Pregnancy My "male" is pregnant....

I hope she is okay. Just keep a close eye on her for any complications and I am sure she will be okay.

I know those darn petstores, be strong everything will be ok!!

Jolly needs you to stay strong.

Definately read up on pregnancy. Keep in mind that although complications are definately not rare, they don't happen in every pregnancy. Just have a cavy savy vet lined up (it sounds like you already do) and keep an eye on her. I know the fear though. When I got my alice she was in rough shape and most of the way through a back to back pregnancy. She had five pups, the runt didn't make it, the vet assumed because of the large litter and back to back pregnancy. Everyone else was perfectly fine. Hopefully things go well. Just keep telling yourself it's not time to worry yet. Just keep a close eye on her. Enjoy the new baby.

Over the summer I had three of my girls get pregnant while I was far away from home in Dallas. Two of them had emergency spays. The one that gave birth had three beautiful, healthy babies. It was some crazy stroke of luck because her 'mate' was her brother and their parents were both pet store pigs.
The info that cavyspirit and guinealynx have on pregnancy helped me through a lot. Remember-- your cavy is the one having the babies, not you! Remember to be supportive of her and don't get too wrapped up in freaking out. Focus on what's happening now, not what you could've done or what could happen.
If you have any concerns feel free to PM me.

So, an update for today... According to the xray that was taken at the vet's yesterday, the dr says that the bones have formed and it looks like within the next week or so. Jolly is not that big. Maybe because she only has one? She is abnormally cranky today. Running from me when I pet her, which isn't like her. She's been staying in her pigloo most of the time and just seems agitated. She runs back in anytime she is actually out and someone walks in the room, which she hasn't done for the last week or so. She had started getting good about not caring if someone walked in. I figure this is all just her way of being a miserable, pregnant female just like us humans when we are pregnant. I had read about feeling pelvic bones. That's almost foreign to me because I can't really tell. I can feel a pointy bone and then about a pinky's width to the left, is another bone. Is that the pelvis separated? I was just hoping that she would have it when I am up so I would better be able to help her if something goes wrong, whether it be a trip to the vet or whatnot. I feel like I'm checking her every 5 minutes! I can feel the movement in her belly and she actually kinda jumps a little bit every now and then. I'm assuming those are kicks. I tried to listen for teeth grinding and I can hear something, but I'm not sure if it's gas in her belly or sloshing or what. It's so frustrating! I held her gently on my lap today and she was actually chomping her mouth, which I think was a sign of major aggravation, which she's NEVER done. I'm going to try to just leave her alone until D day. I thought cuddling would be comforting for her, but again, pregnant women sometimes just want left alone, I guess.

So, I took Jolly to see a wonderful woman I met who runs a cavy rescue near me. She told me that it feels like Jolly has 3 babies and she's about a week away or less by her guess. She also said she looks very young and would guess she can't be more than 4 months old. She was so nice and informative. She offered to keep Jolly until she had the babies in case there were problems because of her age. She's small and I worried about problems. I made a gut-wrenching decision and took her up on the offer. She has assisted and witnessed hundreds of deliveries and I just felt better knowing Jolly would be able to have her expertise and be minutes away from the vet and hospital she uses in case there are problems.

If something were to happen and I couldn't help her, I would be devastated. I'm about 30 minutes away from the closest good exotics vet and I was so worried I wouldn't be able to get her there in time. Jolly is currently her only pregnant pig, so she will get lots of special attention. I am going back and forth on my decision today because I already miss her and feel sad every time I walk by her cage. I weighed the fact that I had really started to feel like she was bonding with me and would actually start to close her eyes in my arms. I felt bad leaving her, but then again, I know she is in a better position for care if something goes wrong. Did I make the right choice?

She is going to call me every day with updates and we can visit her anytime we want this week, but she lives about 40 minutes from me, so I probably won't be able to get up there until this weekend. I'm missing my baby already!

Some pics cuz I wanna show off:

A couple of days after bringing her home:





And her home, my first cage

I think you definitely made the right decision. Don't worry--she'll get used to you again when she's back with you. It's good to have her with someone who's better prepared for an emergency and who can tell what is normal and what isn't.

In the meantime, you should baby proof your cage, both for Jolly and for her pups. You can do this by extending the sides up to ten inches. You don't have to recut the coroplast--just put some cardboard between the coroplast and the grids. Or if you have extra grids you can overlap them so the holes become effectively half the size. Otherwise the pups or Jolly could get stuck in the holes--you'd be surprised what they can squeeze into!

