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pregnant sow not using her back legs!

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abbi

My pregnant girlie Penny is due any day now, and I have just noticed today that she seems to be dragging her back legs behind her or kind of hopping. My other sow didn't do this when she was close to giving birth. Is this normal? She is rather large though, could it be just because she is carrying quite a few pups, or should i start to worry?

I dont want to over worry, but if you advise to get her checked out then I'm on the phone to the vets first thing! :-\
 
Hi Abbi,

Just looking online for you and came across a one liner that said if a pregnant Sow is not using her back legs then she may have a vitamin C deficincy. I can't really find anything else. Hopefully someone with knowledge can help more.

Hope she is ok!

Louise
x
 
Thank you hun.
She will be back in my lounge again tonight so I can keep a closer eye on her. I have been checking on her nearly every hour and she seems ok, she does take vitamin C in, by way of a quarter dissolvable tablet in her water, but shall most def call vets if she seems distressed or doesn't walk at all.
I know her time is close for giving birth as she is started to flatten down a load of hay, and nesting in it rather than in her house like my other sow did. I just hope it all goes fine for her.
 
Maybe it is the weight of her now, she can no longer support herself. I've never had a pregnant pig. Sounds like you are doing all you can. Keep us posted!
 
Hi,
Guinea pigs are way better off with plain water with NOTHING put in it as it can make the piggy thirsty and will stop drinking ? as it will taste funny...... Has she been drinking alot do you know ? :-\

Make sure she has lots of fresh fruit and veg O0

I had work experience in a pet shop not too long ago and this one sow was still with the boar and she had the same symptoms as your piggy she wa snot using her back legs at all and they looked cold :'(

Well she gave birth and she ended up having about 4 babies only 1 was alive at birth i think this was because they didnt guve her any vit c like fresh veg :( Well the pet shop wanted her to get pregnant straight away again and didnt even think about taking her to the vets first and what not but the baby grew up and she was pregnant again by the boar, they kept the baby boar at their house alone and then the sow was walking again after she gave birth :-\ But i still thought it was sad leaving her in with the boar :'( I dont no how the 2nd birth went as i left after her 1st baby left her ?
 
my goodness, thats awful....

maybe a call to the vets to put your mind at ease...?
 
hi this happened with dixie to, although she just kept not using one her back legs when it suited! i got really worried but a few weeks after she gave birth she started to walk with it again and there have ben no probs since..

maybe if she is carrying a lot of pups they are sitting on her nerves, or are proving hard to carry..ring your vet if you are worried.
 
If she had already had the babies I would say she had a calcium deficiancy. Not sure if you can give them a calcium supplement when they are still pregnant though.

You can buy liquid calcium in health shops or chemists i think.

I will see if I can find out more and let you know.
 
A few years ago I had a sow that went off her legs due to having a huge litter that her body just couldn't cope with. She was like a football with legs:( she had to have caesarian and all the babies died:( It took a month of hydrotherapy to get her back the use of her legs.

Sows have very difficult pregnancies due to the size of their young and the length of gestation. I am convinced that this is why there are so few guineas around at the moment - the breeders are killing off all the females trying to make money:'(
 
hopperhaven said:
Sows have very difficult pregnancies due to the size of their young and the length of gestation. I am convinced that this is why there are so few guineas around at the moment - the breeders are killing off all the females trying to make money:'(
Click to expand...
If a sow is cared from properly and recieve all the correct nutrients she needs during pregnancy then there should be nothing difficult about the pregnancy for her .

My advice is dont over stress pregnant sows by handling them alot , give them as much dry feed hay and veg that they will eat .

The most common reason for sows going of their back legs and not being able to use them in late pregnancy is lack of calcium .
The sow being talked about in the opening post to me sounds like calcium deficiency ( eclampsia ) get some osteocare liquid from the chemist and syringe 1 ml into her every hour till she is back on her feet and then make sure she gets it twice a day after the pups are born as eclampsia can come back whilst feeding and can kill the sow if not treated .

David xx
 
Right then, update on Penny needed i think!

Sorry I have not been on for ages to reply to all your messages, but between the new Sky broadband and Royal Mail, I have been puter-less for over a week!

Right then, my little miss Pen. She is still pregnant! I took her to the vets last week as I was starting to get rather worried. The lady vet was a really nice woman. She told me that Penny was in excellent health, to carry on with the vits in her water, she was starting to produce milk, she is to expect 4 or 5 babies, her legs were fine, full blood flow etc, her lack of movement seems to be what she prefers for comfort.

