Post by kaos_kat on Oct 13, 2005 10:25:52 GMT -5
My name is Kat and I own a small caviary called Rainbow Guinea Pigs. I currently have 16 piggies, all of whom are very loved. A week and a half ago RGP welcomed its 5th litter into the world. I would like to tell everyone about it.....
Bastian and Little Soli were in perfect condition prior to breeding. Everything went well and after breeding they were seperated. Little Soli was given the best of care through out her pregnancy. She was in with her mother and a non-breeding female so they could help with delivery.
Little Soli remained visibly healthy until 10 days before her due date. Friday at 1 am when I went to check on her before going to bed, she lay in her cage unable to get up or even move very much. She appeared very near death. Earlier that night she had been fine and fighting with her mom over their pigloo. The vet would not open until 9 am and even then it was an hour away. My first fear was pregnancy toxemia but after double checking, the sypmtoms weren't right. I quickly contacted a breeder friend and a few forums and other friends. With their help we decided it was most likely hypocalcemia and I needed to get calcium in her quickly. I crushed half a tablet, mixed it in water and gave it to her by syringe. I was nervous and very upset. I twitched and squirted it too fast. The liquid blocked her airway. All my mind kept thinking was dump her upside down and shake her like in cartoons, but I had enough sense not to do that. The only other thing I could think of was to suck it out. I quickly grabbed her face, put my mouth around her nose and mouth and sucked in a quick breath. Thank God it worked. I felt terrible, but I knew I still had to get the rest of the calcium into her. So I continued and then carefully laid her down after the syringe was empty. She improved a bit. By now it was 5:30 am and I still hadn't been to bed. I set her up in a box next to me a slept for about 2 and a half hours. I woke up and she had reverted back to her previous state, but was still alive. I cried and sat next to her on my bed until 9 am. Then I quickly called the vet only to discover he was on vacation. There are VERY few piggy vets in this area and I knew if I didn't find one quickly, she wouldn't live. I called every vet office I knew of that didn't accept piggies and asked for references. None were helpful. I pulled out the phone book and started calling around. I found one but they were already very backed up from several emergency surgeries already and couldn't see her. they did refer me to a different hospital though. Thankfully they could see her. Unfortunantly they were 2 hours away and by now it was 10 am. It would now be 11 hours before she could get to the vet. We loaded her up and took her as soon as I hung up. It was a horribly long ride. I'd been to this city many times before and it never seemed as long as it did this time. Every red light seemed to stay red for hours. We got the vet and went straight back. Everyone there fell in love with this sweet mommy to be pig. We waited in a room for another eternity. The vet suspected my worst fear, pregnancy toxemia. It devestated me. I knew that they rarely recover from it. It was decided the most likely cause was she couldn't eat as much at a time because of the pups pressing on her stomach and her room mates were eating her share of the food before she could. The vet gave her a fluid injection in her back to keep her hydrated and to flush the poisons from her system. I have a severe problem with needles, just seeing them makes me lightheaded and actually seeing them used causes me to pass out, and now I was being sent home with a bunch of needles and an IV bag of fluids to inject into my precious piggy twice a day. I thought I could do it since Little Soli needed me. I was wrong. Luckily my mother was there to help me with it. If my mother stuck her, I could stay concious long enough to squirt the 30 cc of liquid into her back. Immediately afterwards I had to lay down. Little Soli got to feeling better and would scream bloody murder the whole time and it broke my heart. She was also on NutriCal and dextrose and at the advice of my friends calcium in pineapple juice. She was seperated from her cagemates when we returned home from the vet. She improved quickly and it was decided that it was not toxemia but hypocalcemia and hypoglycemia. On Monday I was allowed to stop the injections much to my and Little Soli's relief. However she was still on the other meds until delivery. She stayed healthy until her due date.
We had quite a bit of trouble with delivery. If I hadn't been there we would have lost mom and all of the pups. The second baby was a stillborn, that I believe died when Soli got so sick and didn't develop completely. There was no hope, he/she was like playdoh. The last pup was fairly large and was in the uterus too long. He was one of the strongest and the one whose heartbeat I felt. It was hard to let him go, but after over 10 minutes of trying to revive him I had to accept it. They have been named Loni and Atreyu. Atreyu was male and Loni, there was no way to tell. Atreyu was both broken black, cream, and white like his father and Loni was broken black and cream. The first pup is the largest of the surviving pups but still on the smaller side of normal sized. He is a broken pink eyed lilac and white (oh so close to the rainbow I was hoping for). He is male I will of course check and double check over the next few weeks to be certain and he has been dubbed Mordecai. The third born was very tiny. She is a self pink eyed white sow. Her name is Keoki. The fourth born had her rump stuck in her mum for a bit long and she kinda jerked her around a bit while I was trying to help her get her out. She had a bit of trouble with her back feet for a bit but they are ok now. Just took a bit longer to make them work than normal. She, like her sister, was extremely small. She is broken golden agouti, red, and white and a sow. She is called Isabel. At first Little Soli was not caring for them at all. I had to pull them out of their bags and get them breathing and cleaned up. I had to shake the fluid out of their lungs and breath into their mouths and noses. I had a friend call and help me through it. I'm really glad she was there. Luckily I succeeded and they are all doing well now. After a rest and a few veggies mom started caring for them. I supplemented her with calcium in pineapple juice, dextrose, and nutrical during delivery when she was having such trouble with the last pup (he was in there forever and I couldn't do much but cheer her on because he was out of my reach). Her contractions were so strong they were jerking her off of her feet. She was getting too weak and tired. The supplements gave her enough strength to get through getting him out. She is doing well now and she's strong and active. The 3 surviving pups are doing well too.....
