Pregnant: Pregnant Skinny any help appreciated LONG

[crazyaboutpigs]

Good morning! I have been an avid lurker on this site for years, and generally am able to find the information that I have needed through search, but now I really need some help.

A little over a month ago I adopted 3 skinny pigs from the shelter that I work at. I needed them like a hole in the head, but they were so darn ugly cute that I took them all. Two are females and one is a male. They were brought in in separate carriers, so my hope was that they were not pregnant as they were also very young. The little boy went in with my other 3 boys and the girls got their own cage...of course! I have owned piggies for almost 10 years, but ALWAYS boys because I never wanted to deal with babies. The time that I made the exception, it bit me in the butt!

The girls started to get plump and although this worried me a little, I wasn't too alarmed as the boy was also getting quite plump. (before you ask, yes I am sure that he is a boy, I am very good at gendering piggies!) The skinny's eat almost constantly because they burn through it so quickly so plump is not really a huge surprise.

So I noticed that my very large piggies sides started moving. I knew what this meant and we went to the vet yesterday. He confirmed that she is very pregnant, but had no idea how far along. Yay...sarcastically.

So now I'm so worried that I am actually nauseous. I'm taking my other girl to the vet today to see if she is also pregnant. I have a very good vet, but I have read conflicting information and I want to get it right. I have NEVER done this before and I don't want to lose my piggies.

So let me do the run down.

Piggies have NEVER come in contact with my males. They have never even been close enough to smile at each other let alone breed. No play time together, nothing. I have had the girls for just over 4 weeks.

Piggies get fresh fruit and vegies from my garden daily, eat oxbow gp pellets and get hay daily.

I use vitamin c in their water as a suppliment.

They are caged in CC cages with fleece bedding. They are caged together and quite bonded.

Now for the questions.

Do I need to separate the girls. My vet said that if the second one is pregnant, the first going into labor could trigger her to go into labor and if she is not as far along, it could cause problem. I worry about seperating them as they love eachother.

Is the food/vitamin C an appropriate mix for them?

Is there anything that I can do to up my chances of saving my sweet girls? Any advice is appreciated.

I'm attaching a pic of my girl to help show her size. I'm not sure if that will help, but I'm just reaching here.

Please any help is very appreciated. There is nothing that I won't do for them and if more vet care is needed, money is no object! My piggies are my family!

[akstrohm]

Wow, she is huge! I'm sure she got pregnant before you got her, and it looks like she could deliver very soon.

There are a few things you should do:
-Stop putting vitamin drops in the water. They degrade very quickly, so they are basically useless. Plus they can make the water taste different so the pigs drink less. Just make sure you feed a variety of veggies. 1/8 pepper per pig per day will provide enough vitamin C.

-Make sure your vet is good with guinea pigs. If he isn't, get a new one lined up ASAP. Have a plan in case there is an emergency during off hours. Read up on possible complications and what to do if they arise.

-Feed alfalfa pellets if you're not doing so already (or another form of extra calcium, but pellets will be easy).

-I have never heard of one pig triggering another to go into labor too early, but I'm not a vet. You could have a vet do an ultrasound on the other pig to verify if she is pregnant. How big is she? Is she gaining weight as quickly as the other girl? My guess is that if one is so far along and the other not showing any signs, that the other is probably not pregnant, but that could be wrong. If she is not pregnant, however, they should definitely stay together.

I'm sorry you got stuck in this position. I hope the birth goes smoothly!

[Skeetersmom]

Wow, that is a big pregnant belly. If you feel the base of the spine where the hip are you can feel two bumps. Those bumps will seperate as she gets closer to delivery. My girl's spread about a finger space apart. Once that happens, it usually is within 24 hours of delivery. Good luck!

[Rnd210]

I have read that if one guinea pig goes into labor that it may trigger the other to go into labor. I don't think it has really been proven. I think since it says may that it is merely speculation or simply a myth or a misconception about guinea pigs. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

You don't want to cause any undue stress to either of girls so close to delivery day, so do not seperate. Make sure the pregnant one has a lot of extra soft things to lay aroung as she probably lay a lot more as delivery day gets closer.

[Paula]

You don't need to add vitamin C to their water. If you want to supplement with C, try something like Oxbow's C tabs. Akstrohm's bell pepper suggestion is a great one as well.

Do you know their ages or if they have had litters previously? If they're young or have had prior litters, the risks are fewer.

