New to cavies have I thought of everything?

[CurlyCass]

Hi everyone,
My Husband and I have spent this last weekend preparing our home to bring home two piggies. I found them on craigslist we are getting them from a family who bought them for their children and the children will not care for them.

Here is the problem, the piggies are a male and a female and the female may be pregnant. I have chosen a vet and I am financially prepared to have the male neutered. As for the female I am afraid that she will have complications with the pregnancy or birth as I understand it can be very dangerous. Is it possible to terminate the pregnancy ? Is the risk greater to terminate or to let her have them?

I do have 3 children but I would like to make it clear I am getting these pets for myself and I take full responsibility for them. My children do not take care of animals they have other chores.

We will be building a 2x5 c&c open cage that will be in our livingroom. I plan to sew a fleece quilt for bedding and to sew some other fun things for the cage.

I have found where to but pellet and hay and we will stock the fridge with veggies before we bring them home.

Have I overlooked anything? I am nervous and excited all at the same time.

Thank you for your help.

[Amanda&Pigs]

Congrats on the new piggies!

Pregnancy can be very dangerous for.pigs. Your best bet would be taking her to a cavy savy vet. They would be able to tell you for sure if she's pregnant. I've heard of emergency spays to terminate a pregnancy but I'm not to familiar with the procedure. You'd better off talking to the vet about that as well.

And they'll need to be separated either way.
If she's not pregnant you'll want to separate them before hes neutered and could get him pregnant. Also after he's neutered you'll have to keep them separate for about 3 weeks to allow for him to heal and the sperm to die off I believe.

If she is pregnant they'll need be separated because he could get her pregnant again right after she gives birth known as backbreeding. Also if she gives birth to any males they'll have to be separated from the mom at 21 days because they'll be able to get her pregnant as well.

Hope I've been of some help. I'm sure more members will come by with helpful information as well.

[piggy2470]

Do you have a water bottle or bowl?

[blackarrow]

Good for you, and welcome!

I don't know about the conditions under which a guinea pig pregnancy can more safely be terminated than proceed - it may be specific to her age and number of offspring she is carrying. If you were going to do that, she would probably undergo a spay at the same time, in which case you would not need to neuter your male.

You might want to hold off on having the male neutered for the time being anyhow (separating them for now). If the female has both male and female babies, you could put any boys in with him once they are weaned, and leave any girls as mom's companions.

[CurlyCass]

hmmmm I guess I didn't think of keeping the babies I had planned on adopting them out. If I did a double layer cage type thing I could have the space for seperate boy and girl cages. So now my question would be how do you access the bottom layer???

[Toadies]

I had to chuckle at your question about thinking of everything. Having piggies is kind of like having kids, you can plan and plan and they, without fail, will surprise you. There are some marvelous pictures of double/stacked cages in the photo galleries. Paula, one of the moderators, has a good set up, although much larger than you will probably need, but it will give you some good ideas. I know nothing about pregnancy as I have only had boars, but I sure wish you and your baby the very best.

[Sirene]

It sounds like you really have thought of everything! That is SO nice to see - unfortunately it doesn't happen all the time.

Welcome to the forum - we can't wait to see your pigtures!

[Cogni]

Welcome! You have educated yourself very well so far.

I don't have expertise about the issue of spaying/termination vs. letting the pregnancy continue. But I suspect blackarrow is right that individual characteristics like age (and maybe whether she has had a litter before) will be crucial in determining which scenario might be safer for the mother pig.

The one thing I noticed not mentioned so far is hideys--you need one for each pig plus ideally an extra. Clipping a towel longways to the side of the C&C cage will make a nice long 2-ended tunnel-hidey, that can be run through or used as a shelter. This helps avoid the clutter and diminution of running space caused by pigloos and other bulky hideys.

[CurlyCass]

Thank you for all the replies. Here is an update. We got to meet our piggies this evening!

The male (Midas or Moose) is huge and really mellow. I think he will slim down with regular exercise. Other then his nails needing to be trimmed he looks healthy and vibrant he even had a short conversation with me. Also he is a little over a year old and very much attached to his girl.

