My dear friends, I have a very sad story to pass along. Back in late January, my friend Ayuko purchased a young female guinea pig from a pet shop in Connecticut. Ayuko named the new piggie "Annie".
It didn't take us too long to realize Annie was pregnant. In March, Ayuko started to notice Annie getting bigger. I went to see Annie for myself, and sure enough, she was huge!! She had grown 3 times the size from when Ayuko first adopted her.
Since Ayuko never owned a cavy before, she asked me to help take care of Annie. We put Annie in a large cage, with aspen bedding and plenty of food, hay and water to make her a happy little piggie. Annie kept getting bigger and bigger! I've never seen a cavy get so big!
Finally, I had to move away, but I told Ayuko everything she needed to know about how to have healthy cavy pups and healthy Mommy. Here's the point of my story. Ayuko called me tonight and... this is hard for me to type... Annie gave birth during the day while Ayuko was at work. When Ayuko got home, she looked down into the cage and Annie and one of the pups were laying in one corner, and in the other corner there was something very strange-looking. Upon further inspection, Ayuko noticed that in this other corner, there were the bodies of five dead baby cavies!!! Annie had given birth to 6 pups, but all of them were dead except for one very small pup, who was huddled in the opposite corner with its mommy.
I've had many cavies and been through several unplanned pregnancies (usually with females acquired through shelters and pet shops); I've even witnessed several births, however I've never seen anything like this. This was a large litter, to be sure, but what would cause 5 out of the 6 pups to die? Annie was very healthy and didn't appear to have an infection. I don't know who the father cavy was, but Annie always had clear eyes, very curious and intelligent, just a happy normal piggy!! I know this must be a second or third pregnancy, judging from the number of pups.
In broken English, Ayuko told me that the dead pups were in rigor mortis, that some of them still had placenta on them, and that their eyes were open. She also told me that the pups did not appear to have moved or stretched out at all. Do you think the pups died in the womb, or somehow died after birth? Is it possible they died because Annie didn't clean them off fast enough, or they didn't get enough food? Ayuko wasn't home when they were born, and she had already thrown away the babies before I could ask her to take photos of them. I do have photos of Mommy and the lone survivor, who is very small. The survivor must be the runt of the litter. Ayuko has no other cavies, so we don't need to worry about any further pregnancies. I am just tremendously saddened by these turn of events, and wonder how this could have happened. I could understand 2, maybe 3 pups dying, but 5??!! Why would this happen?
By the way, Ayuko says Annie appears to be fine; she's eating hay and nursing her lone baby.
It didn't take us too long to realize Annie was pregnant. In March, Ayuko started to notice Annie getting bigger. I went to see Annie for myself, and sure enough, she was huge!! She had grown 3 times the size from when Ayuko first adopted her.
Since Ayuko never owned a cavy before, she asked me to help take care of Annie. We put Annie in a large cage, with aspen bedding and plenty of food, hay and water to make her a happy little piggie. Annie kept getting bigger and bigger! I've never seen a cavy get so big!
Finally, I had to move away, but I told Ayuko everything she needed to know about how to have healthy cavy pups and healthy Mommy. Here's the point of my story. Ayuko called me tonight and... this is hard for me to type... Annie gave birth during the day while Ayuko was at work. When Ayuko got home, she looked down into the cage and Annie and one of the pups were laying in one corner, and in the other corner there was something very strange-looking. Upon further inspection, Ayuko noticed that in this other corner, there were the bodies of five dead baby cavies!!! Annie had given birth to 6 pups, but all of them were dead except for one very small pup, who was huddled in the opposite corner with its mommy.
I've had many cavies and been through several unplanned pregnancies (usually with females acquired through shelters and pet shops); I've even witnessed several births, however I've never seen anything like this. This was a large litter, to be sure, but what would cause 5 out of the 6 pups to die? Annie was very healthy and didn't appear to have an infection. I don't know who the father cavy was, but Annie always had clear eyes, very curious and intelligent, just a happy normal piggy!! I know this must be a second or third pregnancy, judging from the number of pups.
In broken English, Ayuko told me that the dead pups were in rigor mortis, that some of them still had placenta on them, and that their eyes were open. She also told me that the pups did not appear to have moved or stretched out at all. Do you think the pups died in the womb, or somehow died after birth? Is it possible they died because Annie didn't clean them off fast enough, or they didn't get enough food? Ayuko wasn't home when they were born, and she had already thrown away the babies before I could ask her to take photos of them. I do have photos of Mommy and the lone survivor, who is very small. The survivor must be the runt of the litter. Ayuko has no other cavies, so we don't need to worry about any further pregnancies. I am just tremendously saddened by these turn of events, and wonder how this could have happened. I could understand 2, maybe 3 pups dying, but 5??!! Why would this happen?
By the way, Ayuko says Annie appears to be fine; she's eating hay and nursing her lone baby.
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