Mystery Guinea Pig Pregnancy

[Evenstar]

I got a pair of female guinea pigs from a hobby breeder around the beginning of July, They were mother and daughter so I thought I need have no worries about unexpected babies. This week I noticed the older piggy had large nipples and has steadily got fatter over the last 2 weeks or so, I thought I could feel two firm lumps on her sides and decided to take her to the vet. The vet said she thought she was and gave her a scan which showed blobs surrounded by fluid which fitted with the possible date of the pregnancy as apparently they don't have bones that show on scans until 6 weeks.

I contacted the breeder and she is adamant that my piggy had no contact with a boar after the first pregnancy, indeed she removed the boar at the beginning of the pregnancy and there had been no boar there for some time when I bought my girls. The only other guinea pigs there when I got them were a mother and 3 newborns (only 3 days old).

I am utterly mystified, I have no other guinea pigs and cannot understand how this has happened. My other girl has also developed enlarged nipples feels firm round the rear end and has a slight white discharge from her vagina. Could she be pregnant too?

These guinea pigs are the children's pets from the playgroup where I work and I take them with me each day during term time, I am mortified as I thought I had taken every precaution to avoid this happening, and having done some reading it seems pregnancy is quite risky for them and I can't face having to tell the children they have died.

Any tips would be welcome, as would any thoughts on how on earth this has happened! Thanks in advance.

[Nigglenaggle]

Have you checked the sex of the baby? Its really difficult to sex them when they are tiny....

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Female GPs can get a white discharge when they come into season (your baby GP would be - I'm guessing 9 weeks? if you've had them 6 weeks and the breeder would have sold baby at 3 weeks or so? Or maybe younger if baby pig was going with her mother)

Why was the breeder selling a breeding guinea-pig ? Is she at the end of her breeding age (GPs aren't recommended to breed after 3 yo, maybe breeders sell them off early?). Or were her piglets not up to the standard the breeder wanted? (No offence to baby piglet )

If you have no boars and the breeder maintains they didn't let the sow near a boar then either your baby pig is a boar or your sow possibly has cysts or growths? (uterine/ovarian)

Baby pigs don't have very obvious bollocks (my adult boars are very obviously boars) but give their tummy a gentle squeeze just above the genitals .If it's a boy, it'll be obvious !

If she is pregant, the gestation is 63-72 days but you have no way of knowing how pg she is, if she is indeed pg.

Did your vet say anything about taking her back?
Is your sow losing any hair (sign of hormone inbalance)


Is there any chance that the GPs have been taken home by someone else - another member of staff or one of the children? They might have let the GPs 'play' with another (?male) in their house? (Clutching at straws emoticon)

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Taking her back to the vet for a further check up, not taking her back to the breeder.
I'd imagine everyone has fallen in love with the guineas.

[yellowraincoat]

Guinea Pig virgin birth? Look out for wise hamsters bearing myrrh.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

wise hamsters ? is there such a thing?

Rats are far more clever according to all the rat fanciers.

(Actually 99.9% of all little furries are more intelligent than guineas.
"Not the sharpest tools in the shed" my DD calls them)

[Nigglenaggle]

Maybe the hamsters could be the shepherds? But what would they bring as sheep?

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Uuuuummmmmhhh sheep ?

Even guinea-pigs know that! .

Or maybe the dust bunnies that are behind my door Slattern emoticon.

<br />
<br />
Serious now. OP has a Guinea-Pig Mystery on her hands.<br />
<br />
Update OP?<br />
<br />
Just thought- if baby GP has a discharge and baby GP 6is<span class="italic"> male, it could be GP semen. Apparently it's </span>waxy^.<br />
Not that I've every seen it IRL, my boars don't <span class="italic">do that sort of thing</span> (brothers)

[fridayfreedom]

99.9% of all furries more intelligent than guineas??? a little harsh I feel...they must be intelligent to entice us to fall in love with them!!!

[Evenstar]

Hi everyone thanks for your replies, after posting last night I suddenly considered that I had ignored the obvious and baby might be a boy, having googled some photos and examined baby pig again (he/she is around 4 months old by the way and mum around 10 months) I believe this could be the answer to the "mystery". The girl who sold them to me was still living at home with her parents and had been told to rehome some of her guinea pigs as she had another litter, it really was a hobby for her and I think perhaps she made an error in sexing the baby in fairness having looked at the pictures I can see how easy that would be. I am going to take baby round to my friend's husband who has bred piggies for years and double check, and I will also be involving him when the babies arrive to avoid any more mistakes! Once I have confirmed he is a boy he will be getting another hutch and the baby boys will be joining him in there until I find good homes, which shouldn't be hard as they are very cute and I am sure some families at playgroup will be having a bidding war for them!! Mum seems very well no hair loss or other symptoms and vet didn't seem concerned, I think she is probably less pregnant than we imagined if the baby is the culprit, hence the appearance of blobs on the scan.