In additon to Alfalfa hay, you might start giving them parsley or another veggie that's high in calcium and protein daily.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Ditto - no vit c in their water. It is pretty useless and sometimes harmful. If you want to supplement vit c, get plain vit c tablets or liquid and offer it directly.

Read http://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html too

What the vet said is technically true but it is rare and not a big issue unless you suspect the other one is pregnant but not as far along.

How long have you had them? Good luck.

[Ibbet]

Everyone said what I was gonna say, so I just wanted to wish you the best of luck with the pregnancy, the momma, and the babies.

On a side note: I love skinnies. I want one badly and if a shelter close to me ever has them, I'll get one.

Good luck again!

[crazyaboutpigs]

Thank you to all! Unfortunatly, my other one is also pregnant. The vet said that she could feel the babies. All the vet could tell me without doing an ultrasound is that either she is not as far along as the other one or that she doesn't have as many babies. Stressed is not even close to how I feel right now. I'm not an idiot.....I knew that it could be a possibility because we did not have any information on them, but I really didn't think that it would happen to both of them. Vet can't do an ultrasound because they don't have an ultrasound machine. She didn't want to do an xray because they only do it on an emergency basis late in pregnancy and this is not an emergency in her opinion. I did go out today and purchase everything to make another cage and baby proof both of them if I need to seperate them. Vitamins in the water is now gone! I have been giving them fresh green peppers, kale, greeen leaf and carrots out of my garden. I can up the quantities if I need to! Big momma pig (Hippo) did look very large to me, but because I have never seen a pregnant pig, I really didn't know how to compare her size. Off to see if I can figure out the pelvic bone thing. Please pray that my pigs come out of this ok. They were not but a few months old when I got them so I hope that they can get through this. I have located an emergency vet in case there is a problem also!

[akstrohm]

It sounds like you're well prepared. I would add more veggies to their diet though--pigs need a lot of variety!

Good luck!

[crazyaboutpigs]

Because they are both pregnant, should I separate them or keep them together. I don't want to stress them by separating them, but I don't know if it's best to do so.

[Skeetersmom]

I would keep them together. They help each other take care of the babies as long as they get along well. No reason to stress them and separate. When mine had babies, the girls stayed together.

[momof1kid3piggi]

It would Be best to keep them together. I had my females together during the whole pregnancy Of one of my pigs. (accidental Unknown when I got her same as you) But they where fine together. The other female that didnt have babies would wash off The babies and help the mom with other things. They loved the time together with all the babies.

[crazyaboutpigs]

Great! I had them apart for a day until I took the other to the vet. I just put them back together and they were SO happy to see each other. Hippo even tried to popcorn, not very successfully, but she definitely tried! So I guess I'm about as prepared as I can be, now if the fear that I feel would just subside a bit.

[krittercrazy]

I feel for you. Have you decided about keeping all the babies or not? She is way bigger that my one girl that I adopted pregnant. She had 4 babies. Read the nutrition charts and baby proof your cavy cages. I hope everything turns out well for both girls and their babies.

[Peggysu]

Good Luck, I hope it all works out.

[crazyaboutpigs]

There is no way that I can keep them all! LOL The skinny's eat almost constantly because of their metabolism and if I kept all of the babies, I would go broke fast! The shelter that I volunteer at has already said that they would add the babies to their website to help find homes. Until then, there is always room here though!

I spent all night sewing up pillows and curtains. They should be set. Comfy bedding, fresh hay, pellets and lots of greens.

If anyone else has any advice, it will definitely be appreciated. Thanks again every one!

I added another picture of my big girl. It was taken a couple of days after I got her. You can see the before pic!

[JessicaS]

Crazyaboutpigs - where are you located? If I can convince my husband to let me take on another pig, I would be interested in adopting at least 1 when they are ready (most likely a female as I could integrate it better into my herd) and if he's really nice to me maybe 2. I am located in Maryland - in the metropolitan Baltimore area.

Sorry if you already posted your location, I couldn't seem to find it, but then again I'm pretty tired today and might not be reading everything as clearly as I usually do.

[Rnd210]

I would be interested in one of your babies too depending on where you are located.

[crazyaboutpigs]

I am in Ct, but make frequent trips down to MD where a friend of mine lives.

[wigglesgiggles1]

Good luck! Hope all works out.