Post by petersons cavies - ADMIN on Nov 8, 2007 17:57:33 GMT
This was originally written as an article for UK Pet Cavy Club for those with very young pregnant sows. But the concerns and ailments in this article may also be concerns for the adult sow.
My baby sow is pregnant!
This is something that sometimes happens to new owners of guinea pigs. A couple of young guinea pigs are bought at the pet shop as a same sex pair, and either they are sows that are already pregnant, or the pair is a boar and a sow.
If you were breeding guinea pigs responsibly then a young sow would not be put with a boar until they are at least 5 months old and weigh over 800g. At this age and weight she will be developed enough to go through pregnancy easily and safely, and have a successful littering down.
Guinea pig sows have a U-shaped uterus, joining together at the cervix with a ******** leading to the outside. Contractions during labour will push a baby from one side, then the other, alternating until the litter is delivered.
With her daily hay Alf Alfa hay can be added to increase calcium and protein. Later on in her pregnancy after 5 weeks, about the time you will feel the babies start to move she can have a young fresh raspberry leaf added to her daily fresh food.
A sow that is too young, or under weight will need some extra careful care she will need an extra nutritious diet that gives her everything she requires to carry the babies to term, which does not get her too fat or is a diet that will lead to big babies. She will need a diet consisting of increased amounts of fresh food that are high in vitamins and minerals and protein. Dark green brassicas introduced gradually are good, also some herbs such as parsley and coriander, sow thistle, dandelions and good grass. She will also need exercise, so she needs to be housed in a large pen.
As she approaches her delivery date a small amount of glucose solution daily will help prevent Toxaemia, Some glucose powders from chemists also contain Vitamin C.
A sow is pregnant for 70 days (ten weeks) give or take a couple of days. At 3 – 4 weeks she will start to fill out at the flanks and will get a ‘full hot water bottle’ feel when you are handling her. At about 5 weeks you should start to feel the babies begin to move, little flutters at first growing stronger as the pregnancy advances. At 9 weeks to delivery you may be able to feel the babies grinding their teeth, and amazingly you may even hear them.
Near the time for delivery the sow may go off her food a little, give her treats and make sure she keeps eating, also that she is moving around and getting a little exercise. You can check to see if she is starting to dilate by checking her pelvic bones just in front of her genitals. You will feel 2 small round bones which are normally tight up against each other. Near the time for the babies to be born these bones will start to part and become 1 or 2 finger widths apart.
As labour starts she will start to get uncomfortable, some sows will stretch their hind legs out behind them. They will start to strain, bear down and grunt from this starting the babies should start arriving within 30 minutes. Each baby is usually announced with a squeal, and the sow will duck her head under her to help the baby out, she should then very quickly tear the sack from over the nose and start licking and nibbling baby to get them to breathe. This can look quite alarming sometimes as the sow will nibble quite hard and even pick babies up by the ears, this is all to stimulate the lungs and heart to kick in and bring about normal cardiovascular and respiratory function. The sow will eat the sac and the placenta, this will help maintain the labour for delivery of the rest of the litter, and help to bring on milk letdown and good lactation, so don’t take it out straight after each baby. If she is finished and has some mess left then clean it up.
Of course you may miss all of this completely and the first thing you know is you’ve got baby guinea pigs waddling around after Mum.
What can go wrong?
It is a good idea to find a good guinea pig vet and discuss the fact that your sow is too young to be pregnant, and he is then ready for the fact that you may be in need of his expertise.
Abortion/Miscarriage Sometimes a young sow will miscarry at an early stage, they usually recover quite quickly, but a visit to the vet is advised as sometimes an infection of the uterus can set in. If they miscarry in a later stage, 5 weeks plus, they can get quite poorly from shock, blood loss and infection. Watch out for loss of appetite, listlessness, cold to touch and discharge from the genitals sometimes accompanied by an unpleasant smell. This needs a vet.
Premature births These are much more likely in young mothers, the babies are small and weak, the suckling reflex may not be present, they will have a very thin coat with may be no covering on the belly and spoon shaped nails. These little ones rarely make it and pass on in the 1st few days.
Dystocia This is where a baby is too large to get through the pelvis or it gets stuck. It your sow has been in Labour for 30+ minutes with no baby, you have to phone your vet for advice. He will probably tell you to take the sow too him. He should do an x-ray/scan to assess whether the sow may be able to deliver naturally with help – injections with oxytocin to strengthen contractions, assistance to push, by holding the sow around her body with your hands just behind her shoulders, thumbs on her back. She can then push against your hands. And assistance by helping to get the baby out by manipulation as it is delivered. Do not attempt any of this unless under directions of your vet.
If he thinks she hasn’t got a good chance of natural delivery even with help, it is a C-section she needs. This is major surgery and there are risks, both during the operation and afterwards, also any live babies may need fostering or hand rearing. Aftercare can be intensive and you need to follow you vets directions carefully.
