Big fat pigs

[OvO]

Well I don’t think they’re fat but the inter webs are saying they’re porky.

Jus had the drama of weighing my boys (so many bowls before we found one they’d fit in!) and one weighs 1290g and the other is 1339g. They’re a few weeks off 1y of age so still have growing time.

They are chubby as all good pigs are and I don’t think they’re overweight but I might be blinded by love. Their food is weighed every time, they get 50g of veg a day (okay, okay I admit it, they also get a midnight snack!) and just 15g of pellets each (plus unlimited hay and water).

They have 20 sq ft of floor space (plus 6.5 sq ft of loft space) so have room to run.

Do they need to be on a diet?

I think they’re just big fellas but I know you’ll give it to me straight.

Here a pic I just took of Hamlet, he of the 1339g weight. He’s super long and giant but well proportioned, don’t you think? Sorry for terrible photo quality.

Here’s a pic of him reenacting the Jaws poster just because it made me laugh.

That’s nothing. One of mine has been over 1.59kg

He is gorgeous!

That makes me feel better, Purple! And thank you, he’s a beauty isn’t he? Love them so much I’m a total pig slave.

My boys are proper little fattys! Vet isn't concerned with weights. One is about 1300g and the other 1500g. Better they be chubby than skinny if they get ill they have 'cushion' of fat to deplete so to speak. Only an issue if it affects mobility so I've been told.

I know nothing about pigs but they look beautiful!

He looks fine. Also so cute and squishy! As long as they have plenty of varied veg and unlimited hay but limited pellets they should be fine. I miss my pigs

Also thank you for piggy lips! Adorable.

I’ve shown this pigture before but I love it so much so here’s my supermodel boy again.

Glad to hear of so many other Godzilla sized pigs.

Both boys rampage round the their cage and when let loose so I’m not worried about their mobility. They bound up their ramp in gazelle like leaps too!

Oh wow he has beautiful hair. Oh they're both lovely gorgeous boys. You're a good piggy slave

My girl looks just like yours op! She's a greedy pig. She has two new friends a third of the size and scoffs all their food!

I think my pigs would rate me 8 out of 10 on the Pig Slave Scale. Good effort, more parsley needed.

New, she’s so pretty!

We took one GP to the vet (for something unrelated) and asked about his weight when we were there as we thought he was a bit podgy - apparently guinea pigs are supposed to be podgy! I think he weighed about 1600g at the time.

OvO at first I thought you had a real pig with a black and white spotted pattern

I see what you mean, brizzled! Looks like a wee pink piggy under where my actual pig is! .
That’s his fleece blankie because all good piggies need their own special blanket. Well so they tell me and who am I to not give in to their every demand?! 😆

Life wouldn't be worth living if we didn't

My son has a couple of onesies with a hood and one of the pigs insists on going inside the hood and nibbling his ear - I'd be mean to stop them wouldn't I?!

Stopping that piggy would be Cruelty To Pigs and the RSPCP would come after you!

That sounds like the most adorable thing ever and I must buy a onesie immediately! 😍

Gorgeous Piggies

I have no idea how these little animals run to fat on vegetables but they do!
Though it can have health implications , they are at risk of diabetes , lardy boars are more at risk of impaction (the risk is greatly reduced in neutered boars) , cauliflower penis ('tis a real thing) and flystrike in summer if they cannot groom.

There are some vegetables that are higher in sugar (mainly root veg) so you could look at the type of veg you're giving.
Even fresh grass can make them lardy (think of rangey little native ponies that suddenly get rich grass... huge risk of fat and laminitis , painful swelling of the tissues within the hooves).
I always think horses and guineas have similar eating requirements. They need constant 'trickle feeding' , fibre, cannot vomit, rich of bloat on sudden exposure to rich new grass.

My pigs will always lay down a nice layer of winter fat and literally double their coats overnight in winter
It's weord when we pick them up one day and it feels like they'd slipped a thick cardigan on .

Weight wise - our Rex boar was 1.4kg when he went to the vets to be castrated . (Rex are big though). My little smooth Himalayan varied between 1000g to 1066g .

SuperModelPig is probably 50% fur so you need to make adjustments in your weighing

I give my rodenty ones about 2oz pellets/pig with a bit extra so they don't bicker . And a wedge of hay about their body size for eating (much more if they're in the Pighouse for warmth)

You can make things more interesting for them- hide food in boxes , stuff hay into loo-roll tubes , give them a parsley bell.

We have a list printed out that has the best pig food (high in Vit C) and how often to feed them it (eg if daily is okay or best to only give twice a month) but I hadn’t thought of what stuff was high in sugar so I’ll definitely have a look into that.

Your comment about loo roll tubes of hay made me laugh as it reminded me of Pig Henge that I made from about 60 loo rolls and kitchen rolls last week. I stuffed hay into half the tubes and some parsley in amongst the hay in a few. It started out all lovely as they explored Pig Henge all Pig Druid like as they gently pattered about exploring.

It turned into a gladiator arena as soon as they discovered there were treats hidden. The carnage! They rampaged through and tore that place down before you could blink!

I make all sorts of hay-loo roll sculptures so they don’t get bored.

We used to stuff hay in loo roll tubes until we had to rescue GP1 who had shoved his head into so much that he got stuck. He was our nice-but-dim pig

Ours eat kale, peppers, carrots (occasionally), they get one blueberry a week (much to their disgust) as the vet tells us that one a week is enough for the vitamin C but would kill us if they thought it would get them more. They are expert manipulators and will come running to the end of the cage and stand up waiting for attention (which means they want food) and heaven help us if we so much as rustle a bit of plastic or go into the kitchen without coming back with food.

I was mentioning to DD today that her beloved boar is feeling a bit lighter . He is certainly eating well, no problems with GP7 since they married . I think she does eat more of the pies though.
We give them fresh bedding hay every day so even if they cannot be bothered hauling themselves to the foodbowl , they don't have to go far to eat.
They are both very noisy , active and still loved up , but both of them being over 4 1/2 yo , I know they're getting on in years .

Need to weigh them .

They are both very noisy , active and still loved up ,but both of them being over 4 1/2 yo , I know they're getting on in years .

and

I love guinea pig noises :-)

Talking of which, watch this -

Awwwwwww that is so cute (and a really nice set up for the pigs with all the hidey spaces and levels that the piggies zoomed up and down)

I have asked DD to make a wreath of brocilli and trimmings for the pigs

It's great isn't it?
Our pigs are in the dog house, they ran upstairs en masse and were all popcorning madly for no reason and jumped so hard that they brought the entire top of the C&C cage down despite it being fixed together with the proper connectors and cable ties. They are now all just in the downstairs bit whilst DD is out buying string for emergency repairs.