Food scale for obese Baldwin guinea pig diet

So your vet has put your Baldwin on a weight management plan — that's exactly the right call, and the fact that you're taking it seriously makes a real difference. Baldwins can be prone to weight gain, and at three years old it's worth getting on top of. A kitchen scale that measures in single grams is the tool you need here: weighing pellets and vegetables precisely is the only way to actually know what he's eating, rather than guessing by eye. Before I point you to a specific one — is the vet targeting pellet portions, veg portions, or both? And are you already tracking his weight weekly, or is that something you're trying to set up too?

Good, food first is the right priority — controlling intake is where the actual change happens. For weighing pellets at 20g, you need a scale that's accurate at low weights, because a lot of cheaper kitchen scales wobble around below 50g and give you a different reading each time. The one I'd recommend is the Salter 1036 BKSSDR Slim Digital Kitchen Scale. It reads in 1g increments, has a tare function so you can zero out the bowl, and is reliable right down to small amounts like 20g. It's simple, flat, easy to wipe down, and costs around £10–12 on Amazon UK. Nothing fancy, but it does the job precisely and consistently, which is exactly what a vet-supervised diet requires.

It can, but honestly it's not ideal for weighing a wriggly guinea pig directly — the reading will jump around. The better approach for body weight is to weigh yourself on a bathroom scale, then hold him and weigh again, and subtract. Or use a small bowl or box on the kitchen scale, tare it to zero, then pop him in quickly for a reading. Guinea pigs don't hold still, but the bowl trick usually gives you a consistent enough number to track trends week to week. The Salter scale handles that fine up to its 5kg limit, which is well above what any guinea pig should weigh.

Once a week, same day, same time — before his first meal if you can manage it. Don't weigh daily; normal day-to-day fluctuation will just stress you out and doesn't tell you anything useful. What you're looking for is a slow, steady downward trend over weeks, not a dramatic drop. If he's losing more than about 50g a week, check back with your vet — that's too fast. If nothing's moving after three or four weeks of accurate portioning, that's also a conversation for the vet. The scale gives you the data; your vet interprets it.

Great choice — it's simple and it'll last for years. Good luck with the diet plan; Baldwins are tough little animals and three is still young enough that getting his weight down will genuinely improve his quality of life. If you need help thinking through his veg portions or hay situation once the pellet side is sorted, come back and we can work through that too.