• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Lethal White Baby

Tabbi

Tabbi

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 25, 2022
Messages
8
Reaction score
24
Points
170
Location
Dorset
Hi, I frequently rehome / rescue Guinea pigs so have a large herd. I took on two piggies a while ago whom we suspected were pregnant and one was. Janet had 4 babies last Sunday and one of them is a lethal white. I knew about lethals from other rescuers but haven’t cared for one before. The other 3 got away with it. Little April is blind and deaf and has one tooth at the bottom. She is gaining weight as Janet is feeding her thankfully and hasn’t rejected her. I’m topping her up with goats milk 3-4 times a day and yesterday she managed to eat a soaked in goats milk banana slice. It took her ages but I was so proud she managed. I soaked some pellets yesterday and mashed them up and she had a little bit of those too. She has managed one blade of grass this week but that’s it so far, I’ve tried other times on the tiniest slivers but she can’t do it. I haven’t tried many veggies yet as she’s only a week old so I’m just experimenting with what she can manage / learn to eat at the moment.

Obviously her future is very uncertain so I’m here to ask for tips on caring for her, food ideas that are popular for mush etc. Once weaned if she makes it that far she’ll live next to but separate from the herd. I’ve put them as a family on fleece as read that is best to avoid dust with hay in the corner for the other babies and their mum. I’m trying to get this right for her so would appreciate tips to give her the best life possible for however long she has.

Update: I wrote this a couple of days ago. I’ve since mushed various veggies but she isn’t keen. Her favourite thing is banana but she can’t live on banana alone. I did get mushed pellets & goats milk in her this morning. She’s now 9 days old, 103g steadily gaining a gram or two every day. She’s desperate to eat solids which she just can’t so it’s stressful for her and me as she gets wound up and screams and won’t always us take the extra milk etc as it’s just not fast enough for her, she wants to wolf wolf down some greens. It doesn’t half remind me of when my kids were babies!
 
Hi there I'm not expert at all but wondering if you could puree veggies for her as you would when weaning a baby? 🤔
 
I hope some expert advice will be along soon. In the meantime have you searches on here for 'white lethals' some older posts might come up for you 💕
 
CTWC said:
Hi there I'm not expert at all but wondering if you could puree veggies for her as you would when weaning a baby? 🤔
Click to expand...
I have been doing that, it’s very hit and miss though and she refuses a lot of it so a lot I end up putting down for her siblings and mum to eat. There are 4 babies and she’s the only lethal. She adores banana, will drink goats milk and pellets soaked in goats milk.
 
CTWC said:
I hope some expert advice will be along soon. In the meantime have you searches on here for 'white lethals' some older posts might come up for you 💕
Click to expand...
I have, thank you, I’m trying to get any info I can as wasn’t expecting this so I’m googling like crazy. I’m just grateful she is a happy little thing, popcorning and busy, but can’t see or hear and just has the one tooth which I’ve already trimmed as it was so long. My worry is once mum stops feeding her when she weans if she’ll survive. She feeds all the time, I’m so relieved her mum hasn’t rejected her.
 
Can you see if she will eat plain dry porridge oats, just place a little dish down and see if she will take some. Oats are full of goodness and my dental piggie loved them. I’m going to tag @furryfriends (TEAS) she runs a sanctuary mainly for dental, and lethal piggies She has four lethal piggies doing really well at the moment, she also has an excellent vet who is very experienced with dental problems. Do keep her with her family (females) as she will need company just like any piggie 😊
The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary

And a Facebook site too where you can read all about them
 
Bill & Ted said:
Can you see if she will eat plain dry porridge oats, just place a little dish down and see if she will take some. Oats are full of goodness and my dental piggie loved them. I’m going to tag @furryfriends (TEAS) she runs a sanctuary mainly for dental, and lethal piggies She has four lethal piggies doing really well at the moment, she also has an excellent vet who is very experienced with dental problems. Do keep her with her family (females) as she will need company just like any piggie 😊
The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary

