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Question
I have two little guinea pigs, littermates, both girls that are about 3 months old. I love 'em.  I work in a supermarket and one of my customers told me her daughters little piggy isn't getting any attention since she has gone to college and would I like another little piggy. Naturally I said yes and picked it up the next day. She is going to be two years old in May so I knew she would be larger than my girls. But holy cow! This girl is huge! Her belly drags on the floor and she can't bend sideways. My thinking is that she has been overfed and not very active.
I have been letting her out to play with my Chloe and Chleo and they do keep her running. She seems to bully them around but they are much faster than her. My question, finally, is this: What exactly is unusual behavior when introducing new piggy friends? I see Cali (we renamed her from piglet) nibble on the little ones ears and bite at thier rumps but they don't scream so it must not hurt. I offer the girls places to hide that Cali can't fit into and they can jump into the cage when they want to. Needless to say, Cali cannot jump anywhere. I feel so bad because she is so fat. Another question: What should I do about her weight? Should I feed her anything different or will the daily exercise take care of the problem? She is sweet and all three girls get along, except for the bullying. One final question. The sound that sounds like purring, is it a good sound or a threating sound? I notice the smaller ones do it alot when they are both in the same place in their cage and sometimes they run away from each other. They have never had a fight that I have ever seen.
Thanks in advance for any information.
 Kathy Holmes

Answer
Everything that your are describing is completely normal. The older sow is wanting to be the dominant cavy in the herd and is sorting it out with the younger ones.

Cavies will not over eat, so she was not over fed. A normal weight for cavies is about 2-3 pounds, and since your girls are young they are not done growing and will get just like her in about 2 years.
Cavies should always have hay available to them, pellets and at least one cup of fresh vegetables daily.
With three sows you should have at least a 2x4, preferably 2x5 C&C cage.

Many cavies purr, but know one really knows what it means.

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