Hi Diana,
sounds like you are well en-route to becoming a fully fledged foster carer for years to come!
they are a good weight now – and you are right – that needs to be kept under control otherwise it will affect their general health (listen for any breathing issues as they get bigger) and reduce their chance of survival on release. They need to be able to curl up tightly with no flabby bits hanging out – but I did have a homper hog who was a fabulous chap and got to nearly 1200gms in captivity, but was healthy and could still curl up tight and made a good release locally, we continued to see him regularly over the summer as a garden visitor. they do grow to different sizes certainly.
I would start to reduce their food now – you seem to be feeding quite a lot of food, and yes fat cat diet bics are the thing to go for to help here. I end up being really sparce with the food once they are at 800gms, barely a clenched handful each – better that they go a little hungry than go fat now – it also may encourage them to hibernate as you say, especially if placed in a cooler environment. I also tend to scatter some dry food in the cage as well as in the bowl as ‘enrichment’ to encourage foraging.
I can understand why you want to keep them together, (assume they are the same sex?) I would feel the same – but be aware that one can end up bullying the other off the food, especially if reducing amounts you give them and it also increases risk of any illness spreading between them (less of a risk now if you’ve had them a while and they are doing ok).
All best wishes and fingers crossed for you over the next few months!
