Guinea pig aborting babies

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pompeywitchy

Hi, I have 2 female guinea pigs in together ( sisters and good friends) both are due for babies in about 4 weeks. One of the guinea pigs Buffy aborted her babies yesterday and I have no idea why. They have a large cage, I clean them everyday, lots of food, veggies, fruit and both are spoilt. They are not stressed in anyway. Everybody who knows my guinea pigs know how lovely and friendly they are. I had homes for 6 babies and this is would of been Buffys second litter. It as really upset me thinking I might have done something wrong. Any ideas?
 
Her last litter was January She had 2 healthy boys then that live with my friend. She wants another 2 from Buffy but she won't be getting them now.
 
i personally dont think thats enough of a break in between litters,i do not agree with breeding but its even worse to do it if you do not know backgrounds/all history and are not a qualified breeder,i would stop breeding your sows now before more babies are lost,there is always the option of adopting from rescues there are many needy piggies who are put to sleep each day because of breeding.The only explaination i can come up with for the loss of babies is maybe the sow wasnt in top condition to have them.
 
Yep what Boris said! And also they may have been lethals or inbred, without knowing full history it shouldn't be done in all honesty.

I wish your sow the best, I do hope she is ok. Keep a close eye on her.
 
Thanks for your reply, I do know the background of these 2 piggies. I took 2 rescued guinea pigs. I took the boar and had him castrated. 6 wks later the females gave birth to 2 babies that I kept and these are Buffy and Ruby. all 10 of my piggies are in 100% perfect health. Some are rescued piggies and some I have got from friends etc. I also have 6 dogs ( 2 rescued) 2 rescued cats, 2 rescued rats and 4 ferrets 2 of which were rescued. All my pets are in perfect health and visit the vet for health, injections, worming etc. Thank you anyway.
 
pompeywitchy said:
Thanks for your reply, I do know the background of these 2 piggies. I took 2 rescued guinea pigs. I took the boar and had him castrated. 6 wks later the females gave birth to 2 babies that I kept and these are Buffy and Ruby. all 10 of my piggies are in 100% perfect health. Some are rescued piggies and some I have got from friends etc. I also have 6 dogs ( 2 rescued) 2 rescued cats, 2 rescued rats and 4 ferrets 2 of which were rescued. All my pets are in perfect health and visit the vet for health, injections, worming etc. Thank you anyway.
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if you rescue so much why breed and add to the problem?
and also how coul you know history if there parents are rescues?knowing history would usually indicate 3 generations or more
 
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Knew if would be a waste of time asking advice on here. Only bred Buffy and Ruby so I could keep some that would be as lovely as the parents. i had homes for the rest.
Just made an appointment at the vets for Buffy, i'll ask him at least he will give advice with out turning it into judgement day.
 
i am not judging,i am worried about the sows,there is a risk to there life to by breeding them:...,you most probably wont end up with the sows temperament in the babies anyway,there are a ton of beautiful natured piggies in reputable rescues waiting for homes.
 
When I wanted piggies I went everywhere trying to get rescued ones. The RSPCA didnt have any. i couldn't find any rescues near me ( i'm in portsmouth) Then someone told me about a man that bred rabbits and he wanted to get rid of his guinea pigs. I went round there and all he's rabbits were lovely. Big cages, clean well fed etc. The guinea pigs were in a corner of the garden. Filthy dirty, matted up and thin. He said he bought them for breeding but they wouldn't breed. before I left he said he was trying to get rid of some rats. He had 2 female rats in a small cage in a dark room with the curtains drawn. My daughter loves rats so I took them aswell. They were not hand tamed and one rat was losing fur. The rats are now in a 3ft tank, full of toys, chewy toys, lots of dried food and have fruit and veg every day. They are also hand tamed. So you don't have to go to a rescue to rescue animals you can get plenty from idiots that don't have a clue.
 
pompeywitchy said:
When I wanted piggies I went everywhere trying to get rescued ones. The RSPCA didnt have any. i couldn't find any rescues near me ( i'm in portsmouth) Then someone told me about a man that bred rabbits and he wanted to get rid of his guinea pigs. I went round there and all he's rabbits were lovely. Big cages, clean well fed etc. The guinea pigs were in a corner of the garden. Filthy dirty, matted up and thin. He said he bought them for breeding but they wouldn't breed. before I left he said he was trying to get rid of some rats. He had 2 female rats in a small cage in a dark room with the curtains drawn. My daughter loves rats so I took them aswell. They were not hand tamed and one rat was losing fur. The rats are now in a 3ft tank, full of toys, chewy toys, lots of dried food and have fruit and veg every day. They are also hand tamed. So you don't have to go to a rescue to rescue animals you can get plenty from idiots that don't have a clue.
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i understand the different types of rescuing,all I'm saying is most choose not to cancel out saving them by breeding them,just another pointer too,the ammonia from the wee builds up in tanks and can cause respiratory infections in rats ,its best to keep them in wire cages,i wont bother replying anymore because it will just go round in circles,we re a pro-rescue forum as well and we dont support breeding of any sort
 
The tank as a wire top so plenty of air going in. Also clean them out all the time so never any smell.
 
I'm sorry your sow has lost the babies. I know pretty much nothing about females and littering and the like as I have only ever had boars, but as well as the other suggestions posted, there may be a chance it could be a genetic problem and pregnancies are likely to be detrimental to the sow and cause stress on the body and mind. Rather than keep trying, I personally would not have another go.

As talk on intentional breeding is not allowed on this forum I would request that further discussion on this thread does not turn into debate about the whys and wherefores of the subject.
 