Also be sure to feed them a bit of extra calcium. To do this you can switch to a high quality alfalfa pellet like Kleenmama or Oxbow Cavy Performance. Or you can add alfalfa hay to their grass hay or you can feed veggies richer in calcium like parsley.

I hope all goes smoothly!

akstrohm said:

I think you definitely made the right decision. Don't worry--she'll get used to you again when she's back with you. It's good to have her with someone who's better prepared for an emergency and who can tell what is normal and what isn't.

In the meantime, you should baby proof your cage, both for Jolly and for her pups. You can do this by extending the sides up to ten inches. You don't have to recut the coroplast--just put some cardboard between the coroplast and the grids. Or if you have extra grids you can overlap them so the holes become effectively half the size. Otherwise the pups or Jolly could get stuck in the holes--you'd be surprised what they can squeeze into!

Also be sure to feed them a bit of extra calcium. To do this you can switch to a high quality alfalfa pellet like Kleenmama or Oxbow Cavy Performance. Or you can add alfalfa hay to their grass hay or you can feed veggies richer in calcium like parsley.

I hope all goes smoothly!

Click to expand...

I had just went and bought a new bag of oxbow performance the day I took her there. I also bought another set of grids to double up the sides. I'm going to get everything ready and hope I bring home a healthy mama and all healthy babies. I don't have much more room to expand, so she told me that if I had a male that I couldn't keep, she had a family waiting for a single male to introduce to their single male after they lost a piggie recently. We will see how many she ends up having. If it's more than I keep, and there is a male, I at least know he will have a good home when he is ready.

Yeah, right now your cage is big enough for at the most two sows, and more space would definitely be better even for just two. If you want to expand it, feel free to describe the room you're keeping them in, the furniture, etc (probably in a new thread). Many members here have given really creative suggestions to make more space in a small area.

You might want to use towel tents instead of pigloos for hideys. They take up a lot less space, they're cheap and easy, and the pigs love them.

So, Jolly came home last night. She hasn't delivered yet, but it didn't seem like she was getting close at all, according to my friend. There wasn't any sense in leaving her there if she still has a week or 2 to go. She showed me how to check for pelvic separation and gave me a crash course on abnormal things to look for. I'm going to take her back next weekend so she can have a look at her and see if anything has changed. She is eating like a horse and doesn't seem to be having much trouble walking or getting around. This waiting game is killing me. lol While I do wish she didn't have to go through this, I want it to be done so I can quit worrying.

After reading about roan genes and coloring patterns, I'm worried that Jolly could possibly have some of these genes. It's hard to tell in the first picture above, but the coloring around her eyes and part of her back is a black/gray color. The rest of her is white. Is it possible, do you think?

Do you have a better photo of her?

I have another in my profile of my husband holding her. I'm uploading another one right now.

I understand. Pet store always missex. I got one of them a pregnant sow, too bad I don't notice it and the pups are gone. Luckily you noticed earlier on. Take good care of her. Hope she be fine. Good luck

Re: My "male" is pregnant....HElP update

Sitting w Jolly on my lap. She ate some lettuce and settled down on my lap quietly. Just a couple minutes ago, she made a loud hiccuping/jumping sound and motion (did this twice). Nothing since then. She's laying quietly on a towel on my lap. Could she be in labor or could this be gas or something. Should I put her back in her cage or not move her? Not sure what to do.

Has she delivered yet? And congratulations in advance! By the way she is a very beautiful girl!

I'm posting via my cell phone, so I hope it comes out okay. Jolly went into labor overnight. She was contracting, but no babies. I'm sitting outside the vet hospital now. They have just given her a 2nd dose of oxytocin. If she doesn't deliver, I've already signed the papers for a c-section. The vet said she is separated enough that she should be able to deliver, but she may just not be strong enough to push. I'm terrified. I should know something in the next half hour. I just needed to post to pass the time and vent a little.

She had the c-section. She is doing fine, but none of the babies made it. She had 4 pups. Thank God she is ok. I wish the babies would have made it, but at least we didn't lose her.

Sorry for serial posting, but for some reason, a thought just popped in my head. I will need to adopt her a friend at some point. I don't want her to be alone for too long. How long should I wait to adopt and I was thinking another younger female. My rescue friend has a baby male. Jolly was spayed during the c-section, so that should be okay. Ideally, I would like to have a total of 2 females and the male. Obviously, I would need to get the male neutered or find a spayed female. I just didn't know what would be best for her as far as recovery.