Scared preg female. Not handle her?

[Funnygpigs]

My preg female sweet pea, is running from me when I go to pick her up. I am affraid to handle her too much. I do not want her to get stressed out and have a spontanious (sp?) abortion. Do you think she will be OK if I continue to handle her? She is at about 30days gestation now. Or, should I leave her in the cage and not pick her up till after babies come? I was thinking that maybe floor time was to stressfull for her. She is a really shy pig to begin with. She just hides the whole time she is out of her cage. Any thoughts? Thank you. :0)

 

[RubyPiggie2]

Try not to pick her up as much as possible. I would only pick her up about twice a day on a pillow or in a towel to go on floortime or something. Clean the cage during floortime on cage cleaning day so you don't have to take her out more. I wouldn't worry about lap time right away.

 

[RubyPiggie2]

Oh, whoops. Sorry, can one of the mods edit my post to "as much AS possible"? I see I accidentally added an s to as.

 

[Funnygpigs]

Thanks. I think I will worry about bonding with her after her babies come (handle her I mean). :0)

 

[RubyPiggie2]

Yeah, that's what I did when my female was pregnant- she'll just get stressed out if you handle her too much. You can still sit by the cage and pet her and talk to her, just try not to pick her up too much.

 

[Matt & Guins]

How do you know she is pregnant? At 30 days she will not be showing physical signs of pregnancy (gestation is 70 days)- was this an intentional breeding or have you purchased her and been told she "may" be pregnant?

It is alright to handle her now, but later on in the pregnancy handling should be kept to a minimum. A nervous cavy can easily break free of your grip - and you certainly dont want to be dropping her, or injuring babies.

 

[Funnygpigs]

I took her to the vet and the vet told me she was preg (possibly). Her stomache is increasing in size, so I am just asumming the worst and keeping her on pregnancy patrol and asuming she is. Better safe then sorry. If she ends up not being pregnant, then no worries. I recieved both my female from an ex-coworker. I do not know for possitive. I asummed the other may be preg too. I have no idea what condition she kept them in. I never went to her house. I took them sight unseen, knowing I would care for them no matter what condition they were in. The vet said that he is pritty sure. But time will only tell. I am sure an ultrasound would be costly, x-ray not healthy, I am just playing it safe by asumming till she is past 70 days or so.

 

[Funnygpigs]

Ps. I am just guessing off of the date that I took her in. Her stomache IS big and sticks out on both sides. Not like any cavy stomache I seen. She could be further then 30 days, I do not know. I am guessing with this whole thing. All I know is she was skinny when I took her in about oh...3 weeks ago?

 

[Matt & Guins]

If her belly is showing greatly on both sides - then she could be anywhere from 7-8 weeks +

Good luck with it all.

 

[cAvYcRaZy]

Well, just be careful in case she is pregnant. What I did with my pregnant pig was use a carrier to bring her out to floortime. Using veggies to lure her in will make it a whole lot easier. If you don't have a carrier use something similiar.

 

[Funnygpigs]

That is a great idea! Thank you, I think I will use the carrier. :0)

 

[The Magic Taco]

I read in a guinea pig book that if you do have to hold her, support her abdomen (<---MOST IMPORTANT) and legs.