Lethal guinea pigs discussion

[TinaFM]

hi

we've just had our first guniea pig litter. we bought a baby guniea pig that was pregnant and a couple of days ago she had two baby guniea pigs. But one of them is pure white and it barely opens her eyes.

it wanders around the cage lost and squeaking and seems unable to find it's mum. were pretty sure its blind and possibly also deaf. but it sounds like it could be a methal guniea pig. how are we supoosed to know for sure?

 

[PiggieMom]

Have you checked it's teeth? Are there are abnormalities with them? The best bet is to take the little guy to a cavy savvy vet.

This thread is also a good read on leathals. https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4190

 

[salana]

Start weighing the little guy every day. He should be gaining weight every day; if he doesn't, you'll need to start handfeeding him.

 

[Charlie's_mamma]

After reading and seeing what a lethel guinea pig looks like. I'm a little worried about Charlie now.

Here's some pictures I just took:

Her teeth are in perfect allignment. She has good eye sight. I've never seen anything physcially wrong with her. But you guys know what it's like to be a worried mother.

 

[PiggieMom]

Charlie isn't a leathal. Lethals are pure white. So you can stop worrying.

 

[salana]

Charlie's a dalmatian. While she has one copy of the roan allele, she has one copy of the normal allele so everything works fine.

 

[Charlie's_mamma]

ok thank you guys so so much! I'm still slightly confused on the lethal genes even after reading the thread.

 

[TinaFM]

no the mother doesn't seem to be rejecting it, because as long as it's with it's mother it feeds etc. and it's mother doesn't try to push it away or anything. But we do have quite a large cage and so when it's not near its mum it can't find its mum again.

 

[salana]

It does sound like he might have some problems. Are you weighing him? Have you cheked his teeth?

 

[TinaFM]

checked it's teeth and from what she can see my sister says they look normal.

 

[salana]

How's his weight? Try weighing him every evening at the same time to make sure he's gaining weight.

You should still have a good vet check out his teeth. The vet can see his molars with an otoscope and/or buccal pad separators. Lethals often have deformed molars.

 

[chinchillasunde]

I had a lethal born years ago, to a Himalayan ( American ) sow. The breeder had left her in with her brother or dad, forget which. Who was Roan I believe..it's been so long I have forgotten details of the parents. But, she had one baby, Angel, that was blind/deaf and had only one tooth. She lived to be two years old.

 

[daftscotslass]

I had a lethal born years ago, to a Himalayan ( American ) sow. The breeder had left her in with her brother or dad, forget which. Who was Roan I believe..it's been so long I have forgotten details of the parents. But, she had one baby, Angel, that was blind/deaf and had only one tooth. She lived to be two years old.

If the mother was a Himalayan it sounds like the defects were a result of inbreeding rather than a lethal cross. Unless, of course, the mother was just a poorly marked roan or dalmation.

 

[salana]

Himalayan pigs can "hide" the dalmatian gene.

 

[daftscotslass]

Himalayan pigs can "hide" the dalmatian gene.

Thanks Salana. That's really interesting to know - does it mean they can hide the colouration much like your Suzi did? If so, that's a big danger when breeding himi x himi where their background is not known. Eek.

 

[salana]

Yep. Himalayan pigs only have coloring in the nose, ear, and foot regions--the cool regions of their bodies, because their pigments are defective and break in the heat. Dalmatian or roan coloring is usually solid in those regions, because they have enough pigment cells, unlike on their backs and sides, where not enough made it. The gene responsible for himalayan pattern is completely separate from the roan gene. Combine them, and you have a normal looking himalayan that pops out lethals! Especially since the brother or father was a roan.

 

[LobsterOverlord]

Two things I have learned that affect me most now that I've sat and read this entire thread in 30min to learn more about lethals now that I have two in the mix at home...

1) all lethals are blind. Even though Wiggly seems normal, this says she would have to be blind by nature of the problem. It may just be that Piggly is more timid and doesn't react well to others.

Is there a test to check? her eyes are normal sized, pupils are small, as are the irises.

2) It's ok to feed them baby food, as long as it's all natural, no sugar.

Also, how rare are they? Obviously the whole 1 in 4 thing is for the odds of having them once the breeding happens, but how often to lethals show up in shelters, rescues, stores etc?

John M.

 

[daftscotslass]

2) It's ok to feed them baby food, as long as it's all natural, no sugar.

Baby food is OK as a treat very occasionally - ensure it doesn't contain onion, garlic or any other spices if it's a savoury one. It just doesn't contain enough fibre to sustain a piggy for any length of time and keep their digestive system moving. That's the job of Critical Care!

 

[Percy's Mom]

Didn't you add baby food to Einy's critical care or pellet mash sometimes salana? I was reading somewhere that it makes the mash taste better to a lot of pigs when you have to hand feed. If you do go that route, only use it as a flavoring agent basically, and make sure it is all veggie or fruit, no preservatives, salt, extra sugar, etc.