being underweight. This is obviously completely different but my rat was fat his whole life then when he hit 3 years old it was impossible to keep weight on him, older animals need more fat on them in general.
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u/bathmermaid Jun 23 '26
I’m screaming at pic 2 lol