chirin
Member
Cavy Gazer
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2018
- Posts
- 6
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2018
- Messages
- 6
Just to introduce myself (and my piggies) here.. This is going to be a long one, but I thought it might be useful in case someone else found themselves in a similar situation.
TL;DR: Hi from Malaysia, I have 4 guinea pigs.
I came home from work one day to find that my rather impulsive husband adopted 2 6-month old male guinea pigs from his colleague whose piggies accidentally bred. (They don't neuter the boars and just keep them separated from the females). They came in a shoe box so he took the biggest hamster cage he could find from the small neighborhood pet shop, along with a bag of pellets and a bag of pine shavings. We knew absolutely nothing about guinea pigs; I spent the evening on googling spree (this forum was a massive lifesaver!), and some of the first things we learned:
Fast forward a few months, Pururu seems to be gaining a lot of weight, and the colleague was no longer sure she gave us 2 males or 2 females. Even with the sexing guides both looked quite male, but to be sure we went looking for small-animal vets. Turns out there aren't that many in Malaysia.
The first vet went, "This (Giroro) is definitely male, this one.. most probably male. Yes." Unconvinced, we went to a second vet, this time in a university's veterinary hospital. This vet is pretty certain Pururu is female, and that she's probably pregnant. She cannot confirm, and they don't x-ray guinea pigs. Her advice was to wait and see. This worried me as they were 8 months' old then, and would be 10 when giving birth. We found a third vet recommended by an acquaintance with a hedgehog; this vet is certain Pururu is a she and is definitely pregnant though he's not sure how far along. But he reassured us not to worry and that it will still be safe at her age. I was paranoid, everywhere I read says otherwise.
Finally we found the vet recommended by most guinea pig owners in Malaysia on forums, but she only takes appointments by e-mail (probably since she's not always at the same clinic). I e-mailed her on the situation, she gave us a referral letter to a vet clinic to get an x-ray to "Check hip canal status, how many babies, and size of babies. It can prepare us for emergency and also to predict the likelihood of pregnancy toxaemia". There were 2, and looking quite big, but somehow they missed the hip bone in the x-ray. A couple of days before the appointment, she popped out 2 healthy babies in the evening. She herself was terrified, but otherwise fine. Massive, massive relief!
I notified the vet, she was relieved as well and provided lots of information on how to care for the mom and piglets. I kept the appointment slot with her and brought Giroro to neuter instead. Oh and both babies have been confirmed to be females so no more neutering! (We've been keeping them separated until they matured enough and this vet confirmed it.)
TL;DR: Hi from Malaysia, I have 4 guinea pigs.
I came home from work one day to find that my rather impulsive husband adopted 2 6-month old male guinea pigs from his colleague whose piggies accidentally bred. (They don't neuter the boars and just keep them separated from the females). They came in a shoe box so he took the biggest hamster cage he could find from the small neighborhood pet shop, along with a bag of pellets and a bag of pine shavings. We knew absolutely nothing about guinea pigs; I spent the evening on googling spree (this forum was a massive lifesaver!), and some of the first things we learned:
- They need hay!
- Pine shavings are listed under Bedding to Avoid
- The pellets are terrible (colorful kind with seeds and stuff)
- The cage is totally wrong and it's way too small
Fast forward a few months, Pururu seems to be gaining a lot of weight, and the colleague was no longer sure she gave us 2 males or 2 females. Even with the sexing guides both looked quite male, but to be sure we went looking for small-animal vets. Turns out there aren't that many in Malaysia.
The first vet went, "This (Giroro) is definitely male, this one.. most probably male. Yes." Unconvinced, we went to a second vet, this time in a university's veterinary hospital. This vet is pretty certain Pururu is female, and that she's probably pregnant. She cannot confirm, and they don't x-ray guinea pigs. Her advice was to wait and see. This worried me as they were 8 months' old then, and would be 10 when giving birth. We found a third vet recommended by an acquaintance with a hedgehog; this vet is certain Pururu is a she and is definitely pregnant though he's not sure how far along. But he reassured us not to worry and that it will still be safe at her age. I was paranoid, everywhere I read says otherwise.
Finally we found the vet recommended by most guinea pig owners in Malaysia on forums, but she only takes appointments by e-mail (probably since she's not always at the same clinic). I e-mailed her on the situation, she gave us a referral letter to a vet clinic to get an x-ray to "Check hip canal status, how many babies, and size of babies. It can prepare us for emergency and also to predict the likelihood of pregnancy toxaemia". There were 2, and looking quite big, but somehow they missed the hip bone in the x-ray. A couple of days before the appointment, she popped out 2 healthy babies in the evening. She herself was terrified, but otherwise fine. Massive, massive relief!
I notified the vet, she was relieved as well and provided lots of information on how to care for the mom and piglets. I kept the appointment slot with her and brought Giroro to neuter instead. Oh and both babies have been confirmed to be females so no more neutering! (We've been keeping them separated until they matured enough and this vet confirmed it.)
