Pregnancy Advice - Pregnant Younger Guinea Pig

[OzPigFam]

Hi everyone,

Am seeking some advice for the family, our children bought a 3rd short hair female Guinea pig about a month ago and she is approximately 10 - 12 weeks old. She joined two female texels (confirmed sex)

Unfortunately the person we bought it from wasn’t the most reputable of breeders, and we were in part doing them a favour by taking the pig from their overcrowded conditions. When we picked her up, two other Guinea pigs had broken into her hutch, they had longer hair.

We suspect the Guinea pig is now pregnant, as she has swollen nipples and is very round around the mid section. We can feel some movement.

We assume that the is happened before we picked her up about 4 weeks ago when she was between 6-8 weeks.

We have booked into the vet to check, and are worried about what to do and how to manage the pregnancy.

Is it likely to be difficult given the age?


I imagine there might be some inbreeding given the conditions of where we got her. Will this mean there will be defects?

What resources/posts do you recommend?

Do we need to seperate her from the other females?

What do we do with the babies if she does after labour?

 

[SardonicSmile]

Read up on food requirement, she will definitely need extra calcium if she is pregnant.
Be careful with empty calorie foods (like sugary treats), you don’t want the babies to get too big that she will have trouble getting them out.

If they are currently living peacefully together and the cage is plenty big, leave her in with the others. They usually make for great aunts and may help during delivery.

As for inbreeding, who knows. You will only be able to tell after the babies are born. Usually low level of inbreeding does not affect the babies much. Generations of inbreeding might be troublesome.

Make sure you have a vet you can go to if the labour goes wrong, but thats about it for what you can really do.

Any male babies need to be seperated from the girls at 3 weeks old as some reach sexual “maturity” around that age and might impregnate (one of) your girl piggies.

I only had a pregnant girl once, she was way too young too. She did well, but she had lasting weakness in her back end, nothing that kept her from living a long and happy life though.

 

[OzPigFam]

Read up on food requirement, she will definitely need extra calcium if she is pregnant.
Be careful with empty calorie foods (like sugary treats), you don’t want the babies to get too big that she will have trouble getting them out.

If they are currently living peacefully together and the cage is plenty big, leave her in with the others. They usually make for great aunts and may help during delivery.

As for inbreeding, who knows. You will only be able to tell after the babies are born. Usually low level of inbreeding does not affect the babies much. Generations of inbreeding might be troublesome.

Make sure you have a vet you can go to if the labour goes wrong, but thats about it for what you can really do.

Any male babies need to be seperated from the girls at 3 weeks old as some reach sexual “maturity” around that age and might impregnate (one of) your girl piggies.

I only had a pregnant girl once, she was way too young too. She did well, but she had lasting weakness in her back end, nothing that kept her from living a long and happy life though.

Thanks for the advice, we should have enough room. They all seem to get along well.

Will adjust the diet as you suggested, and hope everything goes to plan!

 

[Anawilliam850]

Read up on food requirement, she will definitely need extra calcium if she is pregnant.
Be careful with empty calorie foods (like sugary treats), you don’t want the babies to get too big that she will have trouble getting them out.

If they are currently living peacefully together and the cage is plenty big, leave her in with the others. They usually make for great aunts and may help during delivery.

As for inbreeding, who knows. You will only be able to tell after the babies are born. Usually low level of inbreeding does not affect the babies much. Generations of inbreeding might be troublesome.

Make sure you have a vet you can go to if the labour goes wrong, but thats about it for what you can really do.

Any male babies need to be seperated from the girls at 3 weeks old as some reach sexual “maturity” around that age and might impregnate (one of) your girl piggies.

I only had a pregnant girl once, she was way too young too. She did well, but she had lasting weakness in her back end, nothing that kept her from living a long and happy life though.

Thank you for your advice, I was looking in the internet for the same topic

 

[SardonicSmile]

Guinea Lynx :: Reproduction

A comprehensive medical and care guide for the care of guinea pigs.

www.guinealynx.info

Guinea Lynx :: Reproduction FAQ

A comprehensive medical and care guide for the care of guinea pigs.

www.guinealynx.info

 

[bpatters]

Also supplement her with vitamin C -- the babies really take lot out of the mom's body.

Make sure she's getting very good quality pellets and hay. This is no time to save money on food. Her life and the lives of the pups may depend on the quality of nutrition she gets now.

 

[sallyvh]

A couple of years ago I rescued two 12 week old females who were very early in pregnancy when I brought them home. Not an expert on pregnancy, but I do have experience and both of my girls had safe deliveries.

I kept my girls together and I would recommend keeping your group together if they all get along and the cage is an appropriate size. I gave my girls a couple big pigloos in their cage as when the babies were born I found that the moms and babies would stick to one of them. Guinea pigs don’t nest or anything like that, but each seemed to have their own area they preferred. Other adults in the cage are usually great nanny’s and the little ones will learn from seeing adults.

I fed my girls a diet of unlimited Timothy and orchard hay, unlimited young oxbow pellets and fresh veggies every day. My staple every day veggies include leaf or romaine lettuce, green peppers, cucumber, carrots and tomatoes. I would often give them some higher calcium veggies as well like kale or parsley.

Other than making sure she has appropriate housing and an appropriate diet there isn’t much to do other than watch and wait. I do recommend having a good vet on hand in case you have an emergency, however she is likely to have an uneventful birth while no one is around. Sometimes vets will do an ultrasound or X-rays while pregnant, but personally I don’t really find it necessary. If they are far enough along in pregnancy it can help you know how many babies to expect, but it’s not going to change how you care for her or how her pregnancy progresses. She’s still going to be pregnant and she’s still going to give birth.

Good luck with her and the upcoming little ones! I remember being so stressed with the entire thing. My girls each had 3 babies. Sadly one from each litter were born as lethal whites, requiring intensive care and didn’t live very long lives. Thankfully both moms are doing well though as well as the other 4 babies.