The Babies are Here! (some questions)

[newpiggielover]

Early this morning Sugar had her babies. She delivered 8 but only 5 survived. They are all SO cute! Mom is doing great she is eating like crazy. So for the questions we havent seen mom feed or interact with them we saw one of the other pigs cleaning them. Is this bad? Do we need to do something? Some of the babies are moving around like crazy but there is one that seems smaller than the rest and he is just kinda staying in one spot. Is he ok? I know with having so many babies they might not all survive but I want to do everything I can so maybe they will have a better chance.
We are letting them settle in before we start holding them so when we do we will weigh them. What is about the average weight for a healthy baby?
I would appreciate any information!!

Thanks in advance
Tiffany

 

[guineagurl]

I've never heard of a cavy having 8 pups! Wholy moly..
Keep a real close eye on the pup not moving around, I can't speak from experience but you might have to give it a few hand feeds or something to help it out.
Again I don't know but I wonder whether you can encourage the mother to feed that one if it's being left out, someone will come along that can help you.I have read that the weight can vary between 75 to 100 grams each (aprox)
What do they weigh?

 

[newpiggielover]

Ok we just weighed them they are

60 grams
80
95
95
95

When you say hand feed are you meaning Crital Care? Mom still hasnt showed intrest!

 

[guineagurl]

I'm not sure what the mix is for hand feeding but just a thought, the mum may not have any milk just yet, not sure.

 

[guineagurl]

Bumping this thread up (hopefully) I suspect the poster may need some advice.
How are the babies looking today?

 

[newpiggielover]

The babies are now about 12 hours old and are all over the place. They all seem to be doing good, but we have still not seen the smallest one nurse. She is just so small she gets pushed out of the way. I read somewhere to try giving the mom time with just that baby so I was going to try doing that tonight after my house settles down so there is quiet. Does anyone know if this is ok to do? Also I read that you can hand feed squash babyfood mixed with ground pellets anyone know about that?

guineagurl thank you for bummping it up hoping to get a little advice! I will be devestated if we lose her and I didnt do everything I could!

 

[VoodooJoint]

The runt should be supplimented with critical care (yes you can add some veggie baby food). If you don't have it on hand then use regular pellets to make a mush and hand feed that.

To encourage mom to nurse give her some veggies. While she's eating move the babies by her. Hopefully they will take advantage of her being still and nurse. In return she may realize that her babies want to nurse from her and make herself more available. Try especially to get the runt to nurse.

It is not uncommon for the moms to appear to be ignoring their babies. Since the babies hit the ground running they are able to seek her out when they want to nurse.

The mom's full milk may not have come in yet as someone else said. The first milk the babies get is colostrum. Watery stuff but full of antibodies to insure healthy babes.

Hopefully you will soon see the mom showing more interest. If not be prepared to hand-raise the babies.

Oh yeah...congrats and I hope the mom and surviving babes do well.

 

[newpiggielover]

Just wanted to update everyone the babies are doing GREAT! Mom seems to be taking care of them. We have watched closely to make sure the runt is nursing and we have seen him nurse more than the others. I just put some romaine in with them and the babies are trying to eat it. So im asuming thats a good sighn. They are absolutly adorable I could just sit and watch them all day!

 

[Matt & Guins]

What is about the average weight for a healthy baby?

I have known of babies being born and surviving as small as 48grams, and know of some being born as large as 190grams.

Average baby weight would be around 70-100grams, but generally varies depending on the litter size. The weights of your babies are very good, considering there were 8 in there!

Good luck with the bubs, hope all goes well.

Matt

 

[Slap Maxwell]

How is the little one doing?

 

[cavy_upstairs]

i really hope all of them survive! i hate the idea of a cute thing that could end up normal dieing when it could be prevented! best of luck to you!

 

[KatieJean]

congradulations on your babies, wow what a huge litter!
How are they all doing?

Did you get to watch the birth? where there any difficulties? were there any signs she was going into labor?
i just adopted a pregant pig and i'm really excited