Weight issues :-/ or not ?

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Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Twilihobbit on January 25th 2012, 11:18 pm

I was just wondering what weight you would say an 8 month old should be ?? Private Leroy Prickly (my hoggy) he looks a bit podgy, but he drinks well, eats well and uses his wheel during the night. Hes a grazer eater, so ill take his bowl out in the morning then put back in the afternoon, but he will have a few mouthfuls, goes to sleep, then later will come out for more, then goes in and so forth. I alt between bikkies and wet food and every week he will have a 4 meal dried meal worms (as i know they are fattening) im trying to get hold of an indoor play pen so i can set it up and let him run around for longer un-supervised but at the moment i get him out for 1-2hrs a night, but he generally just likes to snuggle on me and if i put him down he just runs back to me and sits on me...is that normal ???
Thanks big smile

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Emagask on January 25th 2012, 11:55 pm

I don't have too much advice, but wet cat food generally is supposed to be a rare treat, I'm no expert though.
Maybe cut back on the wet cat food first to see if it makes a difference as you seem to be doing everything else right.
Also Hello I'm from Manchester too. big smile
x

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Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Twilihobbit on January 26th 2012, 12:01 am

Thank-you, thats awesome, i will try that and try to encourage him to have more fruit lol big smile

Hello fellow mancunion lol!

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  rachaellyndsey on January 26th 2012, 2:28 pm

Hogs don't naturally eat fruit/veg, good quality cat biscuits will be doing the best for him

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Emagask on January 26th 2012, 3:14 pm

A bit of steamed broccoli, peas or carrot doesn't hurt though, but usually fruit is too sugary and will probably do more harm than good if it's fed very often.
I agree on a good quality cat food over fruit and veg.
x

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  emdools on January 26th 2012, 4:08 pm

Each hog is different when it comes to weight. They are usually quite good at regulating their food hence why the biscuits are free fed. However, the general gist is if they can't ball up tightly or have a roll of flab (hump) on the back of their neck or a double chin then the likely situation is that they are overweight.

What is the current weight of your hog? What brands of cat food are you feeding? You may want to look at the protein/fat content of the food being provided. It might be a case of increasing or adding go-kat as some of the more experienced keepers say that it can help a hog lose weight.

Again there is a huge range in personalities. Some are snuggly and love to sleep or others are manic and cannot stay still. People get disheartened when they say their hog isn't a snuggler, sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

Hopefully this will put your mind at rest.

BTW I am not that far from Manchester either! big smile

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Kiania on January 26th 2012, 5:01 pm

Not just the protein/fat, you'd want to take into account ingredients as well - a hog will (have to) eat a lot more of a cereal-based kibble in order to get the same nutrients as a meat-based kibble.

Bodhi was born in May, and last time I weighed her (Christmas - haven't found her scales yet from the move), she was shifting between about 350g to 390g depending on the day, poo/no poo, etc.

She gets kibble, fresh fruit/veg (whatever is in) mixed with mince (turkey or beef - she won't normally eat any of the fruit/veg, but she does love her mince), and a good handful of insects. She's normally getting 20 mealworms and 3 or 4 roaches a day, although right now she's mostly on mealworms and mealworm beetles while I get organised. Obviously if they are dried, assuming you believe the Americans (which I do), then 3 or 4 a day is the most - Bodhi gets a couple of dried every few months, usually if I run out of live while traveling and she's being a pickle, or someone wants to feed her just -one- more thing.

If you're worried about mealworms being fattening, try roaches, locusts or crickets. Their fat levels are a LOT lower, although tbh, mealworms aren't fattening.

Also, I'm a strong believer in cage size having an impact on chance of obesity. It is true for every zoo species I've worked with so far, and there was the theory on the American forums that cage size was (theoretically) correlated with hog obesity. Considering that the minimum for a hog is 4 square feet, and most folks only keep their hog in a cage 5.5 square feet (barely over the minimum), I'd hazard that as being a factor - a playpen is a good idea, but it won't solve much, as hogs are active at night, and there are very few people that will give a hog a larger space (supervised playpen) for the entire night - unless it is as their perm cage. Bodhi has a 18 square foot cage upstairs (for during the day, and nighttime), and the typical 5.5 square foot cage downstairs where she spends the evening with me (to keep her used to noise and people), but all that has is a deep-litter of finacard, mealworms, two balls and a tunnel - fitting a wheel + sleeping arrangements + four bowls + toys + litter tray + a tunnel into a ZZ2 (5.5 square foot) isn't ideal - we use it for traveling, but doing it for more than a few nights just feels...crampt and thereby cruel.

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Domi on January 26th 2012, 5:08 pm

4 dried meal worms a week? you are hard on him Very Happy
my Neo gets 4 morios a day and few mealworms with that ( live ones) plus the egg or chicken sometimes, he is not a vegetarian so I don't force him to eat fruit or veg, he will not eat it anyway. he is not fat, goes on his wheel etc so i guess I am lucky with his weight, still 4 mealworms seems cruel to me lol! (they do love them worms and dried ones is like eating a lollipop wrapper without the actual lollipop to me Embarassed)

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Kiania on January 26th 2012, 6:07 pm

Same problems associated with eating lollypop wrappers as well - nasty compaction complications!

I remember leaving Bodhi with my mum for the first time - she gave her 4 (live) mealworms everynight (apparently one of the sheets I gave her said that - and she only read one of the three bits I gave her!) - she was horrified to learn she'd been 'starving' my baby Smile Hogs are insectivores, the more insects, the wider variety of insects the better!

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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Twilihobbit on January 26th 2012, 6:49 pm

hey thanks guys, for all your help, its much appreicated.

Pvt Leroy Prickly has been running around and messing about to day. I only asked this cause he looks a pudding and he keeps sitting/rest his back legs, but its my first hoggy and i do treat him very much like a baby.
He only has that amount of meal works cause i read somewhere they are very high in fat and should only be used as a treat. As much as he loves them, he only tends to eat them if they are hand fed to him too lol.
Leroy is very much a cuddler, if i put him on floor at night for his hour run, he will come back to me and sit on me or crawl and hide up my pj legs. If i sit him on my chest he will climb and cuddle in to my neck and fall asleep. But he is very very active on his wheel during the night. I can hear him through my wall :-D

Apart from all this he is very healthy i think, he poops and wees are regular, drinks regular, and feed regular, sooooo it might just be me being over protective as he he still curls into a tight ball and has a nice shape to him when he walks.........

Thanks again guys to2

Twilihobbit
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Re: Weight issues :-/ or not ?

Post  Kiania on January 26th 2012, 7:13 pm

Waxworms are the ones that are very high in fat (they should be fed sparingly to the vast majority of hogs) - I am not sure how many of them is a 'sensible' amount, Bodhi won't eat them, so they are a bit outside my experience.

Mealworms have a higher fat content, but as long as your hog isn't obese, free-feeding them isn't an issue. I just got a kilo bag in today, and tossed a full handful (although my hands -are- tiny) in with Bodhi - she's been on the scrappings for a few days while the new ones were delivered, so instant excitement ensued Very Happy

But yes, I'd only start to worry if your hog was hitting 500g. Some can be big boned and be fine at that weight, but that is what I'd consider to be the worrying point. If they are under 450g, I wouldn't worry at all, and under 400g, then pfft, free-feed without qualms.

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