Guinea pig just gave birth, how much bloody discharge is normal?

[Zireaelle]

We have had our piggies for a few months. Our guinea pig was missexed and became pregnant. We feel absolutely awful and guilty, of course, because never would have let it happen had we known. We were ignorant and obviously didn’t do enough research on the topic of sexing guinea pigs and not relying on others to sex your pigs for you. Lesson learned!

As it often seems to go, didn’t know about the pregnancy until very recently when our pig was very obviously pregnant and the babies could be felt. We’ve had a hard time getting into a vet that we’re confident in for our piggy due to location and COVID. The vet closest to us did not know much about guinea pigs. Our piggy had her babies today a few hours ago. We’ve been checking on her very often and waiting for it to be able to help her, but she waited until we were not there to have them.

We have 4 seemingly perfect, healthy babies. Didn’t find much of any blood in the cage, but because we didn’t witness the birth we don’t know if that’s because she ate the bloody bedding. I have read that more than a teaspoons worth of blood is when to be concerned but my concern is that momma is having some very slight gooey bloody discharge now. I guess I’m just worried about her and anxiety is making it worse but I can’t find any resources about whether this kind of bloody discharge is normal or when to worry about it. We are going to get her into the vet ASAP of course but I would like some words to either calm my nerves or let me know whether I should be looking at driving a few hours out to the nearest emergency vet. Thanks so much in advance

 

[Soecara]

The kind of discharge you are describing sounds normal to me.

Rather than being concerned about the amount of blood be concerned about how the mother is acting. If she is acting normal, is active and eating and drinking then don't worry. She will be tender in the abdomen at first, try not to pick her up as much as possible for the first few days. However if the mother guinea pig is acting lethargic, is sitting in the corner, is not eating, or is acting out of character then take her in to be seen by a good exotic vet.

Personally I have only taken mother guinea pigs into the vet post birth if something seems wrong.