How to feed an overweight guinea pig when her cage mate is small?

These two bulging areas on the side are completely normal for guinea pigs, so it does not mean that she is overweight. as you mention, as there is another guinea pig with her, it's impossible to limit one and not the other, unless you separate them completely.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear that you think Brownie is overweight. This question is hard to address because I don't know what you are feeding and how much. Those are key questions to addressing this problem. Exercise is key of course but food intake and what types of food are very critical for maintaining a good body condition. I would advise a visit to a vet in your area familiar with guinea pigs to let them see Brownie and make some recommendations or post another question here with the above information. It's all about food intake and exercise unless something is physically wrong with him. Good luck.

If your guinea pigs are still young (under a year) then they are probably just needing extra calories because they are growing. I would recommend to offer them as much fresh hay as they want. Continue to restrict the amount of pellets because overfeeding them can cause unwanted weight gain. you can add in extra veggies as needed. I hope this helps! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

I am sorry to hear about your concern for Jasper. It is possible that the other guinea pig is eating more food/pushing Jasper away. We also worry about possible dental issues causing difficult eating. If you feel Jasper is underweight then I would recommend having a vet examine him. They can check is body condition to decide if he is truly underweight and can check his teeth to see if they are overgrown/aligned poorly. If there are not problems with the teeth then you may need to feed the guinea pigs separately to be sure that Jasper is getting enough to eat!

Just looking at pictures makes it hard to see if your Guinea Pig is overweight. Maybe a little bit? Just make sure that she gets LOTS of hay, a decent pile of greens, not too many pellets (and the pellets should be timothy based pellets with no junk food in them) and very limited treats and you should be ok.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center with your question about Snowball and for providing pictures, they are very helpful. Yes he is a bit overweight. He should be weighing around 2.5lbs and he does look overweight in the pictures. You need to adjust his diet. Around 80% of his diet should be high quality grass hay. He also needs vitamin c. In order to get a variety of nutrients and vitamin C, give your guinea pig up to 1 cup (128 g) of fresh vegetables and about 1/4 cup (30 g) of fresh fruit a day. Stick to this diet, nothing extra, and that should help him lose weight. Limit the amount of pellets he gets, as that can be a cause of weight gain. The Humane Society recommends that guinea pigs eat about 1/8 cup (30 g) of pellets a day. Also avoid high starch foods and commercial treats. Finally, get him to exercise. Let him run around the house supervised, and set up obstacles and toys in his cage to get him moving. I hope this helps!

This is typically a dominance issue. You may need to provide a larger cage for them, providing additional bowls, toys and hides to prevent resource protection. If that doesn't work, you may need to separate them.