My advice to all would-be breeders, is this. Unless you are serious about breeding, don't. This is not a casual thing or something to just do without reason or concern. If you just want a few more piggies, adopt. If you want to watch an animal birth, turn on Animal Planet. However, if you are serious about breeding and are willing to do it the right way and for the right reasons, RESEARCH. It can not be stated enough how important that is. If I hadn't known what to do or where to go for information, Little Soli and her pups would not have made it. When there is trouble it is too late to do a google search. You need to already have reference websites bookmarked, pages printed out, and experienced breeder friends to contact. It can't be expected of anyone to remember all of the things that can go wrong during pregnancy, however you should know exactly where to go to get the information and have already read it previously so that it sticks when you need it. I knew the things that could go wrong and in my head realized I would someday have to face them, but naively my heart believed if I was just extra careful and made sure everything was perfect, I'd have no trouble. I'm afraid alot of new breeders feel that way and I want to warn them. Even if every single thing you do is right, things can still go very wrong. I did everything I could to make everything perfect for Little Soli and this still happened. I am VERY careful about my pregnant sows' care, in fact fellow breeders have said that I go overboard in my precautions. That is probably the reason that my first 4 went so smoothly, but all the precautions in the world can't prevent everything. PLEASE remember that. This happened with my 5th litter, but it could just as easily have happened on my 1st.
Also, to all current and future breeders, please do not leave your sows close to their due date for any length of time. I missed two previous births and luckily they had no trouble. However, Little Soli's delivery taught me how fast things can go wrong. If I had not been home they all would have died. Luckily after her problems I refused to go anywhere until she had them. I hate to think what I would have come home to if I had picked that 15 minutes to run to the store.
-kkat
Mordecai, Keoki, and Isabel just after being born and revived
Little Soli cleaning her pups after she recovered from her traumatic experience
Little Soli feeding her new babies.
Isabel, Keoki, and Mordecai having their first "official" pictures taken hours after birth
Isabel, Mordecai, and Keoki gettting their second "official" pictures taken at a few days old
Bastian and Little Soli were in perfect condition prior to breeding. Everything went well and after breeding they were seperated. Little Soli was given the best of care through out her pregnancy. She was in with her mother and a non-breeding female so they could help with delivery.
Little Soli remained visibly healthy until 10 days before her due date. Friday at 1 am when I went to check on her before going to bed, she lay in her cage unable to get up or even move very much. She appeared very near death. Earlier that night she had been fine and fighting with her mom over their pigloo. The vet would not open until 9 am and even then it was an hour away. My first fear was pregnancy toxemia but after double checking, the sypmtoms weren't right. I quickly contacted a breeder friend and a few forums and other friends. With their help we decided it was most likely hypocalcemia and I needed to get calcium in her quickly. I crushed half a tablet, mixed it in water and gave it to her by syringe. I was nervous and very upset. I twitched and squirted it too fast. The liquid blocked her airway. All my mind kept thinking was dump her upside down and shake her like in cartoons, but I had enough sense not to do that. The only other thing I could think of was to suck it out. I quickly grabbed her face, put my mouth around her nose and mouth and sucked in a quick breath. Thank God it worked. I felt terrible, but I knew I still had to get the rest of the calcium into her. So I continued and then carefully laid her down after the syringe was empty. She improved a bit. By now it was 5:30 am and I still hadn't been to bed. I set her up in a box next to me a slept for about 2 and a half hours. I woke up and she had reverted back to her previous state, but was still alive. I cried and sat next to her on my bed until 9 am. Then I quickly called the vet only to discover he was on vacation. There are VERY few piggy vets in this area and I knew if I didn't find one quickly, she wouldn't live. I called every vet office I knew of that didn't accept piggies and asked for references. None were helpful. I pulled out the phone book and started calling around. I found one but they were already very backed up from several emergency surgeries already and couldn't see her. they did refer me to a different hospital though. Thankfully they could see her. Unfortunantly they were 2 hours away and by now it was 10 am. It would now be 11 hours before she could get to the vet. We loaded her up and took her as soon as I hung up. It was a horribly long ride. I'd been to this city many times before and it never seemed as long as it did this time. Every red light seemed to stay red for hours. We got the vet and went straight back. Everyone there fell in love with this sweet mommy to be pig. We waited in a room for another eternity. The vet suspected my worst fear, pregnancy toxemia. It devestated me. I knew that they rarely recover from it. It was decided the most likely cause was she couldn't eat as much at a time because of the pups pressing on her stomach and her room mates were eating her share of the food before she could. The vet gave her a fluid injection in her back to keep her hydrated and to flush the poisons from her system. I have a severe problem with needles, just seeing them makes me lightheaded and actually seeing them used causes me to pass out, and now I was being sent home with a bunch of needles and an IV bag of fluids to inject into my precious piggy twice a day. I thought I could do it since Little Soli needed me. I was wrong. Luckily my mother was there to help me with it. If my mother stuck her, I could stay concious long enough to squirt the 30 cc of liquid into her back. Immediately afterwards I had to lay down. Little Soli got to feeling better and would scream bloody murder the whole time and it broke my heart. She was also on NutriCal and dextrose and at the advice of my friends calcium in pineapple juice. She was seperated from her cagemates when we returned home from the vet. She improved quickly and it was decided that it was not toxemia but hypocalcemia and hypoglycemia. On Monday I was allowed to stop the injections much to my and Little Soli's relief. However she was still on the other meds until delivery. She stayed healthy until her due date.
