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Pregnancy stillborns unexpected pregnancy - help!

callippekisses

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hello! i just got two gal pigs the first week of february, i thought they were chunky but didn't really suspect pregnancy. ruby had three babies today, all stillborn. it was devestating. comparing hazel's size to ruby's it is obvious hazel is also pregnant. how can i keep this from happening to hazel too or is this just common for guinea pigs?
 

Sarah84

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as sad as it is there is really nothing you can do to prevent still births. I'm so sorry for your loss! :(
 

RRDominick

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Unfortunately there is always a risk with each piggie pregnancy. The most you could do is give her alfalfa (it has more calcium in it) and try to give her more vit c. If she is as large as ruby then she will probably have hers soon. How old they are and if they have had pups before can play in a bit. Most of the reading I've done says that the pelvic bone fuses around 7-10 months, and if they haven't had pups before complications are common. I have two piggies myself that maybe pregnant so I've been doing lots of research. You could take Hazel to the vet and they could preform an ultra sound. Also are you sure Hazel is a she? I would double check just to be safe. I hope everything goes well. Feel free to pm me.
 
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coojoe135

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Im so sorry. My piggy had babies 3 weeks ago and none were stillborn. Did you pick her up much? I learned that picking them up alot tends to hurt the babies. If the other one is pregnant feed her the freshest veggies, dont pick her up very often, and never let them fight. Thats what I learned from a piggy pregnancy. Hope this helps a little. It might be best to seperate them. :)
 

callippekisses

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I am positive Hazel is a girl, I do have a boy also in a separate cage. The girls never fight, they are very bonded. I think separating them may cause more stress. I never pick them up. They do not like it yet. I got them the first week of February from a pet store and they were terribly skiddish. I am trying to win them over with fresh veggies by hand before I pick them up. I have held them for normal things such as cage cleaning but it made them so uncomfortable I didn't press the issue. Hazel looks like she could have babies at any moment, she is giant! I am so scared, I would do anything to have a healthy litter. I have extra large c & c cages with plenty of room left 2x8 ft , i could keep all the babies myself. I am feeding daily kale, parsley and red pepper along with a blend food and timothy hay of course, do i still need to add alfalfa or is this enough? I think I will take a trip to the vet tomorrow just to see whats going on, thanks for responding to my post everyone!
 

blackarrow

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I'm so sorry! It's unlikely to be related to anything you did or didn't do, if that helps to know. The best thing you can do right now is to make sure she's getting a healthy diet (see the diet and nutrition section, particularly parts relating to pregnant cavies) and keeping her stress-free.

As has already been said, please make absolutely sure you have two girls and not a boy and a girl!

There is absolutely no reason to separate her from her cage mate if they are not fighting - in fact another member on this board had this happen sometime within the last year (two pregant cavies, one of whom miscarried all her babies) and the pig who lost her babies ended up even nursing her cagemate's babies at times.
 

callippekisses

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yes, i'm certain the girls are girls as one had babies yesterday and one is VERY pregnant. I did have my cage seperated with a boy on the other side (the girls were already pregnant when i got them, i'm positive of that), but i have removed him completely as a precaution and bought him a new cage, as soon as it arrives I will buy him a cage mate, unless miss hazel blesses us with one. should i take the babies to the vet when they are born? i guess if nothing else to have them properly sexed so we don't accidentally inbreed - eek! if hazel's babies do not live, would it be ok to breed her purposely again in a few months (i have 8 ft cages and plenty of room to keep all babies myself) i was turned down by our rescue because of my sons special needs (we had two pigs that we gave up when we found out our son was mentally retarded, it was just a trying time for our family, 6 months later we wanted to adopt again, they turned us down, ridiculous i think) and i don't want to go back to the pet store if i don't have to.
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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They were most likely pregnant from the pet shop. They are usually sick, missexed and pregnant from breeding mills but that is not a suitable excuse for intentionally housing them with males to insure they get pregnant.

I'm sorry the rescue turned you down (turning you down for rehoming pets is not ridiculous as it shows a pattern and increases the chances you will rehome again plus it looks like you have a propensity to breeding/ double mark) but there are other options for adoption esp. if there is a rescue and pet stores that sell to anyone by you. There are animal shelters and private rehoming ads.

We strongly advise against breeding Breeding Guinea Pigs unless you want to end up with more stillborns and probably dead moms.

You were intentionally housing the two sows with the boar?

Do you know their genetics or background? You could be breeding lines prone to maloclussion or heart disease. Chances are they are already inbred from the breeders. Are they roans? Could end up with lethal whites if so.

If there are no male babies (which need to be removed at 21 days), you can have a vet neuter the male.
 
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lissie

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Please don't breed or buy more pigs. There are many in rescues and shelters. And why would you want to breed more? You've experienced 3 stillborn, did that not bother you at all? Complications in guinea pigs can occur no matter they've been bred before or not.
You've been turned down by one rescue doesn't mean the others will turn you down too. You can always rescue them from private parties who no longer want them. Check your local classified ads or craigslist.
 

rabbitsncavyluv

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Considering they are trying to breed and have rehomed in the last year, that is pretty much reason for any reputable rescue to turn them down.

There may be private rehoming ads willing to adopt to them though.
 

