Older sow; what would she need

[eastcoaster]

Hi everybody, I hope you can help me out!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I recently became aware of a pregnant sow looking for a home. According to my friend the sow is over a year old, and this would be her third litter (you can imagine all the words I tried so hard not to say, at hearing that).

I am interested in going to see the sow and possibly adopting her (and the pups by extension, of course) but I have no experience with labour and delivery in cavies so I am a little concerned about my ability to handle things. I hope that the folks here might be able to give me some answers to a few questions to better help me decide if this is something I really want to take on, or not.

Is there anything specific to a sow of this age that I would need to take into consideration when caring for her while she is pregnant? Should I take her to see my vet while she is pregnant, just as a precaution, or should I wait until after she has delivered in an effort to avoid stressing her further? With regards to diet, is there anything particular to her combined circumstances of age and pregnancy that I should know to feed her or not to feed her? Is experience in this case a "good" thing for her, or not? (obviously it is not great that she's had litters, but I mean in terms of her better being able to handle things, having done it twice before already)

If there is anything I have not asked that you think might also be good for me to know before I make my decision, I would appreciate hearing that as well! Thank you in advance for your help.

[Paula]

A pig that's over a year and has had two previous litters isn't terribly likely to have any more or less difficulty than a younger pig who hasn't had any. Unless it's a back-to-back pregnancy, in which case there might be serious complications. I'd find out from your friend how much time went by between her last litter and this one, but otherwise I'd not shy away from taking her in if you want her.

I wouldn't take her to a vet prior to birth, necessarily, but I would have one lined up to be "on-call" in case of any problems during delivery.

[eastcoaster]

Paula, thank you for your help. I plan to drive out to meet her either today or tomorrow, and will ask some more questions when I do.

What little I do know, in addition to what I already posted, is that she belongs to my friend's boyfriend's family. His younger siblings raised guinea pigs as part of (what sounds to me like) some type of 4H club project. Now the kids' mother is done with guinea pigs, and the sow is the last one in need of a home. My friend knew I used to have cavies as pets when I was younger, and she heard me say I was interested in keeping them again, so she told me about this one.

I do not know if this is a back-to-back pregnancy or not. My guess is that it's not, just because I gathered that her first two litters were intentional and I think this litter was an accident, but I will verify that when I meet the family. I'm also not sure what kind of shape she will be in, so as much as my heart does go out to her I want to hold off deciding until I have seen her for myself. I was never involved in 4H or anything like that so I am not sure what to expect re: standards of care and the like.

My vet's office is closed for the weekend, but if I do come home with this sow then I will definitely make sure my vet knows she has a new patient, and may be called at an unsavoury hour sometime in the near future! Thanks again for your help; I really appreciate it.

[eastcoaster]

Quick update: I went to see her, and decided to bring her home. On the drive I debated between "Agnes" and "Petunia" for a name for her; in the end, Petunia won out.

Petunia appears healthy at first glance; clean, thick coat, no bald or scaly patches. She is bright eyed and very alert, with a definite pear shape. Her toenails want a trim, but I am letting that pass for now because she is already spooked enough by everything!

She is quite skittery, not a fan of me hanging around at all, but seems to prefer sitting in an open corner of the cage (next to her hay) rather than hide in her dome. Not sure if that is a pregnancy thing or just a "pignality" thing.

She is not at all talkative, so for now, I am talking enough for both of us!

[Deb's4Pigs]

I like Petunia.

[chubbypiggies]

pregnant pig eats more than usual, so that's probably why she's around her hay all the time. They also drink more than usual

[jayceestar27]

Yeah, When Pip was pregnant she just sat between her hay and her water bottle. Practically the only time she would move is when I brought her fresh food and when a stranger (anyone other than me) came in.

[eastcoaster]

Petunia is still pregnant, and still not too fond of all the changes I have brought upon her.

She hasn't touched the water bottle yet, as far as I can tell; she didn't have one before, so that's probably one more change she is boycotting. I put a water dish in with her this morning so she could have the choice to drink from it while I am in the house, but I plan to take it up before I leave for classes. I don't want her to get dehydrated, but I am nervous of the pups coming while I am out, and one somehow falling into the dish. I offered some romaine lettuce and bell pepper both last night and this morning, and she was not impressed. Didn't touch either one.

She did find her way into the dome overnight, and is firmly entrenched there. I will try to get a little lap time with her this afternoon, and give her some floor time so I can do a quick sweep-clean of the fleece . . . we will just see what that does to her mood. I feel like I am in an extremely tenuous relationship right now . . !

[chubbypiggies]

Petunia is still pregnant, and still not too fond of all the changes I have brought upon her.

She hasn't touched the water bottle yet, as far as I can tell; she didn't have one before, so that's probably one more change she is boycotting. I put a water dish in with her this morning so she could have the choice to drink from it while I am in the house, but I plan to take it up before I leave for classes. I don't want her to get dehydrated, but I am nervous of the pups coming while I am out, and one somehow falling into the dish. I offered some romaine lettuce and bell pepper both last night and this morning, and she was not impressed. Didn't touch either one.