Pregnancy Toxaemia is a metabolic problem to do with glucose metabolism; it's really nasty as by the time the symptoms appear it is normally too late to do very much.
Delivery of the babies by natural, induced or C section delivery, can sometimes save the sow. Other treatment is by glucose by IV, or as oral doses of glucose with propylene glycol, sometimes the vet may decide to use steroids, this can sometimes bring blood glucose and metabolism back into sync' if it is caught early enough.
Liver damage occurs very quickly, what our vet calls 'fatty' liver, something to do with the amounts of glycogen that the liver has to deal with during the abnormal glucose metabolism.
Symptoms are depressed state, drooling, loss of appetite, a sweet smelling breath similar to pear drops
Prevention is better than trying to cure this, do not let you sows get too fat. Pregnant sows need plenty of space to move about in. Put their food dish at another part of the cage to the water bottle, so they have to walk about to feed and drink. Heat and hot weather may play a part in this, so make sure your sows are not too hot.
Hypocalcaemia can also play a part in causing pregnancy toxaemia. The symptoms are twitching and tremors, staggering, loss of use of back legs. A pop-eyed expression, inability to eat.
First signs of this will probably be a sow that shouts for food but when given food, will pick it up and then not be able to eat it, dropping it again and shouting for food again (this may also lead to toxaemia-not eating causes the Glucose met' to change)
Toxic shock: some times called toxaemia this is where a baby/babies die inside the sow and infection kicks in, one dead baby in this situation normally causes the rest of the litter to die. This can be treated by antibiotics. But delivery of the babies is essential. It is very difficult to get a sow through this. A long with this you can get both of the above problems as well. Also this may also bring on the pregnancy toxaemia mentioned earlier because the sow doesn't eat or drink.
Symptoms are, a very sick looking sow, feels cold, no movement of the babies, she will seem to carry them 'low' loss of appetite, not drinking, and maybe an unpleasant smell.
Aftercare If your young sow has delivered safely and is now sitting with 1 or more little piggylets, she will now need a containued good diet of fresh foods and guinea pigs muesli or pellets, but you can now allow her calorie rich foods as treats, bran mashes made up with soaked sugar beet, porridge or good whole grain brown bread. The babies will also get into this within a few days. Continue to give her alf alfa with her daily hay. The babies will have to stay with her for at least 3 weeks. The boars will have to be separated at this time or soon after as they will start to pester Mum and their sisters. It is best to keep the babies with you until they are between 6 – 8 weeks before going to their new homes.
With Permission of the Author: Angelwyche
coppyrights © angelwyche
My baby sow is pregnant!
This is something that sometimes happens to new owners of guinea pigs. A couple of young guinea pigs are bought at the pet shop as a same sex pair, and either they are sows that are already pregnant, or the pair is a boar and a sow.
If you were breeding guinea pigs responsibly then a young sow would not be put with a boar until they are at least 5 months old and weigh over 800g. At this age and weight she will be developed enough to go through pregnancy easily and safely, and have a successful littering down.
Guinea pig sows have a U-shaped uterus, joining together at the cervix with a ******** leading to the outside. Contractions during labour will push a baby from one side, then the other, alternating until the litter is delivered.
With her daily hay Alf Alfa hay can be added to increase calcium and protein. Later on in her pregnancy after 5 weeks, about the time you will feel the babies start to move she can have a young fresh raspberry leaf added to her daily fresh food.
A sow that is too young, or under weight will need some extra careful care she will need an extra nutritious diet that gives her everything she requires to carry the babies to term, which does not get her too fat or is a diet that will lead to big babies. She will need a diet consisting of increased amounts of fresh food that are high in vitamins and minerals and protein. Dark green brassicas introduced gradually are good, also some herbs such as parsley and coriander, sow thistle, dandelions and good grass. She will also need exercise, so she needs to be housed in a large pen.
As she approaches her delivery date a small amount of glucose solution daily will help prevent Toxaemia, Some glucose powders from chemists also contain Vitamin C.
A sow is pregnant for 70 days (ten weeks) give or take a couple of days. At 3 – 4 weeks she will start to fill out at the flanks and will get a ‘full hot water bottle’ feel when you are handling her. At about 5 weeks you should start to feel the babies begin to move, little flutters at first growing stronger as the pregnancy advances. At 9 weeks to delivery you may be able to feel the babies grinding their teeth, and amazingly you may even hear them.
Near the time for delivery the sow may go off her food a little, give her treats and make sure she keeps eating, also that she is moving around and getting a little exercise. You can check to see if she is starting to dilate by checking her pelvic bones just in front of her genitals. You will feel 2 small round bones which are normally tight up against each other. Near the time for the babies to be born these bones will start to part and become 1 or 2 finger widths apart.