Paula

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i guess if nothing else to have them properly sexed so we don't accidentally inbreed - eek! if hazel's babies do not live, would it be ok to breed her purposely again in a few months (i have 8 ft cages and plenty of room to keep all babies myself)
No, it's not okay. If you want more pigs, you can adopt more pigs, not put the life of your sow at risk just because you want babies, or whatever other reason you might be able to come up with for breeding and then "keeping all the babies." There are plenty of homeless pigs already in shelters that deserve good homes without you needlessly creating more.

i was turned down by our rescue because of my sons special needs (we had two pigs that we gave up when we found out our son was mentally retarded, it was just a trying time for our family, 6 months later we wanted to adopt again, they turned us down, ridiculous i think) and i don't want to go back to the pet store if i don't have to.
It's not ridiculous. Rehoming in one circumstance and then a short time later turning around and wanting to adopt again doesn't say much for a person's commitment to these pets or their willingness to keep them for the long haul and not just until life changes and the animals become inconvenient. In the rescue's eyes, what's to say that in another few months you wouldn't just turn any pigs they adopted to you back in again?

And now you're considering intentionally breeding them? What's your plan for when they have serious medical complications and possibly need hundreds of dollars worth of veterinary care? Or when all those babies grow up and the work is too much? Is your plan just to surrender them to a rescue then, too?

Please, give some thought to the long term needs of these animals and not just what you want right now.
 
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blackarrow

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Hang on, folks, she didn't say she was "hoping" to breed them, or "trying" to breed them - she asked if we thought that was a good idea. My answer is "no" just like I would hope everyone's would be, but there's a difference between considering and deciding.
 

blackarrow

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i don't want to go back to the pet store if i don't have to.

There is no such thing as having to buy a pet from a pet store. I appreciate that you want your male to have companionship, but he may very shortly if your potentially pregnant pig has one or more male babies, and if not, you can always have him neutered and he would make a good companion for your girls.

It's unfortunate that you're not more understanding about why the rescue does not consider you a good risk at the present time. That may change as time goes on and you build up a track record you do not currently have about being willing to stand by your pets through thick and thin. Craigslist is (unfortunately) chock full of people who are not fussy about where their pigs go as long as they go quickly, though, and I'm sure you would not have much difficulty getting a rehomed pig. I hope you won't be hasty about doing that until you're sure your situation is stable.
 

Paula

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Hang on, folks, she didn't say she was "hoping" to breed them, or "trying" to breed them - she asked if we thought that was a good idea.
Whatever your interpretation of her question, I think it's a little more than disturbing that a person would give any consideration to purposely breeding a pig after one sow had given birth to a litter of dead babies and would presumably also have had a second sow give birth to pups that didn't survive (hence being the reason for the breeding).

In any case, I don't guess I see the harm in folks answering her question, which was "would it be ok to breed her purposely again?" with a resounding, "NO."


I also wanted to answer:

I am feeding daily kale, parsley and red pepper along with a blend food and timothy hay of course, do i still need to add alfalfa or is this enough?
I wouldn't feed any of these things daily, even to a pregnant sow or baby. You could feed kale one day and parsley the next, in small amounts. Change the red pepper to green (red pepper is higher in sugar).

Add a good mix of lettuce (endive, green leaf, red leaf, romaine, etc.) and try a little variety like cilantro, cucumber, zucchini, etc. There's a sticky in the Diet & Nutrition section that shows what veggies you can feed and how often that Ly made - check it out for some ideas and variety.

There's probably no need to add alfalfa since you're feeding good veggies that are high in calcium and protein, but Ly would be a better judge to answer that question. Hopefully she'll come along and answer.

I also wanted to ask - what is the "blend food" you are feeding?
 

Sirene

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I am so sorry to hear about your stillborn piggies and hope Hazel's pregnancy and birth go well! If not, please do consider rehoming a Craigslist piggie - there are so many of them out there! I have two, and they are the best little guys ever!
 

blackarrow

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Whatever your interpretation of her question, I think it's a little more than disturbing that a person would give any consideration to purposely breeding a pig after one sow had given birth to a litter of dead babies and would presumably also have had a second sow give birth to pups that didn't survive (hence being the reason for the breeding).

In any case, I don't guess I see the harm in folks answering her question, which was "would it be ok to breed her purposely again?" with a resounding, "NO."

I didn't interpret anything, I just read what she actually said without reading in something she didn't say, like you did.

I don't see the harm in answering her question with a resounding "NO," either, which is why I said I hoped everyone would say that.
 
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Paula

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I didn't interpret anything, I just read what she actually said without reading in something she didn't say, like you did.
I wasn't speaking to you and only you, but was rather using a collective term, "you," whoever YOU might happen to be. Because like it or not, that question, posed as it is, can be taken more than one way, depending on how an individual person reads things and what that person takes from it.

Hopefully, the OP will come back and explain exactly what she may or may not have meant and the point will be moot.
 

blackarrow

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I wasn't speaking to you and only you, but was rather using a collective term, "you," whoever YOU might happen to be. Because like it or not, that question, posed as it is, can be taken more than one way, depending on how an individual person reads things and what that person takes from it.

Hopefully, the OP will come back and explain exactly what she may or may not have meant and the point will be moot.

Well, now that you have changed the meaning of your post by changing your having said she was "hoping" to breed (which she didn't say) to "considering" breeding (which is correct), I guess we NOW take her post the same way regardless, so it's moot anyhow.
 
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