Thank you for that, I will not be breeding with Buffy or Ruby again anyway. Just hoping that Ruby's babies are ok. I will take her to the vet aswell this afternoon just for a check up as i'm taking buffy anyway.
As you keep boars can I ask some advice? I have a lovely boar piggy that can not produce babies. I put him in with females just for company but he keeps chasing them. A friend took him and tried introducing him to her boars but he just wanted to fight. He is now in a cage on hes own ( and I don't want him to be lonely). Vet thinks he is oldish so don't want to risk castration. He was a rescue so no idea on age. Any ideas?
 
I'm sorry about what your poor piggie has been through, but as others have said, it's best to leave a long gap between litters, I'd say at least 6months, better a year. But I don't really know for sure.

If you try on cavies galore or guinea pig lynx, they have information pages and forums that will help you.

Tgpf is pro-rescue, so it always rubs us all the wrong way! But that's not to say you can't post on other issues and help members on here as it sounds you have plenty of experience looking after piggies!
 
If you look here: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=28949 this is a rough guide about why boars do what they do to help their humans understand them better. It's not law, just based on my own and others experiences!

Just out of interest, how do you know that he cannot produce babies, has he been tested somehow? If he hasn't, it may be that he can sire young, but just for some reason hasn't yet. I would strongly recommend against putting an uncastrated boar in with the sows for run time as there is a likelyhood that you will end up with more than you anticipated. If your vet thinks he is too old for the op, then you are right to not get him done.

Edited to add - I have answered your question in a new thread split from this topic, it can be found here: http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35040 :)
 
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It is a sad fact that a high percentage of pregnancies fail for no obvious reasons - like in humans.

As much as you like babies, please give mummy a rest; she will need it after two pregnancies. Guinea pigs have the longest pregnancy of all rodents; that's why they are so hard on the mums - they take it really out of her!

For advice have a look on here (it is the best up-to-date medical website for guinea pigs): http://www.guinealynx.info/reproduction.html
 
pompeywitchy said:
Thanks for your reply, I do know the background of these 2 piggies. I took 2 rescued guinea pigs. I took the boar and had him castrated. 6 wks later the females gave birth to 2 babies that I kept and these are Buffy and Ruby. all 10 of my piggies are in 100% perfect health. Some are rescued piggies and some I have got from friends etc. I also have 6 dogs ( 2 rescued) 2 rescued cats, 2 rescued rats and 4 ferrets 2 of which were rescued. All my pets are in perfect health and visit the vet for health, injections, worming etc. Thank you anyway.
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maybe spend time with the animals you have instead of trying to breed yourself some more?
tell your friend to rescue so your girl can have a rest. she's not a baby pig machine.
don't make up excuses about how bad rescues are or whatever. for the most part they are commendable places and the pigs there all deserve homes.
 
I was not slagging off rescues as I think they do a great job. Spend lots of time with all my animals as I work from home so allways here for them.

Off to vets now
 
There is often no apparent reason for a miscarriage. I wonder if any of those who are complaining about breeding have had a miscarriage themselves only to be told they should not have chilldren because the parental history is not known?
 
alcesterpigs said:
There is often no apparent reason for a miscarriage. I wonder if any of those who are complaining about breeding have had a miscarriage themselves only to be told they should not have chilldren because the parental history is not known?
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The difference being as humans we have a choice, with animals we make that choice for them, what right do we have in a controlled environment?
 
I have had only one sow abort a whole litter here and that was put down to her being moved late in pregnancy and being bred back to back without a break. Unfortunately as others have said, it's sometimes 'just one of those things' and although very sad cannot be helped.

I hope the sow is ok, it's not unusual for them to go into a sort of shock when this happens, sadly I lost my sow shortly after she aborted her litter.

Very sad to see the little babies, they look so perfect

Sophie
x
 
pompeywitchy said:
Thank you for that, I will not be breeding with Buffy or Ruby again anyway. Just hoping that Ruby's babies are ok. I will take her to the vet aswell this afternoon just for a check up as i'm taking buffy anyway.
As you keep boars can I ask some advice? I have a lovely boar piggy that can not produce babies. I put him in with females just for company but he keeps chasing them. A friend took him and tried introducing him to her boars but he just wanted to fight. He is now in a cage on hes own ( and I don't want him to be lonely). Vet thinks he is oldish so don't want to risk castration. He was a rescue so no idea on age. Any ideas?
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Could you try bonding your older boar with a baby? I have never had any problems doing this with wee ones and older ones, and done it quite often. If Ruby has a baby boy, that will need separating from her at three weeks, you could put him with your boy, and with such a big age gap, there should be no dominance issues. x
 
pompeywitchy said:
Knew if would be a waste of time asking advice on here.
I think that is quite rude. I'm quite offended by that, everyone here on the GPF is very helpful and friendly and I've found that help is always here when I need it. I've seen countless people come here asking for advice, and they all get it. So before you say things like that, consider how other people feel.

And also, read the rules. I'm pretty sure this forum is an anti-breeding site. Breeders are not allowed here (I don't think).

Deanna

P.S. Sorry mods, but had to get my point across.
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Breeders are welcome to post here, but discussions on intentional breeding, selling pigs and showing are not permitted, just so everyone is aware.

And let's all just keep things friendly as well please :)
 
Hi Deanna,

Breeders can post as long as they abide by the rules that Ellie has set out for us all to follow. :)
 
You can try and put a baby boar with your neutered boar.

How long have you had your neutered boar in with the girls? Because it can take between a couple of days to a couple weeks for the boys to calm down after the first flush of testosterone, which admittedly is tough to stand by and watch.
After that, they're usually fine and will enjoy a stable relationship with the girls. A boar who has been with girls before he got neutered may not wish to be with other boars (it's a huge loss in status).

I wouldn't put him back with your girls immediately, because Ruby needs rest right now, but you may want to reconsider and stick it out!
 
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