As labour starts she will start to get uncomfortable, some sows will stretch their hind legs out behind them. They will start to strain, bear down and grunt from this starting the babies should start arriving within 30 minutes. Each baby is usually announced with a squeal, and the sow will duck her head under her to help the baby out, she should then very quickly tear the sack from over the nose and start licking and nibbling baby to get them to breathe. This can look quite alarming sometimes as the sow will nibble quite hard and even pick babies up by the ears, this is all to stimulate the lungs and heart to kick in and bring about normal cardiovascular and respiratory function. The sow will eat the sac and the placenta, this will help maintain the labour for delivery of the rest of the litter, and help to bring on milk letdown and good lactation, so don’t take it out straight after each baby. If she is finished and has some mess left then clean it up.
Of course you may miss all of this completely and the first thing you know is you’ve got baby guinea pigs waddling around after Mum.
What can go wrong?
It is a good idea to find a good guinea pig vet and discuss the fact that your sow is too young to be pregnant, and he is then ready for the fact that you may be in need of his expertise.
Abortion/Miscarriage Sometimes a young sow will miscarry at an early stage, they usually recover quite quickly, but a visit to the vet is advised as sometimes an infection of the uterus can set in. If they miscarry in a later stage, 5 weeks plus, they can get quite poorly from shock, blood loss and infection. Watch out for loss of appetite, listlessness, cold to touch and discharge from the genitals sometimes accompanied by an unpleasant smell. This needs a vet.
Premature births These are much more likely in young mothers, the babies are small and weak, the suckling reflex may not be present, they will have a very thin coat with may be no covering on the belly and spoon shaped nails. These little ones rarely make it and pass on in the 1st few days.
Dystocia This is where a baby is too large to get through the pelvis or it gets stuck. It your sow has been in Labour for 30+ minutes with no baby, you have to phone your vet for advice. He will probably tell you to take the sow too him. He should do an x-ray/scan to assess whether the sow may be able to deliver naturally with help – injections with oxytocin to strengthen contractions, assistance to push, by holding the sow around her body with your hands just behind her shoulders, thumbs on her back. She can then push against your hands. And assistance by helping to get the baby out by manipulation as it is delivered. Do not attempt any of this unless under directions of your vet.
If he thinks she hasn’t got a good chance of natural delivery even with help, it is a C-section she needs. This is major surgery and there are risks, both during the operation and afterwards, also any live babies may need fostering or hand rearing. Aftercare can be intensive and you need to follow you vets directions carefully.
Pregnancy Toxaemia is a metabolic problem to do with glucose metabolism; it's really nasty as by the time the symptoms appear it is normally too late to do very much.
Delivery of the babies by natural, induced or C section delivery, can sometimes save the sow. Other treatment is by glucose by IV, or as oral doses of glucose with propylene glycol, sometimes the vet may decide to use steroids, this can sometimes bring blood glucose and metabolism back into sync' if it is caught early enough.
Liver damage occurs very quickly, what our vet calls 'fatty' liver, something to do with the amounts of glycogen that the liver has to deal with during the abnormal glucose metabolism.
Symptoms are depressed state, drooling, loss of appetite, a sweet smelling breath similar to pear drops
Prevention is better than trying to cure this, do not let you sows get too fat. Pregnant sows need plenty of space to move about in. Put their food dish at another part of the cage to the water bottle, so they have to walk about to feed and drink. Heat and hot weather may play a part in this, so make sure your sows are not too hot.
Hypocalcaemia can also play a part in causing pregnancy toxaemia. The symptoms are twitching and tremors, staggering, loss of use of back legs. A pop-eyed expression, inability to eat.
First signs of this will probably be a sow that shouts for food but when given food, will pick it up and then not be able to eat it, dropping it again and shouting for food again (this may also lead to toxaemia-not eating causes the Glucose met' to change)
Toxic shock: some times called toxaemia this is where a baby/babies die inside the sow and infection kicks in, one dead baby in this situation normally causes the rest of the litter to die. This can be treated by antibiotics. But delivery of the babies is essential. It is very difficult to get a sow through this. A long with this you can get both of the above problems as well. Also this may also bring on the pregnancy toxaemia mentioned earlier because the sow doesn't eat or drink.
Symptoms are, a very sick looking sow, feels cold, no movement of the babies, she will seem to carry them 'low' loss of appetite, not drinking, and maybe an unpleasant smell.
Aftercare If your young sow has delivered safely and is now sitting with 1 or more little piggylets, she will now need a containued good diet of fresh foods and guinea pigs muesli or pellets, but you can now allow her calorie rich foods as treats, bran mashes made up with soaked sugar beet, porridge or good whole grain brown bread. The babies will also get into this within a few days. Continue to give her alf alfa with her daily hay. The babies will have to stay with her for at least 3 weeks. The boars will have to be separated at this time or soon after as they will start to pester Mum and their sisters. It is best to keep the babies with you until they are between 6 – 8 weeks before going to their new homes.
With Permission of the Author: Angelwyche
coppyrights © angelwyche