Shit... 99% sure Guinea Pig is pregnant

[InAPickle12345]

Bit of a disaster... I lost one of my two lovely girls at the start of December. We were devastated, they were like two peas in a pod. I had a post on here at the time.

After just over a week I figured I needed to get another Guinea pig to keep my remaining one happy. Bought from a pet store as we don't have any rescues.... and I'm 99% sure the baby is pregnant 😡

Can't get her in to see the Vet until Tuesday morning.

She's had no vet care during pregnancy, haven't been feeding her any supplements. She was 8 weeks when she came to us, so young to be having babies. We've had her 55 days.

What the hell do I do now?

I don't! I've been trying to do the math though.

Average 4 month female pig is 400g.
Newborn pig is 70g - 100g
Mum is now weighing 838g so a whopping 440g overweight so it appears she could have a minimum of 4 anyway so not a small litter 😫

Anyone else think the above seems right? I wonder if the vet will do a little ultrasound on Tuesday? 🤔

My last one passed away a couple of years ago but I still sometimes think of them when chopping fruit and veg - the squeaks when they knew food was coming were so cute.

OMG same here - when I have veg I feel sad no one will be excited by it.

Loving this Guinea Pig thread. Good luck OP!

838g! Wow! She must be nearly full term. Good luck!

Same @WishIMite and @Skiphopbump Mine wheek incessantly when I come down first thing in the morning and come home from work, anytime the fridge opens or a packet rustles....or just anytime they fancy a little snack! Can be a bit annoying when I've not even had my tea in the morning or chance to take my coat off in the evening... but I know I'll miss it horribly when they're not around anymore.

Is it guinea pigs that have precocious babies? As in eyes open ready to go from birth?

I know, she's mammoth! We've had her 55days today so it can't be too far off at all

Apparently so! They come out with hair, teeth, eyes open etc. think I'm more comfortable with that than if they were little pink fragile babies like hamsters have

If you’re planning on cancelling the appt you could always ask your vet for a call to discuss anything you’re worried about without the stress for her. I wouldn’t get too caught up on weights, my 4.5 month old is 801g today and definitely NOT pregnant. Some of my adult pigs are 1.1-1.2kg and not overweight, just bigger piggies.

Make sure she gets lots of vit C and extra calcium, avoid handling too much until birth

They look just like a grown guinea pig except mini. It's amazing. No weird naked stage. Just tiny piggies.

Oh interesting about the weights... I thought I was being clever trying to gauge the size of the litter. Fingers crossed it'll be a smaller litter than I'd expected.

I have Vit C drops for her water so have been giving her those, and stocked up on some bok choi, spinach, kale etc today so hopefully that will give a calcium boost

My GP was pregnant when we bought her (we got two girls) and had a single baby, the most ENORMOUS boy. She certainly wasn’t fully grown herself so how she gave birth to him I’ll never know. But we had him neutered and he lived happily with his mum and aunty after that.

I personally wouldn’t take her to the vet. Not sure what they can actually do that is practical - either she’s pregnant (nothing to be done but wait) or not - and in another week or so you’ll be past the due date and you’ll know she’s not, so can then take her for other investigations. For now I think the stress of the trip will outweigh the benefits. I’d leave her at home and wait for the birth.

You could always just have bigger babies too. My last lovely rescue had babies that weighed 136g and 127g when they were born.

I’d feed alfalfa whilst she’s pregnant and nursing for a calcium boost.

This is bringing back memories. I used to have a long haired GP. But my dopey dog scared it. So a lovely friend who was considering getting GPs anyway rehomed her from me. Went to the pet shop to get her a friend and came away with three more GPs as couldn't leave them.
2 new boys and one new girl to go in with my old girl. Except they'd sexed them wrong. He went to feed them one morning and apparently said aloud to his wife and kids. "The GPs have shrunk". Nope. Just three more baby GPs in. Mine was the mum (they were longer haired like she was). between giving birth and being discovered the boy had mated with her again and another two were born.
There were a long few years about how much GP food I owed in maintenance.
They kept all of them. Sexed them properly and all lived happily ever after.
But baby GPs are just adorable, so my little story is mainly for GP picture place marking.

One of mine at just less than 48 hours old, 5 days old and 8 days old.

Oh my ❤️

Oh. My. God. ❤️

That little piggie is just adorable!!! Is the 134g reading when they were <48hours old?

It is, he was a big boy! 127g at birth and his brother was 9g bigger. They’re 1.2kg as adults and mum was 1.1kg but sadly lost her to lymphoma

The pet store have said they'll take her back until she has the babies

Yeah, I bet they would. All those new, free pets to sell - and when they send her back to you, another batch already on the way.

I know! I'm definitely not comfortable with them selling them and making a profit off of this situation so I think I'll just rehome them myself.

In their defence, Mum did only arrive to them the night before I picked her up so she was only there for about 18 hours, I really don't know if it was the 'breeder' or the pet store that messed up.

Remember some of her excess weight will be amniotic fluid, placenta(s) and her own excess fat/blood/tissue.

I love GPs and am enjoying the photos so far!
Hanging here for more..

I am also place marking for baby photos

Another one place marking for photos, so exciting!

This sounds like animal maths.

First we get a pig, and then another pig. And then we say No more pigs. But then pig is pregnant, so we get four more pigs.