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Thelma

Thelma.Louise21

New Born Pup
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Hi everyone, I got my 2 new pigs 2 weeks ago, they were sold to me as 2 females...after a trip to the vets for a small scratch wound I’ve now discovered that I have been sold boy and girl, the vet advised me to separate but in cages next to each other, but she also said she may already be pregnant. So they have been separated for a week now, but Thelma doesn’t seem the same as when she was with Benjie, she is much quieter and I’m not sure whether to put it down to antibiotics (baytril) or she may be feeling moody because she may be pregnant? She hasn’t ate much and stays in her house a lot, she was also fine being handled and now she doesn’t seem to want to be picked up...will this pass once the antibiotic wears off?
 
:wel:
I’m sorry to hear of the missexing. Unfortunately it is common in pet shop or breeder piggies.

You will need to treat her as if she is pregnant and follow the pregnancy guides on this forum accordingly. As well as having a plan for living arrangements going forward.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-and-nursing-diet.109377/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-guide.109375/

It’s good you’ve separated them and they can still interact through the bars only. This will prevent loneliness.

Why is she on baytril? (I assume it’s because of the scratch?)
Antibiotics will often upset their tummies. It is advisable to use a probiotic while on antibiotics. You must also switch from lifelong, routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily while she is on antibiotics. this will enable you to more closely monitor her hay intake (you can’t judge hay intake by eye). You will also need to step in and syringe feed her if she isn’t eating enough hay for herself to stop her from losing weight.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Its quite normal for piggies to not like being handled, generally they aren’t cuddly creatures but it’s not going to have anything to do with the antibiotic itself.
Two weeks is a very short period of time for them to have been with you. It can take weeks, months or sometimes years for them to settle. It’s best to pick them up by herding into a carrier first and then picking up from the carrier. As prey animals, picking them up is scary and most won’t ever like it. Some will eventually like a cuddle (but still won’t like the being picked up part), but not all of them.

New Owners' Most Helpful How-To Guides and Information
 
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:wel:
I’m sorry to hear of the missexing. Unfortunately it is common in pet shop or breeder piggies.

You will need to treat her as if she is pregnant and follow the pregnancy guides on this forum accordingly. As well as having a plan for living arrangements going forward.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-and-nursing-diet.109377/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/pregnancy-guide.109375/

It’s good you’ve separated them and they can still interact through the bars only. This will prevent loneliness.

Why is she on baytril? (I assume it’s because of the scratch?)
Antibiotics will often upset their tummies. It is advisable to use a probiotic while on antibiotics. You must also switch from lifelong, routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh her daily while she is on antibiotics. this will enable you to more closely monitor her hay intake (you can’t judge hay intake by eye). You will also need to step in and syringe feed her if she isn’t eating enough hay for herself to stop her from losing weight.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Its quite normal for piggies to not like being handled, generally they aren’t cuddly creatures but it’s not going to have anything to do with the antibiotic itself.
Two weeks is a very short period of time for them to have been with you. It can take weeks, months or sometimes years for them to settle. It’s best to pick them up by herding into a carrier first and then picking up from the carrier. As prey animals, picking them up is scary and most won’t ever like it. Some will eventually like a cuddle (but still won’t like the being picked up part), but not all of them.

New Owners' Most Helpful How-To Guides and Information
Yes they can still see each other and they interact through the bars

she is on baytril for the scratch wound and her course has now finished so I’m hoping she will go back to eating normal...she has ate much more this morning than all week, I don’t think she’s lost weight if anything she looks big, which was the cause for the pregnancy assumption.

thanks for the reply
 
Have you been weighing her? You can’t judge hay intake by eye.
:wel:
 
Weighing is the only way to monitor their hay intake as it is the largest proportion of the pair daily food intake.
Veg (one cup per pig per day) and pellets (strictly one tablespoon per pig per day) is just a snack so eating those doesn’t really count for much

How old is she? A pregnancy wouldn’t show until the last couple of weeks of the 10 week pregnancy
 
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I agree with everyone above but also want to say that you should check the sex again for yourself too. Sometimes vets can get it wrong and cause panic. It will be good for you to confirm through having a good look yourself. This link should help you: Illustrated sexing guide
 
I agree with everyone above but also want to say that you should check the sex again for yourself too. Sometimes vets can get it wrong and cause panic. It will be good for you to confirm through having a good look yourself. This link should help you: Illustrated sexing guide
I have been stressing about this for a week now, when the vet said she said she herself wasn’t 100% sure that it was a boy as she could not feel testicles, but said they may not have dropped yet, she also said she could not get his penis to come out, but his bits definitely don’t look like a vulva and I’ve looked everyday trying to work it out, but she said separate them Incase it is a boy, he doesn’t seem fazed by the separation as they can both still see each other and chat through the bars
 
Weighing is the only way to monitor their hay intake as it is the largest proportion of the pair daily food intake.
Veg (one cup per pig per day) and pellets (strictly one tablespoon per pig per day) is just a snack so eating those doesn’t really count for much

How old is she? A pregnancy wouldn’t show until the last couple of weeks of the 10 week pregnancy
She is only young, they didn’t give me an age at the pet shop, but from having pigs before I assumed they were 8-10 weeks old due to their size and the vet did not disagree with me.
She seems a lot brighter in her self today and hasn’t stopped eating all morning
 
I’m glad she is eating well now. Do keep up with the weight checks though.

So she could be 10-12 weeks old now and as they have their first season between 4 and 6 weeks of age, then she could be anything up to 6-8 weeks pregnant
 
I’m glad she is eating well now. Do keep up with the weight checks though.

So she could be 10-12 weeks old now and as they have their first season between 4 and 6 weeks of age, then she could be anything up to 6-8 weeks pregnant
I’ve just weighed her and she is 398g so I shall keep a track of her weight from now on
Thanks for the replies
 
Welcome to the forum.
I can’t add anything to the advice already given.
Hope your girl has escaped pregnancy.
 
Welcome to the forum.
I can’t add anything to the advice already given.
Hope your girl has escaped pregnancy.
I hope so too and hopefully when my boy is ready I can get him castrated so they can be together again...I feel awful that they aren’t together at the moment.
Thanks for the reply x
 
I hope so too and hopefully when my boy is ready I can get him castrated so they can be together again...I feel awful that they aren’t together at the moment.
Thanks for the reply x

Being neighbours is the next best thing. They can still communicate through the bars so they aren’t lonely.

Although if she is pregnant and you were planning to keep any pups, then it may not be as simple as Benjie being able to be neutered and live with her again. Future living arrangements would depend entirely on the sexes of any pups numbers of pups which come along. You can only keep one neutered boar to any number of sows. Boar can only live in pairs and boar pairs need a larger cage than a sow pair does (Although any boar pups can stay the same cage with dad until they reach four months of age, they then need to be separated because you can’t keep more than two boars together). Boar pups need separating from their mother (and any sisters) when they are three weeks of age otherwise, they will get their mum and sisters pregnant.
If she had just sow pups, benjie can be neutered and then, after the six weeks post op wait to be infertile, could be bonded back in with mum and daughters (cage size dependent).
 
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