We had quite a bit of trouble with delivery. If I hadn't been there we would have lost mom and all of the pups. The second baby was a stillborn, that I believe died when Soli got so sick and didn't develop completely. There was no hope, he/she was like playdoh. The last pup was fairly large and was in the uterus too long. He was one of the strongest and the one whose heartbeat I felt. It was hard to let him go, but after over 10 minutes of trying to revive him I had to accept it. They have been named Loni and Atreyu. Atreyu was male and Loni, there was no way to tell. Atreyu was both broken black, cream, and white like his father and Loni was broken black and cream. The first pup is the largest of the surviving pups but still on the smaller side of normal sized. He is a broken pink eyed lilac and white (oh so close to the rainbow I was hoping for). He is male I will of course check and double check over the next few weeks to be certain and he has been dubbed Mordecai. The third born was very tiny. She is a self pink eyed white sow. Her name is Keoki. The fourth born had her rump stuck in her mum for a bit long and she kinda jerked her around a bit while I was trying to help her get her out. She had a bit of trouble with her back feet for a bit but they are ok now. Just took a bit longer to make them work than normal. She, like her sister, was extremely small. She is broken golden agouti, red, and white and a sow. She is called Isabel. At first Little Soli was not caring for them at all. I had to pull them out of their bags and get them breathing and cleaned up. I had to shake the fluid out of their lungs and breath into their mouths and noses. I had a friend call and help me through it. I'm really glad she was there. Luckily I succeeded and they are all doing well now. After a rest and a few veggies mom started caring for them. I supplemented her with calcium in pineapple juice, dextrose, and nutrical during delivery when she was having such trouble with the last pup (he was in there forever and I couldn't do much but cheer her on because he was out of my reach). Her contractions were so strong they were jerking her off of her feet. She was getting too weak and tired. The supplements gave her enough strength to get through getting him out. She is doing well now and she's strong and active. The 3 surviving pups are doing well too.....
My advice to all would-be breeders, is this. Unless you are serious about breeding, don't. This is not a casual thing or something to just do without reason or concern. If you just want a few more piggies, adopt. If you want to watch an animal birth, turn on Animal Planet. However, if you are serious about breeding and are willing to do it the right way and for the right reasons, RESEARCH. It can not be stated enough how important that is. If I hadn't known what to do or where to go for information, Little Soli and her pups would not have made it. When there is trouble it is too late to do a google search. You need to already have reference websites bookmarked, pages printed out, and experienced breeder friends to contact. It can't be expected of anyone to remember all of the things that can go wrong during pregnancy, however you should know exactly where to go to get the information and have already read it previously so that it sticks when you need it. I knew the things that could go wrong and in my head realized I would someday have to face them, but naively my heart believed if I was just extra careful and made sure everything was perfect, I'd have no trouble. I'm afraid alot of new breeders feel that way and I want to warn them. Even if every single thing you do is right, things can still go very wrong. I did everything I could to make everything perfect for Little Soli and this still happened. I am VERY careful about my pregnant sows' care, in fact fellow breeders have said that I go overboard in my precautions. That is probably the reason that my first 4 went so smoothly, but all the precautions in the world can't prevent everything. PLEASE remember that. This happened with my 5th litter, but it could just as easily have happened on my 1st.
Also, to all current and future breeders, please do not leave your sows close to their due date for any length of time. I missed two previous births and luckily they had no trouble. However, Little Soli's delivery taught me how fast things can go wrong. If I had not been home they all would have died. Luckily after her problems I refused to go anywhere until she had them. I hate to think what I would have come home to if I had picked that 15 minutes to run to the store.
-kkat
Mordecai, Keoki, and Isabel just after being born and revived
Little Soli cleaning her pups after she recovered from her traumatic experience
Little Soli feeding her new babies.
Isabel, Keoki, and Mordecai having their first "official" pictures taken hours after birth
Isabel, Mordecai, and Keoki gettting their second "official" pictures taken at a few days old
