Maya miscarried, advice?

[Talyra]

I am so worried... So my poor little girl Maya is pregnant after all, as I suspected. Luckily her sister Saffron seems not to be. I checked them last night and, lo and behold, I could feel babies kicking on either side of her. From the advice here, I thought that she was maybe a week away from giving birth, as although the babies were kicking her pelvic bones hadn't moved much and she's still very active.

This morning when I was out, I got a call from my housemate saying that Maya miscarried. The line was breaking up, so that's all I heard - 'miscarriage'. Oh my god what a nightmare... I got the full story when I got home. She'd woken up, heard the pigs squeaking like crazy and found them buried in their blanket with a foetus.

Now that I've been home for a while, I think she's okay. I picked her up once to look her over and she looks pretty much normal. There was very little blood, just a smear on the blanket, and almost none on her. She's running around, eating and drinking, and although she's a bit tender, she held still long enough for me to tell that there's still movement where I felt it before. Although I'm no vet, it feels like she still has some live babies in there. Thinking back, it makes sense - the ones on either side of her belly were moving but I couldn't feel any movement in her centre. I assumed that it was just facing inwards, but perhaps it was gone already. Essentially, if we hadn't found the foetus, I doubt we'd have been able to tell that anything went wrong at all.

My worry is of course that there's another dead or dying baby in there that she hasn't managed to get out. I called an vet and she said it would probably be okay just to monitor her closely and take her in to emergency if anything changes. I'm planning to make her a non-emergency appointment for tomorrow just to make sure, so there's that.

If the foetus aborted because of some defect, then there's probably nothing I can do, but I'm terrified that it was something I did wrong. Their diet hasn't been that varied this week - mostly green pepper, cucumber and lettuce, with regular hay and pellets. Today I got them some red pepper, coriander and celery so they'd have a bit more balance.

[kananaka]

My heart goes out to you and Maya. I hope everything is ok with the rest. Keep us updated!

[bpatters]

Guinea pigs have two "horns" on a uterus, so it's possible that she delivered a pup from one side but still has pup(s) on the other. Do watch her closely though, because if an unborn pup is dead she may have to have a C-section.

Did the fetus appear deformed? And had she removed the membrane from its face so it could breathe, or did it suffocate?

[Talyra]

Thanks, Kananaka. Right now she's chomping away at her salad and I'm attempting to sew a cuddle cup. That's a pretty fraught process itself, given that the closest I've ever come to sewing was when I was five, stapling together two bits of paper to make a dress! :P

Back to the serious business, if a pup is dead inside her, will there be any visible signs? I've been touching her belly every so often to make sure I can still feel movement, but I'm not sure what else to watch for.

To be honest, I didn't think to examine the foetus very closely. It was in pieces, so it was a little hard to tell. Its hindquarters were whole, and they looked fairly normal, but there wasn't much sign of its face. There was no membrane over it, and there were little bits of flesh scattered across the blanket, so I'd guess that she pulled the membrane away and maybe damaged its front half in the process.

[SpicyPiggies]

That sounds so sad ((( poor piggie

[bpatters]

If she's carrying a dead pup, there won't be any external signs. And if you think there is one, the only way to tell is by x-ray.

If you can still feel movement (kicking movement, not movement of her GI tract), then there may well be another live pup. Keep weighing her daily, at the same time of day (preferably before breakfast). And watch her carefully for any signs of not feeling good. If those occur, get her to an exotic vet who can check for pregnancy and spay if necessary.

[Talyra]

Update: Maya is at the vet having an ultrasound. I noticed her getting quieter and slower this morning when I fed her, and although it's only a subtle change I didn't want to take any chances. The vet palpated her stomach, agreed that there was at least one other pup in there, and said that we had a catch-22 here - if the pups are dead and we do nothing, Maya could die from infection. If we give her meds to kill infection and the pups are still alive, that could kill them and we'd be back to the start. So they're going to call me when the results from the ultrasound are back, and then we can decide what to do.

Is it bad that I'm really hoping for a successful pregnancy? One of our options, even if they are alive, is to remove them now to save Maya the stresses of birth later on. If that's what she needs then of course I'll do that, but... Well, I must admit that I've been somewhat excited about the possibility of babies. I'd never breed my girls, of course, but given that Maya was already on her way I was looking forward to the little furballs. Given the state of the foetus, they're close to birth but not close enough to survive on their own. I'm trying not to stress too badly until I know the situation, but it's tough.

Thank you everyone for your support, I'll keep you updated.

[Talyra]

She's back now and she's fine. The ultrasound showed three healthy pups (although the vet isn't ruling out the possibility of any more) who are a bit over halfway along. So my estimate of when they'd be born was entirely wrong! On one hand that's great as it gives me more time to expand and babyproof the cage, but on the other hand, she's huge and waddly already - in a few more weeks I shudder to think how she'll be. Poor thing. The vet said that there's about a 50-50 chance that the pups will make it to term, so we're not out of the woods yet. I panic a little every time I hear a louder than normal squeak. On the bright side, she does have a really hearty appetite.

Saffron seems a lot quieter recently. Do they often respond this way to a roommate's discomfort? It isn't stopping her from stealing food out of Maya's mouth, but she's been a lot more skittish lately and has gone backwards in terms of snuggling during laptime. Funnily enough pregnancy has made Maya into the more outgoing one.

[boofp]

oh wow, I am just praying you you and maya. Hope all turns out well.

[kananaka]

Glad she is doing OK and the 3 so far appear to be healthy. Keep us posted. I am new to guinea pigs so really cant answer your questions but I just wanted you to know I will be worrying and waiting with you