Anyhow, this was last wednesday. What the vet did say on WEDNESDAY was that her girlie bits were nice and enlarged and she would more than likely give birth within 48 hours. Hey ho, its now been a week. I did call vet again on saturday morning and told her she was still pregnant, not suffering at all, walking again, what do I do? She told me to just keep an eye on her and make sure she keeps drinking and eating, and if she seemed in any kind of distress I was to call her back. Well she isn't. And she is massive. Still.

I really dont know what to do for the best. As my calculations go, she must be a week overdue now. She seems ok in herself though, and still kisses me as soon as I am close by!

Money is not an issue for a section birth for her, but I would rather she didn't have one, I had 2 and hell did it hurt!

Any advice welcome please, thats if you havent fallen asleep reading all my dribble!
 
From what I know, the bubs will come when they're good and ready. Mum should be able to cope with the labour, but if not, that's when you need to get help. Is there still movement?
 
Keep on phoning the vet reguarly and she will tell you if its getting abnormal
Hoping she gives up the bubs soon! O0
 
the stubborn little devils seem to be moving fine and responding to touches to penny's belly. she seems to like me stroking her from her head down to her feet. I suppose its similar to a massage for her.

I am calling the vet again tomorrow, I would take Penny into my bedroom and watch over her over night if my husband would let me, but he says I'm too obsessed with my piggies as it is, without taking a preg pig into my bedroom! But when, where and if she wants me to help her, all Penny has to do is call me and I'll be there.
Sounds really sad huh?
lol
 
Dont pannick too much about the dates. I always used two dates with my sows, the first due date from when you put her with the boar and then count 15 days and work out a second date. There is no way of telling if she was in season when she went in with the boar so by taking the second date it gives you some leeway.

Hope she has them soon.
 
[quotjssz57 ]
Tll m os hr brath smll lik nail polish rmovr? Bcaus if this is tru your sow might hav prgnancy toxmia plas s this pag an tak hr to a vt immiatly!

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[colorr]Your avic is wlcom Jss but plas rfr to your own xprincs with guina pigs. If you hav ha no xprinc with prgnant sows, for xampl, you can just post to say hop things ar bttr soon :)
 
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Penny would just like all you aunties and uncles to know that she gave birth to 4 beautiful babies on friday morning!

It all started at 10am spot on, the first 2 popped out like peas, the second took a bit longer, my mum saw him being born, (he is considerably smaller than the others though), and me and my son George witnessed the third! All done by 10.20am!

Wow it was amazing!

Penny was so good, and done so well!

I would like to thank everyone for all their kind advice on Penny's back legs, she is perfectly fine now and was great delivering, mother and babies doing really well!

I do have a slight concern for the first baby as she seems to open only one eye. But Penny does seem to be keeping tabs on it and cleans her up. Do I need to interveen at all with bathing it?

Anyway, thanks again all you uncles and aunties, Penny and babies all sending you sweet little squeaks of love........... :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
Oh CONGRATS :smitten: :smitten:
4 babies 0:)
its amazing when you see them give birth and the lil one about the eye i dunno what id do but maybe someone later on or in a few minutes might be able to help out sorry i cant ::)
 
ok hun. Yes its great watching, her cage was on the dining room table with a nice blanket over the top as the light was shining right in. She seemed to like the peace and quite in her little hideaway, and now she is subjected to my noisy kids once again, but she doesnt seem to be bothered by them at all.
I am just so pleased that it all turned out fine and she is fit and well again!
 
Awww i bet you are glad O0 Glad everything is all and well and i had a feeling her back legs were gonna be fine afterwards as i witnessed the same thing in a pet shop where one pregnant piggy was dragging her legs and they were cold too then she gave birth and was fine 0:) but the pet shop didnt care and left the boar in with her anyway :-\

Congrats again :D
 
Grandma! HEHEHE :D
Grandma at 32! Thats pretty good going! :o

I think thats awful. when Abi had her 3 she was fine all through the pregnancy. I was just so worried about Penny as she seemed to be so large and the odd shuffle she was doing didnt look right at all. But the vet said she was fine. Penny is still eating like a horse and seems to be enjoying motherhood.

My neice who is 9 now wants to have 2 of the babies, and my neighbour wants one too, at least I will see them all regularly, that leaves me with one, so whats one more to your family?

Lol, I can see my husband making me another huge house for them for the spring! If I had my way I would have them all in my house, but at the moment they all are living in my cosy garage apart from Penny.
 
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