New addition !

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Doghouse135

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I was in Pets at Home today and to cut a long story short have adopted a new little girlie that was dumped on their doorstep.

She was left in a cage with a male - possibly her Dad

She is only 550g so is still very little and we will just have to wait and see if she's pregnant. Poor little scrap

Here is Gabriella

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AWWW - she is a little sweetie!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that she is not pregnant!
 
I'm glad she's found a good home, I do hope she isn't pregnant as well. Gabriella is a big name for a little piggie - I bet she will grow into it though!
 
P@H named her Gabriella so it's sort of stuck - with 12 other guineas, I'm running out of ideas for names :))

The girl at P@H seemed to think she was pregnant but how she can tell I don't know, as I've had several pigs that have had litters and I'm still not sure. I don't want to handle her much either as she's very skittish and needs time to settle in.

I promised myself, I wouldn't take any more on but when I saw some decidedly 'chavvy' people looking at her, I couldn't leave her. I think they were hoping that she was pregnant and then they could sell the babies - Ggggrrrr

Pregnant or (hopefully) not, she will have a home for life here and will be safe.
 
She's very lovely. Great that you could offer her a home and a secure future. :)

Awful that someone would dump guinea pigs like that. :( Hope the male finds a loving home as well.
 
The male was longer haired apparently and has already found a home.

She looked terrified in P@H but was soon tucking into hay, nuggets and a small amount of parsley when she got home.

She's drinking well too so I'll soon build her up -

What age do you think she would be at 550g ? I thought about 3/4 months ?

It's been a long time since I've had a little 'un
 
Thank God you took her in, always worries me when chavs try to adopt from P@H, there was a similar story on hamster central about a poor little hamster called Delilah. Luckily a more knowlegable person adopted her too.

She is absolutely gorgeous and she was so lucky you came in. How awful for them to dump her outside like that. There were some at our branch a while back that had been dumped outside in a shoe box (3 piggies!)
 
She is just gorgeous... so glad you were able to offer her a loving home :)xx.

Fingers crossed she isn't pregnant! I would have thought P @ H wouldn't rehome an animal they thought was pregnant?

Did it say on the little sign she maybe pregnant?
 
Yes - the sign above her pen said 'possibly pregnant' !

The girls in there told me off for not going in at the weekend as they were waiting and hoping that I would go in and take her.

I've heard the staff in there refuse to let people adopt or even buy animals in there before though so I would hope they would 'vet' people quite carefully.

I suppose it depended if they needed the room anytime soon for more baby piggies ! They didn't have ANY in there yesterday :{
 
Well, little Gabriella is doing well. She's eating and drinking well and has gained about 70g since Tuesday.

She's still very skittish but seems happiest when she's rumbling about with the rest of the herd. I'm keeping her on her own at night, still in the shed but in a seperate cage in case she is pregnant.

She's with all the others during the day when I can keep popping in and out to keep an eye on her.

Roll on 10 weeks, when I'll know for certain if she's pregnant and she can permanently share the 7 x 5 shed with the rest of the crew x)
 
Gabriella - Weight update

Well Gabriella has only been here for a few days but I thought I'd give her another weigh in to see how she's getting along.

She's 680g ! That means she's gained 130g in a really short space of time. Hope she doesn't keep putting it on at that rate otherwise she'll go bang :)

On the downside though, she seems to be developing little bulges at her sides. I'm hoping I'm wrong but I think she may be carrying little piggies :( - she's only a baby herself
 
That is quite a big weight gain. I think you could be right about her being pregnant. :( Have you noticed any change in her nipples?
 
To be honest, I haven't wanted to lift her too much. She's obviously not been handled very much and she was SO stressed when I brought her home.

She's much better than she was but as I have no idea how far gone she might be (if she is), I don't want to risk moving her too much. She's eating for England right now so either way, it can't do her any harm.

I keep going in the shed and just sitting there like a loon watching them all x)
 
That's fair enough. What will happen, will happen if she is. Fingers crossed she's not pregnant, and toes crossed it all goes smoothly if she is. x

I love piggy watching too. Not sure what I did with my time before they arrived. :(|)
 
i hope your little girl isnt pregnant but I'm sure your going to look after her either way aaaaw glad she found *.

what cruel people could do that, makes me sick.
 
Well she is pregnant :( - I can see the baby(ies) moving when she's still. I have NO idea how far gone she is though -

I would normally move the cage indoors when I've got a pregnant piggy but I think that would stress her out even more so i think leaving her where she is, is probably best. I'm in and out of there every hour or so to try and get her used to me and to check on her.

Generally, how many weeks gone are they when you can see the babies moving ? - she's still so little so I don't know how she's gonna fare. My vets are a 5 minute drive and the emergency vets are on speed dial though so I'm ready. Trying to build her up as best I can without getting her fat.
 
Oh dear. I think it's in the last 2-3 weeks that you can see babies moving but someone more experienced will give you more info.

Good luck little girl. x
 
I have a preggie pig at the moment and I can feel the babies move but not see them moving yet so she has quite a way to go (I think). As Flips says it is usually a sign when you see the babies moving that she has 2-3 weeks left.
 
Thanks - she seems particularly stressed today so I'm toying with the idea of bringing her indoors. She's currently in the shed with all the other pigs but in a seperate cage.

I've just been out to see her and put some more hay in her cage and as I did so, she shot round the cage and tried to run up the bars ?/

When my other piggies had litters, I had them indoors but they had a lot longer to get used to me and were in with another piggie. She's on her own. I've tried her with a couple of my really placid girls but even they tried to bully her.

I would be REALLY grateful for some experienced advice. I don't want to stress her out by bringing her indoors but likewise I don't want to not be able to be with her every hour in case I need to intervene. She's still eating but less than she did so when i first brought her home. I've had her less than 2 weeks.
 
Well done for taking her.

You can usually feel movement of the babies at 5-6 weeks into gestation, or later, depending on the size of the babies (and of the mum). She is only small herself. The trick is not to overfeed her - i.e not over feed pellets, as she'll then put all that into the babies and have huge babies when she is only small herself. You don't want to deny her food, of course, but lots of vitamin C rich veg and hay is best (introduce new foods gradually).

I would bring her indoors but put her in a quiet corner (not somewhere in the house where people are coming and going all the time) and cover the cage with a towel or blanket as scared guineas find those open bar indoor cages quite scary. I always cover up my 'maternity' cages unless the pigs are already used to indoor living.

Good luck with her. It's a waiting game, but as long as she's eating and doing ok and the babies are moving, there is little else you can do except feed her the right stuff. I always give young mums raspberry leaf (dried herb) which you can order online from Galen's garden.

Sophie
x
 
PS I also wouldn't stress her out by introducing a companion at this stage - I'd leave her by herself.

I've found those Fiddlesticks (wooden sticks you can bend into an arch) are good, as the pig can hide but you can still see through it to see if babies have arrived - if you give her a box or pigloo you'll have to keep lifting it up and distrubing her

Sophie
x
 
Thank you for your reply Sophie.

I had already done nearly all of what you'd suggested. She's indoors on her own and I've covered half the cage with a towel. I've given her a large tube that she goes in quite a bit and obviously I can see through both ends.

She's seems to have settled down again but I think it's the babies kicking that freaks her out - when they move and kick a lot, she seems to get quite agitated and runs to hide.

She's eating a lot of fresh veg and very little pellets. She's got a nice mound of hay to hide in and eat too

Thanks once again - I'll keep you posted
 
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