Need Advice

[Glitterdust]

I have several questions that I need answered and would like any advice you can offer. I will start at the beginning.

I adopted 2 guinea pigs on January 5, 2008. Both are female, 1 is 9 months old, Emily, and the other is 7 months old, Cinnamon, and had been living in the same 2x4 C&C cage until last week. They got into a fight and were chattering teeth and Emily had a scratch on her nose. We separated them and tried to reintroduce, but the teeth chattering and fighting began again. Right now we have them in a divided cage. I am finishing up a larger 2x6 cage and would like to introduce my newest pig (9 weeks old), Delilah today since she is finished with her quarantine period.

At about the same time, we discovered that Emily is pregnant, can feel the babies moving inside her. At this time, her poop is wet and she is becoming more particular about what veggies she will eat. Won't eat lettuce, but still eats carrots, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, dandelion greens, and apple. I have started giving her unlimited pellets ( a mix of Oxbow Cuisine and Performance) and a variety of hay (Oxbow Timothy, Orchard, Oat, Botanical, and Alfalfa). She is drinking between 12 and 18 oz of water per day. I have been weighing her daily since I discovered she was pregnant and noticed that she lost 8 grams yesterday, but has gained 34 grams since yesterday.

All of this being said, I am very concerned about Emily, my pregnant pig. I'm probably an over concerned slave, but I just want to make sure that she makes it through this. I've been reading through the forums and sites about pregnancy and it only makes me more worried about my darling pig.

So on to the questions:
Is it okay to feed her unlimited pellets?
Is it normal for pregnant pigs to have wet poop?
Is it normal for Emily and Cinnamon to have fought since she is pregnant and possibly just wants to be alone?
Should introductions between Delilah and Emily wait?
Do pregnant pigs become more selective about what veggies they will eat?
With Emily eating less fresh veggies do I need to give her any special vitamins?
Is it okay to feed her parsley and dandelion greens daily and in larger quantities than normal?


Any other advice is also welcome.

[Ly&Pigs]

Is it okay to feed her unlimited pellets?
If Emily is about 9 months old she needs to be on limited pellets even though she's pregnant. You could give 1/4 cup to her per day.

Is it normal for pregnant pigs to have wet poop?
It's not normal for any pig to have wet poo. Is it like diarrhea or just a bit wet?

Is it normal for Emily and Cinnamon to have fought since she is pregnant and possibly just wants to be alone?
It's normal for pigs to fight for about any reason they want to. She could be a bit irritable.

Should introductions between Delilah and Emily wait?
It won't hurt them to go ahead and be introduced.

Do pregnant pigs become more selective about what veggies they will eat?
No. I've had pregnant pigs before and they ate more veggies and stuff instead of less.

With Emily eating less fresh veggies do I need to give her any special vitamins?
No but you may need to supplement with a plain C tablet or liquid C you get from a health food store if she stops eating all veggies.

Is it okay to feed her parsley and dandelion greens daily and in larger quantities than normal?
No. You can feed these but rotate them one day parsley, one day dandelion greens. Normal amounts. 4-5 sprigs of parsley and 3-4 leaves of dandelion greens. She needs extra calcium for the pups yes but you don't want to overdo it. She'll also get calcium from the pellets and other veggies.

[Pumpkin_RIP]

Since she has wet poo(possibly diareah) and is becoming selctive about her veggies, you might want to get her checked out by the vet. Of course, if you were feeding too much of something, then fix it and her poops become normal again, then she is probably fine.

[Fazie]

Do you have any idea if this is her first litter? If it is you need to get her to a vet as I believ I read that 9 months if a bit old for a first litter and there could be complications come birthing time.

[xPiggiesx]

As others have said, you might want to get her to the vet, just be on the safe side.

[Glitterdust]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I had no idea how far along she was, but we woke up today to a few extra faces. Emily gave birth to 2 beautiful leap year babies. I made an appointment for the vet today, but I'm probably going to cancel it and reschedule for next week just to give her some time to rest and keep the babies out of the cold for a bit. So now that she has had the babies what do I need to keep an eye out for to make sure that she doesn't need to be rushed to the vet? I'm now a worried new baby piggie mom. Will post more pigtures later, but just want to give everyone a preview.

[pigsforlife]

- Weigh everyone daily for a week or so (particularly the young ones) to make sure they arent loosing weight
- Watch for bleeding from the mother. Spotting for a day or so after appears to be normal
- Handling from day 1 is ok. Although try not to stress them out.
- Supplementing their grass hay with alfalfa hay is recommended/good idea.
- Babies will be eating solids within days
- Sex (get a second opinion on the sex as well) all of pigs and separate any males at 3 weeks.
- Overall watch that mother is active, bright, alert, eating, nursing etc

Cute bubs! Good luck!

[Cherish]

Congratulations Glitterdust and Emily!

They're beautiful babies, and it's great to see that everyone appears to be healthy.

[wiggley_narco]

They look just like mom.... awww... they're gorgeous.

[Pumpkin_RIP]

That's so great that she didn't have complications!! Congratulations!

[Sammy and Peanut]

Congrats! Good luck with your new addition to the family!

[Glitterdust]

Thanks everyone. Mom and babies are doing well today. They have explored pellets, veggies, and hay today, despite losing a few grams each. Mom has gained about 20 grams. Today we saw the first popcorns and discovered that our new additions are the loudest wheekers in the house. After numerous attempts at sexing them, I think the predominantly black one is a boy and the white one is a girl. Vet visit is scheduled for Tuesday to get a second opinion and make sure mom and babies are doing well. Will post more pigtures tonight.

[Glitterdust]

Bad news about the little white baby...she is bleeding from her genitals. The vet says it is from her rectum and she has stopped nursing. We are hand feeding her some critical care, unflavored pedialyte, and a ground up mix of parsley, lettuce, carrots, red pepper, and endive every hour and have gotten her from 66g this morning to 72g. The vet also did some fluid therapy and an x-ray. It showed that there was food in her GI track, but she's still bleeding. Vet gave her some Baytril for infection. She also thinks it might be a trauma injury because Mommy Emily sometimes runs over her babies to hide. Any other advice about hand feeding would be great and much appreciated.

[pigsforlife]

You need to post on guinealynx and ask for their suggestions. They are very very knowledgeable.

Do you know why she is bleeding from her genitals?

Edit:
I see you have posted on guinealynx. Good luck!

[naturegal592]

I am sorry to hear about the little one, I hope she gets better soon. They are very cute!

[Char-x]

Congratulations on the babies, I hope everything turns out okay for the little one!

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