Pregnant: Weight gain?

[Silverbeat]

I have been in Texas the past three weeks, my animals were left in the care of my well-intentioned but less-than-savvy mother. So, one of my babies, Tasha, gained almost a pound while I was gone. She now weighs 2 lbs. Maybel, her sister, is 1lb. 10oz. They are 4 months old. What should I do? Should I take her to the vet? She is uncomfortably large. Like.. bloated maybe. She eats fine, as far as I know.

[Silverbeat]

Just kidding! She;'s preggers! Maybel, her 'sister', is a boy. So Olive and Sophie are probably knocked up too. Ugh. D:
I confirmed, and so did my vet, that they were both girls.

[Paula]

Okay, first of all I don't see anything comical about this.

How many females do you have and how long has the male pig been with them? If you haven't already separated him, you should, in the event that not all the females are pregnant.

And I'm a bit confused from your post - which pigs did your vet tell you were females? Are you saying that you and your vet confirmed that both Sophie and Olive are females? Tasha and Maybel? If the latter is the case you need to get yourself a more knowledgeable vet, especially if you are possibly looking at three (or more?) pregnancies.

[Silverbeat]

It wasn't meant to be comical, though it is a little ironic, I've been involved in guinea pig rescue for years and now *I* have three pregnant ladies because, "oops! one of them was a boy!" The above post was just me beating myself up for something that I took every precaution against. My apologies.
I have four guinea pigs. The older two I adopted over a year ago. Their ages are unknown. I think they're about 3. The younger two, Maybel [now Milo] and Natasha are about four months old. I took them in for a vet checkup shortly after adopting them, when they were six or seven weeks old. I had confirmed, and so did my vet, that they were both girls.
Milo is in a separate cage now. The three pregnant girls are in their original, now baby-proofed cage. The vet I use is pretty much the best around. There's another one that I'm going to check out asap though.

[Paula]

Do you know if this would be the older two's first pregnancy? I'm sure you know the harm in that if it would be the case.

I had confirmed, and so did my vet, that they were both girls.

Except that they weren't girls. And I'm not sure I'd feel that the vet is the "best around" because this seems to be a tremendous oversight that's now caused your females to be pregnant. More or less.

I don't blame you, accidents happen, and I know you're trying to do the best thing for all your pigs. But I would insist on another vet if it's at all possible.

[Silverbeat]

Originally Posted by paula.m.moore

Except that they weren't girls. And I'm not sure I'd feel that the vet is the "best around" because this seems to be a tremendous oversight that's now caused your females to be pregnant. More or less.

I don't blame you, accidents happen, and I know you're trying to do the best thing for all your pigs. But I would insist on another vet if it's at all possible.

Yeah, well, it's not. The other vet I was checking out isn't accepting new exotic patients. Right now she's pretty much my only option. Normally I would go to Cornell but that's just not an option right now. All the other exotic vets around here are incompetent know-nothings and I learned that the hard way. So I'm gonna go ahead and stick with the only vet who has yet to kill [or nearly kill] one of my companion animals.
And yeah, as far as I know the girls are all first-time mothers. Yes, I know what the problem is there.

[Silverbeat]

So, bottom line, I have three pregnant sows due to a missexed fourth. And I need some help. This is the first guinea pig pregnancy I've dealt with hands-on.
Firstly, two of them are over a year old. And this is probably their first litter. What exactly are their chances of survival?
Secondly, I have them eating unlimited alfalfa-based pellets. Otherwise their diets haven't changed. Salads, unlimited hay, forages when I can. Is that right? When should I switch them back to timothy-based pellets?
Thirdly, they don't nest, do they? Should I have them on carefresh or fleece bedding? The one that seems furthest along I have in a cage with carefresh.
Fourth, the male [Milo] is separated, the young, more-pregnant one [Natasha] is in her own cage and the two older ones [Olive and Sophie] are in the original, large, baby-proofed cage. Should I be separating all of the preggie piggies?
Also, how far-spaced can the bars on Natasha's cage be? They're an inch apart.