And a Facebook site too where you can read all about them
Click to expand...
What a great idea ref the oats - thank you! I found TEAS on Facebook but it said it has been hacked. I read if they swallow a solid they can choke / it ends up in their lungs - would oats be ok for such a tiny little pig? It’s a great idea though, I could even soak them in goats milk whilst she’s still having milk from her mum. My plan would be to keep her with her mum if her mum allowed it, failing that I’ve selected another piggie from my herd who is lovely and will take care of her. Out of the babies it was 2 boys / 2 girls, so in theory I could keep her with mum and sister or just her sister…..
 
(My herd is large so I’ll be sectioning if a part of my customised shed for her if she makes it, so she’d live with a friend and have the others through the wire where they often socialise anyway.
 
It wouldn't hurt to add some critical care recovery feed to her diet at this point, mine were weaned when I got them so haven't experienced the weaning stage but they were emaciated, and bowls of critical care went down very well with them! She should learn to adapt to the one tooth. While mine have most of their incisors, when they're trimmed they use their lips quite happily to pick up hay. It will probably take her a little longer to learn how to do it though and it might be worth cycling through different hay types and textures to see which one she finds easiest to eat.

TEAS would be the best place for advice given how many they have had, they have a new page since the old one was hacked.

Although I have many blind, blind/deaf and neurological piggies who arent lethal whites who all thrive in herds, I find a lot of piggies look after their less able friends very well so you may find she actually does better in the herd, depending on how she develops.
 
I am not qualified to give you advice but send my best wishes for a positive outcome for little April xx
 
Eriathwen said:
It wouldn't hurt to add some critical care recovery feed to her diet at this point, mine were weaned when I got them so haven't experienced the weaning stage but they were emaciated, and bowls of critical care went down very well with them! She should learn to adapt to the one tooth. While mine have most of their incisors, when they're trimmed they use their lips quite happily to pick up hay. It will probably take her a little longer to learn how to do it though and it might be worth cycling through different hay types and textures to see which one she finds easiest to eat.

TEAS would be the best place for advice given how many they have had, they have a new page since the old one was hacked.

Although I have many blind, blind/deaf and neurological piggies who arent lethal whites who all thrive in herds, I find a lot of piggies look after their less able friends very well so you may find she actually does better in the herd, depending on how she develops.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that’s really helpful. She really really wants to eat and keeps trying. The issue I have is she wants to be independent but if I don’t remove her from her family they eat her food …I’d really like to see her try and find it and eat it but she has a meltdown if I put her in a box away from them to try to eat. So sometimes she’ll eat like a horse with me, other times she’s too stressed and wanting her family.
 
Tabbi said:
What a great idea ref the oats - thank you! I found TEAS on Facebook but it said it has been hacked. I read if they swallow a solid they can choke / it ends up in their lungs - would oats be ok for such a tiny little pig? It’s a great idea though, I could even soak them in goats milk whilst she’s still having milk from her mum. My plan would be to keep her with her mum if her mum allowed it, failing that I’ve selected another piggie from my herd who is lovely and will take care of her. Out of the babies it was 2 boys / 2 girls, so in theory I could keep her with mum and sister or just her sister…..
Click to expand...
TEAS has set up a second facebook page while the original one is unusable. It's called "The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary - Northampton, UK" to distinguish it from the original one. Please do visit and like the page!

Good luck with your little lethal 💞
 
I have no experience or advice, just wanted to say thank you for going the extra mile to care for her ❤️
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
TEAS has set up a second facebook page while the original one is unusable. It's called "The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary - Northampton, UK" to distinguish it from the original one. Please do visit and like the page!

Good luck with your little lethal 💞
Click to expand...
Thank you! I’ve found it and I’ve sent them an email in the hope they can advise me a bit more.
 
