Pregnant baby :0(

[zookeeper43]

I posted a similar post on the pub25ezboard and they suggested I post here too.

I realized a few days ago that our new guinea pig was pregnant when we got her in December. (you can now see the babies moving!) From what I can figure she´s 66 - 75 days gestation. She´s healthy and active but I´m afraid as a first time young mother she´s not going to know what she´s doing.

Her cage is at the opposite end of the house from our bedrooms, so I have the old baby monitor set up so I can hear if there´s any unusual activity at night. I´m so stinkin´ nervous and she could have up to a week to go! At any rate we´ve had her 66 days today so she´s be pregnant for at least that long.

Any further information you can give would be great.

HELP!

[Peter]

Chances are, she´ll know what she´s doing. Sometimes young mothers are the best kind of mothers!

I was in the same situation a year ago, and Noelle knew what she was doing. Her litter turned a year old on the 2nd.

You know, the baby monitor is probably not going to do much good. When cavies deliever, they make little noise unless there´s a problem. There shouldn´t be a lot of blood when she delivers either, they do a great job of cleaning up. Sometimes you´ll go to sleep at night and in the morning find a skinny sow with a few little ones running around her!

When she delievers, there shouldn´t be a lot of blood, and it should be relatively quick. Straining for 10 minutes with no result, or the sow making a lot of noise and being seemingly in pain should be alerts that there is a problem. It might be a good idea to have a vet on call if necessary.

Good luck! I hope the sow does fine. Post pictures of the pups when they come!

Edit: She should also be getting alfalfa hay, and an increased vitamin c intake. Parsley is good for extra calcium and C, but give her more than just parsley. Alfalfa based pellets are great for nursing mothers and pups.

[JustAnotherGPSlave]

I got my second pig from the petstore and she also was pregnant, but we knew this before we paid for her. We had only had her home for 3 days when we woke up one morning and found a perfect adorable little baby sitting next to her. She was only approx. 5 or 6 months old at the time and things went well. She knew what to do and how to do it. I was also a nervous wreck before she had the baby, so I can understand how you feel.
How old is your pig? If shes fairly young (younger than a year) then she shouldnt have any problems. Im sure her natural motherly instinct will kick in when the time comes.
Right now its a "hurry up and wait" situation. Be patient. They will be here soon enough
And when they get here.....what a wonderful sight to see!
Congrats and hope things go well.

[kleenmama]

Every sow I´ve ever been near shortly before, during, and after delivery makes a very small wub-wub sound. It is impossible to mistake once you´ve heard it. It was what alerted me to milkdud having her babies, as she was always a very quiet pig.

If you get lucky enough to witness the births, then just stay quiet and listen. They all do it. But, if you are like most of the rest of us, you will turn your back for 5 minutes and she´ll be done. There is a link on GuineaLynx, upper right hand corner, that describes normal labor and delivery. Might be good if you read it.

Let us know, and keep her well fed. I give pregnant pigs 25-50 mg of a c supplement daily, along with about 25-50 mg of extra calcium, only till I wean the pups.

Lots of hay, veggies ,and pellets and she should be just fine.

[chyna_mn]

We just had a young pig deliver too. We got her from a pet store and she got pregnant there. I think she was only 4-6 weeks old but of course we´ll never know for sure. She did a great job with the delivery. I was gone for the weekend and my husband was here by himself and woke up in the morning to find two beautiful little babies in the cage with her.

I feed her alfalfa as well as timothy hay. She got plenty of veggies high in vitamin c. Be sure she has plenty of water, ours drank a ton before she delivered.

Good luck! and do take lots of pictures! they grow incredably(sp) fast!!!

btw the links on Guinealynx were extremely helpful with calming nerves!

[Lynx]

Yes, make sure you read the Labor information. Click on the Guinea Lynx button and select "Labor" from the main index. There are things to watch out for. And I would recommend lining up a competent vet right now in case you have any problems. [a competent vet should be willing and able to handle an emergency immediately if your cavy seems unable to deliver according to the advice on that page]

[GP Lover]

I too unknowingly bought a pregnant sow . She was about 2 months old herself and I was worried. About 4 days after I felt movement in her belly I woke up one morning to find a perfect little baby in the cage! There was no sign of the birth at all. Just one cute little girl.

[kleenmama]

Most do just fine. We had one that did not, and one of the first signs was drops of blood in the cage. She would strain and try and push, but nothing came out. So just be aware.

[zookeeper43]

Thank you! You were all right on the money.... we woke up this morning to two beautiful little babies in the pen and a much smaller mama!! :0D This is my dd´s gp so I was sooo hoping that all would go well. The monitor was there just in case she was in distress but wouldn´t you know, last night there was horrible interference so I shut it off.

Thank you so much for the great advice... I´m sure I´ll be posting back for more advice on the babies.

:0)

[JustAnotherGPSlave]

CONGRATS on the newest beautiful additions to your family!!! Glad things went well for her.
Keep us updated on their growth.

Shana