[Paula]

For the older girls, you can have a c-section. I would make absolutely certain that the vet doing the surgery had lots of experience not just with exotics but with surgery too. I'd talk to a competent vet about the chances of delivering naturally. It's a myth that the bones of the pelvis fuse together, but they do stiffen, which is going to futher complicate matters.

They don't necessarily need unlimited alfalfa based pellets. They need extra protein and calcium, which can be provided with alfalfa hay or some extra protein/calcium rich veggies like parsley. They can go back to their regular diet shortly after they've finished nursing.

They do not nest, but make sure the girls have lots of soft things to lay on. They will be uncomfortable so the more cushions they have, the better.

Spacing for babies should be a half inch, I believe. And if the girls are used to living together there's no need to separate unless they are having problems with each other and being stressed because of it. Otherwise it might be more detrimental to separate because that can stress them.

When the babies are born the boys can move in with Mr. Milo so he won't be alone for too long hopefully.

[Silverbeat]

I took Olive and Sophie in today to get emergency spays. My vet didn't feel confident that they should deliver and neither do I. They aren't as far alone as Natasha; she's due any day now. She has at least two babies, I thought I felt three or four. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do as far as rehoming goes yet.
I'm very worried about Olive and Sophie-- I took off work today. I'm just going to hang out with Natasha and Milo and watch a whole lot of television. Please keep Olive and Sophie in your thoughts today.

[Silverbeat]

The girls made it through okay. They're just waking up now.
Livvy was pretty close to term, her babies were furred and are currently fighting for survival. There are three of them. She also had a very large ovarian cyst and would've had to have been spayed later in life anyways, so I'm glad that got resolved. Sophie is doing fine, her babies were young and underdeveloped.. they didn't make it.
I'm so glad they're both alright.

[Peggysu]

Oh I'm sorry you've had to go through all this. Hope those babies can make it and that the girls continue to do well through post-op.

[Silverbeat]

[update]
Natasha gave birth to three lovely babies. They are Laika, Winston and Ferdinand. She was just spayed yesterday. I am going to separate the cage into three parts. One will be for Sophie and Ferdie, one for Olive and Laika, and one for Natasha and Winston. This way there won't be any possibility of anyone getting pregnant and in a month or two once it'll be easier to tell which is what, I'll take them to the vet for a check-up and sexing.
Milo is still with us, he is living the single life. His cage is right next to the girls' so they can talk.
Natasha has become quite the lap-pig after all of this. My guinea pigs live at my mom's right now, I am living with a co-worker. I will be moving to my own place next weekend though and I'll finally be able to live with my bunnies and pigs again.
P.s. I am keeping all of the babies, if y'all hadn't guessed.

[akstrohm]

I'm glad they're doing okay.

If they are three weeks old, you need to get them properly sexed now and split up the males from the females. Take them to a vet if you can't do it yourself. Otherwise the baby males could get the females pregnant.

If they're not three weeks yet, you should keep all the babies with their mothers until 3 weeks. Don't separate them any earlier.

[princesspoppy]

Sorry but that wasn't funny at all. I actually had to google what that was in gramms.

[Silverbeat]

Originally Posted by princesspoppy

Sorry but that wasn't funny at all. I actually had to google what that was in gramms.

Originally Posted by akstrohm

I'm glad they're doing okay.

If they are three weeks old, you need to get them properly sexed now and split up the males from the females. Take them to a vet if you can't do it yourself. Otherwise the baby males could get the females pregnant.

If they're not three weeks yet, you should keep all the babies with their mothers until 3 weeks. Don't separate them any earlier.

They are three weeks old. Please read the rest of my post [and perhaps my original post], it explains why I'm separating them.

Originally Posted by princesspoppy

Sorry but that wasn't funny at all. I actually had to google what that was in gramms.

..I'm sorry, what part of this was at all funny?

[princesspoppy]

your first and 2nd post.