Tabbi said:
What a great idea ref the oats - thank you! I found TEAS on Facebook but it said it has been hacked. I read if they swallow a solid they can choke / it ends up in their lungs - would oats be ok for such a tiny little pig? It’s a great idea though, I could even soak them in goats milk whilst she’s still having milk from her mum. My plan would be to keep her with her mum if her mum allowed it, failing that I’ve selected another piggie from my herd who is lovely and will take care of her. Out of the babies it was 2 boys / 2 girls, so in theory I could keep her with mum and sister or just her sister…..
Click to expand...
You can try the oats and see how she manages, it’s all trial isn’t it to see what she can eat. Glad you have emailed Debbie at TEAS and asked her for advice. She has masses of experience when it comes to lethal piggies or piggies with dental issues.

good luck 🤞
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. Just wanted to update for future folks reading this thread. Debbie at TEAS was indeed very helpful and really reassured me. April is doing well and gaining weight every day. Last week she was 92g, and now she is 114g, jumping up 3-4g every day. She has one tooth at the front bottom that we can see (her mouth is tiny) and a trained pro with vast experience has already snipped it with me as even by 6 days old it was curving over. I’ve got some very sharp medical scissors and between us we’ll keep it at a reasonable height. I needed to learn to do it myself as April will need this done frequently and I’m not putting her through the stress of the vets unless it’s essential as she’s so tiny and doesn’t appreciate change right now. I top up her feeds 3x a day and we have a little system which she has created herself of eat / cuddle / eat. I soak burgess pellets in hot water as they turn to instant mush ( like weetabix!) and stir through a tiny bit of banana. It cools fast and I feed this to her on a spoon or a tiny plastic saucer from my kids play food set. When she’s had enough of the pellets she starts moving around which is her cue for her actual banana which she’s obsessed with and she has a good long gum on a slice of banana. We’ve also progressed to the middle of the cucumber. I’m adding vitamin c drops to her feeds and the water bottle now as she isn’t getting what the others are in terms of veg yet as she refuses. She will get there but she’s so hungry that until she’s wolfed down some pellets she won’t consider anything else.

She’s sectioned off with her mum, siblings, and another piggie who was with mum from the start. As time progresses and she’s weaned she’ll just live with one friend, likely her sister or her mum. Her mummy is absolutely lovely with her but whether this lasts after weaning we’ll have to see. Although my others all live on dust extracted sawdust and hay, April and co are on vet bed or fleece as I’ve read that the dust could impact her lungs, so hay is piled up in a corner for the others. She has managed any hay yet, hopefully as her gums harden she’ll manage a bit, as she really wants to. She is starting to manage tiny pieces of grass.

What I’ve noted - make sure any veg or purée is room temp. If it’s cold or too cold, she won’t eat it. Keep on with gentle strokes throughout eating as the sensory feedback really relaxes her. She loves being up by my heart so often scrabbles up there very quickly and wants to be cupped in both hands by my heart. I think this is because she wants to feel my heartbeat as that’s all she’d have really picked up on from her mum given she’s deaf. Last night she was so content there she dozed off and closed her eyes, it was so precious. And a little photo for you all to see her, she really is so special.
 

Attachments

  • a08eaa77-14e1-406f-a819-8a8cfac8b85a.webp
    a08eaa77-14e1-406f-a819-8a8cfac8b85a.webp
    35.8 KB · Views: 2
She sounds completely adorable and you sound like the perfect person to meet her needs, she’s landed up exactly where she needs to be. It’s great she’s found such a caring home, she can be safe and happy and live her best life.
 
Thanks for the update! She is gorgeous and you are doing a great job. Little by little as she gains confidence with eating she will attempt more foods and grass is a good substitute for hay 😊
 
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear that she is doing so well. I agree with Bill and Ted that grass would be a good substitute for hay. Not too much to start with but if she eats it you can up the amount gradually.xx
 
Thank you so much for updating. Reading this has made my day, she really landed on her teeny tiny paws with you as a slave. ❤️
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top