She did find her way into the dome overnight, and is firmly entrenched there. I will try to get a little lap time with her this afternoon, and give her some floor time so I can do a quick sweep-clean of the fleece . . . we will just see what that does to her mood. I feel like I am in an extremely tenuous relationship right now . . !

I actually don't think it's a good idea to handle pregnant sows, especially when she is still getting used to her new surroundings. I suggest to let her be until she delivers her pups to decrease the stress level. Also I'm not sure about floor time either, I THINK you should hold that off too but maybe someone else can comment on this.

[S0rceress0]

Pregnant animals, even humans, need exercise. It will make delivery easier. I think floor time is a good idea.

[Deb's4Pigs]

Wet the veggies really well in case she doesn't drink from the bottle. She's just scared and doesn't know what's going on.

[eastcoaster]

Thank you very much for all the feedback; I want to do as well for her as I can. I will wet the veggies for sure, and hope that she starts to eat them soon. Any suggestions for very tempting veggies I could try? I was thinking I could start yellow pepper tonight, as it is a little sweeter and might tempt her more. I will also keep an eye on the floating ducky in the water bottle to see if the level drops at all.

I certainly don't want to stress her; I did think that taking her out and giving her some floor time while I cleaned the cage would be far less stressful than leaving her in the cage while I clean, given that she is so leery of me and that fleece and hidey holes rattling around will probably upset her. I want to keep things as low-key as possible, especially for the next few days as she settles in, but I still want to make sure she gets everything she needs in the way of fresh veggies, clean cage, exercise, fresh water, etc.

It could still be a while before she delivers. According to the family, she conceived anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks ago; they were on holiday and the person looking after the animals for the two weeks the family was gone must have thought it would be easier if all the guinea pigs were all kept together, or something. Bah.

[S0rceress0]

Hershey had never drunk from a bottle either when he got to me. I held him right next to the water bottle and by virtue of tapping the ball a few times let some water drip out. He learned to associate water with the spout. He struggled and it took me about fifteen minutes letting him calm down in my hands by the water bottle before I could tap the spout. It worked. My arms ached from holding him and it did take him some time to be brave enough to try it himself but he did learn.

[jayceestar27]

Depending on how dirty the fleece is, you may want to just clean around her... I don't know if you should yet or not do to how stressed she probably is but I know that having you hands in the cage makes the piggies more comfortable with you..

[Deb's4Pigs]

I had to clean the cage while Carrie was pregnant even though she was terrified. I had to carfully put her in a crate with Lea while I cleaned the cage.

[eastcoaster]

S0rceress0, I appreciate the tip. We taught my first guinea pig to use the water bottle too, but I don't think I would be willing to do that to Tunie right now. She's gone through a lot of changes already. For now I will just try to keep her veggies moist and make sure she has a dish of water on hand when I can be here to supervise. If she wants to explore as far as the water bottle when I am gone for the day, and maybe take a sip, so much the better

Jayceestar, the fleece isn't in that bad shape really, I just like to give it a daily sweep, but I don't think she would like me intruding with my handheld broom and pan. She is still very frightened so I am not pushing things and I told myself that waiting one more night won't be the end of the world.

I refreshed her veggies tonight and added a baby carrot and yellow pepper to the mix in order to tempt her, but she hasn't touched anything so far. I called the people I got her from to ask what she normally ate for vegetables and the lady said she sometimes got a carrot but not often since it wasn't good for guinea pigs to eat too many vegetables because it gave them diarrhea. I just bit my tongue and said oh, okay, thanks.

ETA: Deb, sorry, must have cross-posted with you. I think that's what I will have to do with Tunie, if she doesn't calm around me soon. I have a little box that should work for a safe hidey hole for her to stay in if I do need to change out the fleece altogether before she is calm enough around me to benefit from floor time.

[Deb's4Pigs]

I couldn't sweep the poops either because they were so terrified. I couldn't get her to go in a box either. I tried. So I just picked her up as carefully as I could and put them in a crate. She started going under the fleece just before the baby was born.

[eastcoaster]

I can hear Tunie eating her pellets and grazing on her hay. Best of all is the click-click-click sound of the water bottle as she drinks

It's dark in the room now, so maybe that put her at ease enough to come out for a meal. I hope she's this comfy tomorrow, too!

[S0rceress0]

I can hear Tunie eating her pellets and grazing on her hay. Best of all is the click-click-click sound of the water bottle as she drinks

It's dark in the room now, so maybe that put her at ease enough to come out for a meal. I hope she's this comfy tomorrow, too!

That's so interesting! Keichi was the same way for over a month. He wouldn't come out in the daylight for anything. I'm glad to know he's not the only one and I'm so happy your piggie is starting to calm down.

[eastcoaster]

Hehe, we must have night-owl piggies. She did skitter back to her dome when she heard me get up in the night, but she was definitely out and about for a while.

This morning I checked and saw the water, pellet and hay levels were all down, but she still had not touched her veggies. I know the diet threads say that introducing them can take time, so I will just keep replenishing them and hope she will come around soon.

I plan to do a cage clean this evening because there is now a LOT of poop in there, especially in her fleece cup and around the food dishes. While she is out of the cage I'd like to get a picture of her and weigh her too, though if she seems especially agitated I might let that slide for another couple days. Wish me luck!