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Pregnancy Is my piggie pregnant?! Don't feel any movement pictures attached

Sraversrave

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Recently purchased two piggies a couple weeks ago I think one of them may be pregnant she has a pear shape to her and she lays down for most of the day. I don't ever see any movement or feel any movement but she def. has two bumps one on each side! If she is pregnant is there anything special I should be doing for her as far as diet? Will she make a nest? I have fleece for bedding so there's nothing for her to make a nest with? Does she look pregnant to you guys?
 

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FineSwine

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She defiantly looks a little pregnant, probably around 2-3 weeks (I am no expert! However when I got my two Guinea Pigs October 18, 2016 and my Sow looked just like your cute little girl and now she is huge and defiantly has at least two babies moving around inside her.)

I have stayed up my fair share of nights these past few weeks researching everything Pregnant Guinea Pig and a lot of people have different methods, but their opinions remain the same;

The sow needs extra vitamin C, either through special dried cookies found in most local pet shops (it will list Guinea Pigs on it and likely come in a small clear plastic jar with a grey label). Or you can accomplish the same effect with a cup of fresh veggies, fresh water and Timothy Hay daily (make sure you clear away old, uneaten food to avoid mold around your piggies.) I mix my Timothy hay with some alfalfa hay now, to give her a little extra boost of vitamin C, along with some romaine lettuce, red & green bell pepper pieces, parsley, cucumbers and radicchio lettuce, 1/2 a cup in the morning and 1/2 a cup at night, all cut up in a little piggie salade for easy charing with her cage mate.

If she is resting a lot there is no need to worry, she is very tired carrying what is more then likely at least 2 pups. She will be tired from sharing the energy and the strain that they will put on her organs. As long as she is eating and drinking and responsive, she is just fine. If this is her first litter she is likely to have 1-2 pups. The average litter size is 3 and in rare cases with seasoned breeder sows they can have up to 7 pups. The larger the litter the smaller the pups, naturally, so until you start to see movement and can feel her babies it will be hard to guess how many she has base on size alone.

Make sure she is comfortable, I would recommend Fleece, mostly because when I made the switch both my piggies spirits were raised immediately. Plus I find it much easier to clean my cage and keep it clean. I built my own C & C cage (6 feet long by 3 feet wide) for my two pigs, anticipating for my litter to be. I then went out and bought 5 fleece, all with cute patterns, and volaa, now I can just keep rotating them out every week, washing them with vinegar (I have read that this is safe for pigs) and drying with no dryer sheets (chemicals unsafe for pigs). I can see poops easier which I clear away daily, because Guinea Pigs, pregnant or not thrive in a cleaner environment, despite being quite messy.

Make sure she isn't stressed out. Try not to pick her up or chase her around, it can cause problems with the pregnancy and can lead to lethal side effects for your pig and her pups. This also means her cage mate. So far, my two get along just fine. They have small tiffs, but no one bites, chases, or otherwise "stresses" the other out. They simply express annoyance and the other backs off. So for now I have allowed them to live together as I see no reason to separate. I would make sure you have two females, because pet stores often don't bother to sex their animals. They lie to owners to sell them whatever they are looking for, male or female. I worked at one for a while and I was always very upset with the way animals were handled by so called professionals. However, to sex a pig yourself is quite easy. Just gently and slowly lift them up on their hind legs (your hand scooping their midsection carefully) and scoop their butt up in your other hand to tilt them back into your stomach (I do this on a bed or counter, so I dont have to bend much to line my pig up to my chest or stomach for support. Remember, they have about twice as many bones as you and they are quiet fragile! They appreciate a slow and gentle hand.) Once you can peek you will see the Y shape. If it is just a Y its a female, however if there is a dot in wine glass Y then you've got yourself a boy. I am sure you may have known this or been told this, but just to be sure, it is something to check. If its is a boy, you will need to remove him from her presence because he can injure her and the babies while attempting to mount her. Again, I have a male and female. They came together and I was told they were both male. I took them to the vet the same day to ensure I knew what I had and surprise. I neutered my boy a month ago and now they live together happily and he doesn't try to do anything except groom and cuddle her. If I have little boys I'll have to separate them from their mom and sisters by 2 weeks, or I could have more on the way again!

You can find a lot of this information researching as well :) make sure you cross reference and make sure you know who you are getting your information from :) Best of luck!!
 

bpatters

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Actually, @FineSwine, you probably ought to read that link, also. You've got several misconceptions.

1) Fleece needs to be washed in hot water with detergent. Vinegar is not a cleaning agent, although it will disinfect some organisms.

2) We don't recommend romaine lettuce for guinea pigs. It causes excess urinary calcium in some pigs, and that's been implicated in bladder stones. Not all pigs are bothered by it, but some are. The safest thing is red or green leaf lettuce.

3) The acid test of whether a pig is male or female is the ability to extrude a penis, not whether the genitals are Y-shaped or with a "dot in the wine glass." Guinea pig genitalia can be pretty ambiguous, but if there's a penis there, it can be extruded, or at least felt. See www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm.

4) The required age for separating pups is three weeks, not two, and that's actually got a little fudge factor build into it. Baby males will practice on anyone else in the cage, but they're not fertile until about 3.5 weeks of age.

5) Dryer sheet chemicals are not unsafe for pigs. But they do coat the fleece and cause it not to wick.
 

Sraversrave

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Thank you so much for all the info!! :) here's an updated picture of her, I need to order a scale so I can weigh her but I def. think she has gained more weight in the hind end area. Still don't see any movement though, I don't know if she is just chunky or what?
 

Sraversrave

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Updated pictures
 

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Sraversrave

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See how she has these big bumps on each side?
 

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bpatters

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Read that link I gave you. You can't tell anything about how pregnant she may be by looking at her. The definite signs are seeing/feeling the pups kicking, and hearing the teeth gnashing. None of those will happen before about 5-6 weeks of pregnancy or later.
 

FineSwine

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Thanks for the tips and advice. I got a lot of my info off of Guinea Lynx.. which I have heard really high recommendations for, even on this site. My Exotic Pet Veterinarian also confirmed a lot of my research when I brought them in for their second check up, which was another highly recommended step to learn about my pigs. They also get red and green leaf lettuce, as I like to give them variety and they haven't shown any signs of being bothered by it. Im a bit concerned being corrected however, because I feel now I am getting mixed information from several reliable sources and I only want whats good for my babies, not whos right.

So are pigs all different in this way? Because they seem unbothered by everything I have set up for them, environment and diet wise and my Exotic Vet says she is very impressed with how well they are doing, even Panda bounced back from his surgery quickly and was back to his normal self in days, eating and taking his meds with no complaints. Something, along with the research and discovery that this vet had done 15 neuters already, all successfully, made me feel like she was a pretty trust worthy word.. but now with "several misconceptions" Im not sure. Should I find someone else? Or is it possible that different opinions are alright because different piggies are different.. I just don't want anything to go wrong for them, we have all really bonded already and I'd be heart broken.
 

pouty

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2) We don't recommend romaine lettuce for guinea pigs. It causes excess urinary calcium in some pigs, and that's been implicated in bladder stones. Not all pigs are bothered by it, but some are. The safest thing is red or green leaf lettuce.

I didn't know this about romaine lettuce...I've been using it as a staple for their diet. No harm done so far, theyre just a little over a year old now. I'm still concerned though, so I'll make the changes to their diet.
 

amymcd123

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I'm new to do this not sure how to use it just yet but i recently bought a female guinea pig who is either pregnant or really chubby�� i need a second opinion though if anyone has any experience with pregnant guinea pigs could they comment below and I'll send a video or pic of her ��
 
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