[Gpdd] HEALTH - re: young pregnant pig

[Andrew]

All this talk about very young guinea pigs getting pregnant has reminded me of one of our guinea pigs, Pip.  This happened about 17 years ago.  We got Pip and another guinea pig from a pet shop only to find a few weeks later that both were pregnant.  However, whilst the other guinea pig was quite a bit bigger and seemed to be coping well, we were very worried about Pip.  When we got her she was really tiny, hardly bigger than a hamster.  About 6 weeks after we got her she started having real problems walking.  She was just so tiny that the weight of her huge stomach couldn't be supported by her tiny legs.  Although she was still eating very well, she wouldn't drink so we had to give her plenty of fresh food and bread and milk to make sure she didn't dehydrate.  We knew she could have another 2 or 3 weeks to go before she delivered and we were getting really worried about her.  We kept her indoors where we could keep a constant eye on her and fed her everything she'd eat.  Al!
 though she continued to eat well, the situation with her walking didn't improve and she had real difficulty getting around.  We were worried that she wouldn't be able to give birth naturally and that, because she had probably got pregnant either at the breeders or at the pet shop that the babies would be weak and inbred.  However, eventually one morning when we got up we found her with 3 babies.  Honestly, these babies looked almost as big as her.  She was up and running around as if nothing had happened.  Sadly one baby died at about 10 days old but the other two lived good long lives.  Pip also lived fine after that.  She was always small but was perfectly healthy.  I think although it's far from ideal for a guinea pig to get pregnant at this very young age, most cope very well with it.  If she does turn out to be pregnant, just feed her up well and let her get on with it.  I'm sure she'll  manage fine.