Is she pregnant?

[angelwise]

I rescued 17 piggies 9-15-05. I found homes for all the females except a mom and two ... supposed to be two hour old babies. I noticed the mom has been getting especially fat lately. I double checked the two daughters to make sure they don't have any boy peepees hiding that I didn't get to perk up in the past. They are definately girls. So... I was thinking after all the starvation and extremely young pregnancy she had been through, Gretchen was just getting really fat. I haven't dared let any boys near her. Today, I took an extra close look at her. She is either pregnant or something is seriously wrong. She is beyond fat. I can't feel anything moving around like I've heard others talk about. She has been consuming an extraournary amount of water, but so did I when I was pregnant, if that is what is going on. Other than the enourmous belly, she seems happy and healthy. She was practically bald when I got her. Now, she is growing hair so long that I think she is a parivian. I thought she was a short haired american when I first got her. She is comfortable and happy and doesn't seem to be in any kind of pain. She likes me to hold her and pet her. Although I haven't been petting her a lot lately, which is probably why I just thought she was getting really fat rather than something else going on. Anyway what are your thoughts on the situation? I have heard that piggies can get pregnant almost immediately after birth. I do know that the lady I got them from could not tell the females from the males as she had them all mixed up. I also don't trust that she had this mommy and the babies separated from the rest of the group or knows when the babies were born so it is possible that they were in with some boys before I got them. I personally had Gretchen and her two daughters separated from any boys from the moment I received them. Unless there is any way she was impregnanted before I got her or if they can mate through the cage bars one level above the other, then she would have been impregnated on or prior to 9-15-05.

Now, what are the chances that I would find homes for all the females but the one that just had babies thinking that I would get out of having to worry about having a pregnant female on my hands... and that is the one that is pregnant? Well, that is the story of my life! And what are the chances that my husband... who thinks I'm beyond crazy for taking in 17 piggies in the first place... would say, "well, I guess we'll just have that many more gerbils." No chances there, I knew I was marrying the man of my dreams! Note, I have 7 boys and 3 girls living under my roof. I have three cages with 4 inch pipes running down the hall to a second room for them to go two.

[angelwise]

By the way, for those of you who are interested in Elvis' recovery, he is doing great. He finished his round of antibiotics, over a week ago, and his swelling has not returned. Evidently the swelling was just an infection from a scratch or something.

[JennG]

Oh angel, I'm sorry if she is. I think I read that their gestation period is from 50 something to 70ish days. I'm alot of help huh. Good luck and keep us posted. I hope she's not but I'm sure if she is you'll be able to find them a good home.

[angelwise]

I'm kind of hoping that she is because if she isn't, gosh something is bad wrong. She is huge! There is no way her size could be normal.

[JennG]

I don't know. Angel is my fat girl. She's almost three pounds. Her double chin almost touches the floor. Poor thing. But she seems happy. Maybe mama knows a good eating and safe place when she sees one.

Ok I looked. Gestation is 59-73 days. I think that she falls within this limit or is my brain too tired to count.

[angelwise]

OK, I think from 9-15 to today would be around 73 days, so I guess we'll know within the next couple of days if she was pregnant or if I need to find out if something else is causing such a weight gain. Her belly doesn't feel tight. It's just huge.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Maybe Bloat? Ovarian cysts? Are you weighing her?

[Ly&Pigs]

Ditto to what rabbits said.

On a good note, neither Finna nor Oats turned out to be pregnant. They have grown a lot though. They are fat, happy piggies. If you are feeling no movement within the sows tummy, she isn't pregnant. You emailed me not too long ago asking if I could take on a couple more sows. I'm sorry I haven't responded. Things have been crazy here. I have my hands already way too full with these 7 and cannot take anymore.

Both Finna and Oats consume a lot of water and food. I know my girls are just fat from the good food and hay. More than likely your sow you are worried about is just a normal fat sow. Can you take some overhead shots of her and email them to me?

[angelwise]

After my little one went to sleep last night, I got Gretchen out and held her on my chest for a long time. She is so sweet. I held my hand on her fat tubby and after a while I could feel quite a bit of movement. It felt like a heart beat for a while then it felt like little legs moving around. I'm pretty sure she is pregnant now. The scale I have only goes up to 16 oz. I need to get one I can really use. I was worried it might be bloating or something like that at first, but now I'm sure we will have babies very soon. I'll keep everyone posted. They should arrive in a day now, since the gestation time has just reached its max. The sad part is dad or brother is the father. Hopefully these will be as healthy as the two she had when I rescued her. She is an excellent mom, that is why I enjoyed her so much. I loved watching her take care of her babies.

Ly, Don't worry about getting back to me about taking on any more girls. I've rigged up some pipes going down the hall to second cages so that everyone can actually get some running time in when I don't have time to let them out and run. Everyone gets plently of food, water, and fresh bedding. They have each other for company and all seem very content. I made hammics for everyone so they have more floor space in the cages and their own space to go to when they need alone time. Cleaning out one more cage is not that much trouble, so we are all good here. I have three separate cages. One with three girls, one with three boys, and one with four boys. They are stacked on top of each other, so I don't actually loose space in my cage, I mean house. By the way, the piggy I adopted from the neighbors recently is Patchy's best friend. They are always together. They usually run down the pipe to the second room and hang out together down there. Patchy loves his hammic. He lounges in it a lot!

[JennG]

Well keep us posted. And good luck. When I adopted my girls, Snowball ended up being pregnant and had her baby around 1 1/2 wks after I got her. Unfortunately, the baby did not make it. I'm sure everything will be fine with your girl.

[Ly&Pigs]

I am glad to hear our patchy is doing very well. I really miss the little snot sometimes!!!

Hopefully (fingers crossed) what you felt is just gas moving through the tummy and she is not pregnant.

[angelwise]

Nothing extrordinary happened today. I'll keep you posted. I know you guys would rather hear something else, but from what I'm looking at right now, I'm hoping she is pregnant, because any other possibility would be extremely alarming. I'm willing to take care of any babies that are born or find appropriate housing and I already know she is a great mommy. If something else would be causing this huge belly, it would be not normal and extremely sad!

[Ly&Pigs]

Do you know what breed she is? Some breeds like Abys tend to get fat hind quarters. You should see Oats (brown and white). She seemed so small when I got her from you but now she's bigger than my CoCo and the largest in my herd. Finna (the small tri-colored Aby) has grown a lot too. If Finna or Oats had been pregnant, they would have already delivered by now.

[angelwise]

Well, I'm pretty sure that Oats is the original female from the rescue I did. So, I think Oats is Gretchen's mom. So, she has to be part Abby. Then the original male is perivian. Gretchen was practially bald when I got her. Her hair was very thin and very short. Since then it has not stopped growing. She is looking like a perivian more and more each day. I was told by the lady I got these guys from that Gretchen's babies were two hours old. I'm not sure if anything she told me is actuate. I guess if she doesn't produce any babies in a couple of days, maybe I'm just getting overly concerned about huge weight gain. Afterall, I did think that Finna and Oats were pregnant too. I didn't think about them gorging themselves after being starved for so long.

[JennG]

OK angelwise-what's the scoop? Is she still fat? Do we have babies? Just thought I'd see how she's doing.

[angelwise]

Hey, we have babies! Five of them. They are so cute! What a neat surprise to come home to.

I counted up the days I've had the mommy and it has been 79 days. And that was the day she had her last litter according to the lady I got them from.

[BabyGrl]

I jope everything is well with the mom and babies. If I lived down there I would love to take some off your hands.