The female (Winter or Molly) is about 7 months old and a little skittish but calms quickly when held. She also needs a bit of a nail trim but also looks healthy and vibrant.

They both have an appointment with the vet next Tuesday for an initial once over then we can schedule the neutering and such.

I will need to pick up a new food bowl or two and a few extra water bottles. I will be sewing hidey houses for them this week out of some fleece I had laying around. I have a bunch of old jeans I can cut into tunnels.

I hated to leave them tonight but only 4 more days!!!!!! I have 2 really bad pictures the family sent me I can post if I knew how. I better go figure that out next.

[CurlyCass]

here are some pictures of my new babies
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[Pigjes]

Welcome!!!

[PiggyKat]

haha you sound a lot like me when I first brought mine home...that seems so long ago! Now I can't imagine my life without my pigs!
I always try to have materials for a separate cage in case I have to have one separated for medical reasons. Since you might have a pregnant female the firs thing I would do is a vet check. This way you can know for sure. There is very good information here as well as GuineaLynx!
You do have some hidies right? Piggies are shy creatures...usually(I have a few characters!). Mine seem to love tunnels and climbing on their piglos! I would buy a kitchen scale to weigh them in. I also bought a binder so that I can keep all my pigs medical information(I have 4 piggies!) in but I am a little overly organized!
Having your pigs home for the first few days is a learning experience! I have had mine for about 6 months and still haven't figured everything out and I planed just like you did! Goodluck with your pigs and i can't wait to see pigtures!

[CavyLuver516]

So now my question would be how do you access the bottom layer???

Look through the Photo Gallery - your sure to find what you are looking for. And thanks for being so prepared!

[CavyMama]

Wow, well done! You have really thought things through and are prepared for your new piggies!

Here is a list of things I have for my pigs that you may or may not have :

-Heavy food bowls (they tend to like to tip them over). I use ceramic crocks but you can also get a wide-bottom side by side cat bowl.

-Water bottle

-Hideys - these can be anything from a store-bought igloo or house to a step-stool to a fleece tent. Just anything where they can run to hide when they get nervous.

-Veggies - You mentioned stocking the fridge but it's good to know what foods are healthy and which are off-limits for piggies. I would check out Ly's nutrition chart
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ants-list.html

-Hay - it should be a good quality hay. Kleenmamas or Oxbow are both excellent sources for high quality hay. I'm not sure about Oxbow but I know Kleenmama's also has high quality pellets. I order my hay and pellets from her.

-Tunnels -these could be the store-bought "chubes" or anything else that they can run through. I occasionally use empty fridge pack boxes for this. I've also clipped fleece onto bent grides to make a hidey/tunnel.

Toadies, I say that every time I bring the pigs to mom and dad's for Christmas holidays. There are so many supplies that it's like traveling with infants LOL

[3Piggles]

There are some major potential problems with pregnancies, and it's best to at least have a cavy savvy vet on standby should anything go wrong. As for terminating the birth, that is risky, especially if the doctor hasn't done the procedure before.

Do you definitely know her age? If she is more than 8 months old and hasn't had a litter, it could be a real problem and very possibly worth terminating the birth.

Here is the link to the reproduction section on Guinea Lynx. It gives you a lot of information to help you decide what to do.
http://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html

Good luck!!!

[couchon]

It sounds like you are doing great! Just to let you know, they need Oxbow or Kleenmama's for pellets.

[CurlyCass]

ok I think I figured out the picture thing. These pics were taken by the current owner not me so they aren't very good.


Our little girl Winter or Molly

Our big boy Midas or Moose.

[Cogni]

They are lovely piggies! I look forward to better pics, when they are happier. I am very glad it is not you holding them that way. My gosh--around the neck!! And apparently pushing hard down on their little bodies to restrain them. Poor babies. I am sure they will grow happy and healthy with you.

[Cogni]

By the way, I think 'Midas' should be called "Mink". Because that is what he looks like--a gorgeous furry mink!

[3Piggles]

Awww, so cute. I have a Molly, too, and used to have an abby quite like your Molly. I like Mink, too. Such pretty pigs!!!