[Evenstar]

Definitely not been anywhere else, so no other suspects in the frame

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Evenster get your vet to thoroughly check any babies (it sounds like it's a mother and son mating?) .

Inter breeding can result in teeth and feet problems - malocclusions leading to uneven tooth wear and eating problems. Extra toes or deformed feet.
It might be impossible for you to rehome any baby pigs if they have problems like this.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

fridayfeeling - I love guinea-pigs more than any other super furry animal on earth.
My current boars are pig 13 & 14 for me.
I've had mice but they are not as cuddly.
Don't like rabbits or hamsters.
Chinchillas or degus-hmm, no
Rats- lovely but general consensus is and they are too clever.
GPs are the right size, cuddly, don't climb or dig or bite.
They have the most amazing repitoire of noises and are lead by their stomachs.
They don't need to be clever to make me love them .

And GP1 is clever enough to have DD (his 'mum' ) wrapped around his claws.

[fridayfreedom]

had loads of hamsters which once they were past the mad chewy stage where they tried to chew their way out of the cage were lovely little characters.
had rabbits too, but although they were lovely they were too mad and skitty.
but the guineas...totally love them. Had rescue pigs, two sows , now passed away and two boars...Gizzy and Gary...total characters!!!

[damppatchnot]

Sometimes it's difficult to sex when young. I can usually do it 99% of time but I got a "sow" that turned out to be a boar when ge reached 10 weeks and when grooming it became obvious!!

Gp births are usually ok so don't panic and I'm sure your dc will adore the piglets.
Good luck

[Evenstar]

Latest developments; I took the small pig round to my friend's husband today and he has confirmed that she is definitely a girl. Unfortunately he thinks she may be pregnant too and as she is only four months that is a bit worrying. All I can do now is wait and see what happens, I have bought another hutch so that I can separate any male babies when they become mature enough to mate, as I can see this going on and on if I am not careful. He is hopeful as they are Swiss Teddies that I might be able to find homes for some of them via contacts he has who breed as a hobby and show their guinea pigs. I am just hoping they will both be OK.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

If your older female is pg and your little pig is definately female then the only place she/they could have got pg was at the breeder.

If you got them in early July, they will be 6 weeks pg by now. GP gestation is 63-72 days.

I had a young female that was already pg when I bought her (when I was a child). She had one piglet (female) that we kept. Probably her body could only cope with one.
GPs can 'absorb' a pg if they are stressed or mal-nourished but I'd assume this is early in the pg.

TBH I don't know where the responsibilty lies WRT the piglets.
It's not easy to rehome babies (well no that's a lie.They are very easy to rehome.The difficulty is choosing the right home where they'll get looked after when they stop being cute babies and you have to drag yourself out in the rain to clean their cage,again).

They can't guarentee the gender of a pig (though the sow who's the mum would be obvious). So I've no idea if they would take responsibilty for the piglets.

Maybe the friends DH would give you a few ideas on where to advertise them to make sure you get the homes you want.

Boars can pair up, but don't sell as a trio unless someone knows what they are doing. One of the rescue websites I looked at had an urgent message that people were phoning them about their arsey teenage boars after pet shops and breeders were advicing them to buy 3. Presumably if one dies then you haven't got a lone boar.

[Evenstar]

I was anxious to avoid having any babies for that very reason, it is so easy for people to buy guinea pigs and other small furries and then lose interest and leave them hungry and dirty in their hutches. I will be looking after them all myself until I can find the right homes preferably with people I know through the playgroup or with contacts of my friend's husband who he can vouch for as being responsible and caring. They will have a home with me until I can be sure to get the right place for them, and they will stay with me if I cannot be sure of that.

[damppatchnot]

One of my fav customers is a lady with slight learning difficulties

She lives along with her piggies and bunnies and although her home is sparse her animals are so well looked after and every cage and hutch is immaculate

I always think if every creature was as loved as hers what a lovely place the world would be

[Nigglenaggle]

Guinea pigs should breed for the first time when they are under 8mths to a year old (if they are going to) if you want to avoid a c-section so it isnt necessarily worse that the little pig is so young