I own six guinea pigs, and all have been very healthy. Except for one baby. It is almost three weeks old, and has a huge brown stain on its butt, almost like it sat on mud. All of my other guinea pigs are pretty scared of human contact, but this one will not even try to escape when I grab it. It lives free in my garden, and eats the grass growing there. It always has about three flies hovering around it. It is fed a steady diet of romaine lettuce and carrots. I occasionally give it broccoli and grapes. Can anyone tell me what to do? If so, that would be so helpful.
Hi and welcome
Please have your baby seen by a vet as soon as possible. Fluid diarrhoea cannot wait, even less so in babies. For the sake of your little mite I hope that it is not too late!
List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies
Please also check it for fly strike (maggots from flies that lie their eggs into living flesh) as it is an outdoors piggy. soiled, uncleaned bums are seen as ideal breeding ground and can be smelled from an amazingly wide distance.
Fly Strike
How much hay are you feeding? Unlimited hay should make around 80% of the food intake; too much fresh food can lead to fermentation in the lower gut and diarrhoea. Fresh food should only make about 10-15% of the daily food intake. Take any piggy with soft poos/diarrhoea immediately off any fresh food. Your little baby has just switched to eating mainly solid food that it is not used to eating. Baby tummies are very sensitive and need adjusting to grass and veg gradually.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Please bring your baby inside with its mum and the other babies to cuddle up with as they are not yet old enough to be fully weaned. Take it off any fresh food and start offering fibrous syringe feed and water; it may be dehydrated. As it is still a baby, you need it to lick anything from the syringe and you cannot push anything in its mouth. If something is going down the wrong way it will cause pneumonia and kill.
Please be aware that babies don't yet have got the body mass and a fully working immune system and can go downhill very quickly so you haven't got much time left.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-guide.109375/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-and-nursing-diet.109377/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/after-birth-and-baby-care.109389/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/sexing-separating-baby-boars-and-rehoming-babies.109391/
I would strongly recommend to:
- to make sure that the area your guinea pigs roam in is safe from cats, dogs, foxes, rats, mice, weasels, snakes and aerial predators, so your garden doesn't become what rescues call a "cat's takeaway" set-up.
- provide a safe shelter for the night with plenty of hay and pellets that is cleaned twice weekly to keep mice and vermin at bay. it needs to provide shelter from sun during hot weather, rain, storms, cold nights and winter frosts. Guinea pigs are not hardy and don't deal well with sudden larger changes in temperature (including day/night swings).
Guinea pigs are wired to roam their territory from the safety of an abandoned burrow (which is deep enough to provide a constant temperature and keeps them safe from predators. You need to replicate that in some form.
Guinea Pig Facts - A Short Overview
- are your guinea pigs gender separated or allowed to procreate unchecked?
Please be aware that boars can make babies from 3 weeks onwards, sows have their first season between 4-6 weeks of age and that sows come into season again within hours of giving birth. Nonstop pregnancies are going to wear out sows and lead to a much higher risk of miscarriages and birthing complications as well as an early and often very painful death, not to mention what damage several generations of unchecked inbreeding is going to do the babies!
A number of my own rescue adoptees come from set-ups like these, they bear the scars from their trauma of living with their prey animal instincts at a constant and unceasing high with no safety to relax, from too many back-to-back pregnancies and several have died early due to the inbreeding they have suffered. It is taking me years of patience and persistence to undo the damage they have suffered.
Please keep in mind that guinea pigs are not wild animals; they have been domesticated for thousands of years the same as domestic rabbits, dogs, cats, chickens and farm animals. They need to be kept as pets, and not as wild animals.
Sending lots of healing vibes!
