[Gpdd] HEALTH: Re: petstore pregnancies

[Ann Waite]

*raises hand*   We had a petstore pregnancy - My daughter got Cookie Dough
last year from a reputable pet store in the area and then we found she was
awwwwwwwwfully big a month down the road.  A friend with lots of animal
experience said she was sure Cookie was preggers so I called the petstore to
talk to their small animal specialist (at the time I didn't know anyone else
with piggies).  She said to bring Cookie in and took one look and said "Oh
yeah, she's pregnant alright".  They offered to take the babies after they
were ready to be weaned (but not until 6 weeks *rolling my eyes*)  And I
hated to see them profit off of it when I incurred the cost of a vet visit
(Cookie had mastitis after the babies had mostly weaned - I worried that I
had removed the boys too soon - I removed them just before 4 weeks cause
they were rumblestrutting but the vet assured me that it was just luck of
the draw and that they were well ready to be gone from mom).  And then of
course there was the cost of things like extra water bottles etc etc to be
able to separate them out.  I placed the two boys myself with some help from
the internet) and we kept Fudge Sauce (aka Saucy) to keep Mom company.
Cookie even gets occasional notes from one of them :)  The store didn't keep
the kind of records that would tell me when she came into the store.....and
unfortunately the month and a half between our buying Cookie and confirming
her pregnancy they couldn't remember how long they had had her in the store
so we were unable to guess whether she had gotten pregnant back at the
breeders or at the store.