Malnourished Mama Piggy & Babies! Advice!

[Zombiiesays]

If you haven't heard my story yet, here it is:

I joined this forum not long ago to seek advice as a new guinea pig owner. I originally had two female guinea pigs (Moo & Bacon). I knew what I was getting into when I purchased the piggies but I wasn't prepared for Moo to have babies. The petstore sold us Moo without knowing that she was pregnant. Last week, she gave birth to two babies. I immediately looked up some quick facts about babies & anything I could do to help but Moo seemed to have it under control. Now, our family takes care of two 4 month old guinea pigs & two week old guinea pigs. All of them are female (I had them verified by a volunteer from a local guinea pig rescue) so we are happy that we will be able to keep them together.

Today, after visiting a volunteer from a local guinea pig rescue, we learned that Moo (the mother) & her babies are malnourished. Like I mentioned before, we did not know that Moo was pregnant so we probably didn't do a very good job of giving her extra care. In turn, her babies are not as healthy as they should be. They are still VERY small & have barely grown since they have been born.

Moo (Mommy)

(Baby #1 at three days old)

(Baby #2 at three days old)

(Bacon; the other female. She is healthy!)

(The whole family; easy to see how tiny they are)

I am getting a scale tomorrow so I can track mommy & babies' weights. Also, I am working on extending their cage. This is what I have so far. It is a plastic container, lined with a fleece blanket & surrounding by metal, mesh squares (I still need to baby proof them). I am planning on adding another level with a ramp and another level floor made up of coroplast board, wrapped in fleece. I think that they will be happy once that is complete.

I bought a lot of veggies (Red bell pepper, romaine lettuce, & carrots) today, gave them a little banana for a snack (& to see if the babies wanted some), as well as Alfalfa hay (up until they are able to switch to Timothy hay & other hay).

Finally, my questions. What can I do/feed the mommy & babies' in order to get them healthy & plump ASAP? What is a good amount of veggies per day? Is there any place in particular that sells REAL Timothy based pellets?

 

[Suzygpr]

I have many undernourished pigs come into the rescue - most make a good recovery.

To help build them up I don't give too much veg - it goes through the system quickly so doesn't allow the body time to absorb all the nutrients from the dry food that gets pushed along with it.

At this stage it doesn't matter if the pellets are alfalfa based as the mum and babies need the calcium. To help them eat more soften the pellets with warm water, about 2 tablespoons of pellets a day. This in addition to the pellets dry, lots of hay and a small amount of veg - while the babies are so small you need them to fill up on the pellets.

HTH

Suzy x

 

[Zombiiesays]

Alright. So mainly pellets, keep a constant supply of hay in the cage & just a little bit of veggies per day?

 

[Suzygpr]

Yes - plus the pellets softened with water. The pellets I use have 17% protein 4% oil/fat 36% crude fibre. If you can get a pellet that is similar or a little higher in the protein/fat then this will help build them up.

 

[Suzygpr]

Too late to edit above post - the total fibre is 36% - crude fibre is 17%.

 

[Zombiiesays]

How long do you think it will take for them to get to a normal, healthy weight with proper feeding?

 

[Suzygpr]

That will all depend on how malnourished they are to start with and how quickly their metabolism gets the food turned into body mass. I can't answer that.