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Pregnant Piggy?!?

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kirstythack13

kirstythack13

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I am new to this and never owned a guinea pig before but I have had my girls for 4 weeks now and I swear she is pregnant, getting larger and more pear shaped whilst the other has remained exactly as wen I first got them?!? How can I tell for sure?!?
 
If you put your hands either side of her belly, can you feel any movement, or any hard "balls"? Are you sure they are both girls? It is hard to tell early on, but by 7 weeks you'll be able to feel the pups kicking. A vet, or any experienced breeder will be able to tell you for certain, and it would be worth getting the sex of the other one confirmed too. x
 
Hi! I am very sorry for your pickle!

Firstly, could you please give us more information so we can get a picture about what kind of situation your are dealing with in order to establish a time line. How many girls have you got? How old are they? What kind of place have you got them from?
Could you also please add your country, state or (for the UK) your county to your details so we can take the particulars of your part of the globe into account and always give you the appropriate advice and recommendations straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then got to personal details/location. Thanks!

You may want to use this website here to check the gender of your piggies. The pregnancy must have most likely happened before you got them, but you want to make sure. http://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm

When a handling a potentially highly pregnant sow, please be careful to not put any pressure on the belly at any time; ideally you lift her in a conveyance of some sort. https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/videos/ (see pick-up video)

Please read our guides at the top of this section carefully; they will hopefully answer most of the practical questions you may have, but you are most welcome to ask any remaining ones or any that have arisen when reading the information.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-guide.109375/

It is vital that you do not overfeed a pregnant sow during the second half of her pregnancy, especially in terms of pellets. Please limit the amount of pellets to a maximum of 40g for your pregnant sow if she is around 4 months old, less if she is older. By this, you can make sure that the babies will be an ideal birthing size and not cause any problems. This is the biggest risk factor that you can influence.
You will find more particulars about what a pregnant sow needs: https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-diet.109377/

We cannot confirm a pregnancy over the internet, but we can help you get as clear a picture as possible and support you in the next few weeks.

Please keep all your questions and updates to this thread, so we can always refer back to your specific situation and the time line.
 
I got my two girls (I have doubled checked to see if other one definately a girl) from a couple who had rescued 4 female guinea pigs and discovered all were pregnant, I have two girls from those litters but I'm 95% sure one is pregnant as I felt one move today. I'm not sure of their age but I will try and contact couple to find out. I am trying to upload a pic but can't. I am so worried about her as I know pregnancy can result in death!
 
Thanks for adding your location!

Please also ask the couple when they separated the male babies from mum and any sisters. Baby boars can start as early as 3 weeks old and sows from 4 weeks onwards. The earliest documented sibling pregnancy is 24 days. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about in that respect. :(
 
If your little girl is around 4 months old, then she looks pretty pregnant, as that age is too early develop a female pear-shaped figure. In the second picture, it rather looks like she has a baby ball sticking out a bit on her right side if that is not just the fur. :(

I wouldn't think that she has got long to go!

Please ask the people you got them from at which age they have separated the male babies. Anything over 3 weeks can end in a pregnancy for mum or sisters.
 
Should I find a vet and take her there? I'm not even sure wen they might arrive? As I don't know how pregnant she was wen I got her but she looked normal then?!
 
I am also concerned that I might not have been giving her the right diet as I didn't realise? Does she need anything different?
 
kirstythack13 said:
I am also concerned that I might not have been giving her the right diet as I didn't realise? Does she need anything different?
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I also have 3 young sows pregnant 2 of which are around the same age as your girls. I was really worried too, but if you follow Wiebke's advice and have a read through the pregnancy guide links on here you will both be fine. I would take her to a vet for a look over and the links will help with how to make sure she gets the right diet. It is extreamly important to avoid intentional breeding however, these are not completly avoidable! We as mums just have to do our best and most likely she will be fine; you may want to start thinking about what you'll do with the little ones when they come.
 
Most of the time the sow will deliver with no complications (in my experience during the night, so you wake up to clean, dry fluffy babies!) I know it is really worrying, but there is lots of advice on here. Four months isn't too young, but it's not ideal (the youngest birth I heard about is at 13 weeks, so she got pregnant at 3 weeks!) She doesn't need a special diet, but it's recommended to reduce the amount of nuggets a couple of weeks before she's due, so that the pups aren't too big. Keep us posted! x
 
Thanks everyone, I'm taking her to the vet tomorrow so they can check she is ok and confirm pregnancy. I'll keep you posted, started weighing her today too she is currently 1016g that seems a lot to me?!?
 
Hi everyone, just got back from vets and they have confirmed pregnancy, think about 3-4 babies, they said she is very near end too so not long til they are here. Healthy and hearts all beating so fingers crossed.
 
Hi everyone, just got back from vets and they have confirmed pregnancy, think about 3-4 babies, they said she is very near end too so not long til they are here. Healthy and hearts all beating so fingers crossed.
 
kirstythack13 said:
Babies came this morning, two lovely little healthy babies, one unfortunately still born, xx
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That's a shame about the third one but it's great that the other two are doing good x Pregnancy is a scary thing if you haven't dealt with it before but it sounds like you handled it well :)
 
Aww sorry to hear about the little still born. Glad mum and the other two babies are doing well.
 
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