New born guinea pig pups ; mother died (RESOLVED)

[Maureen Las]

Animal control took in two guinea pig pups that were born on Tues; mother died. I have them here becauseI am better able than anyone else at the shelter to help them although I never done this before.
I went on guinea lynx and learned that they are not supposed to have any milk at all; there is nothiing available to replace guinea pig milk. Since they are born fully developed and do have teeth they should start eating solids within a few days.

In the meantime I am trying to feed them small amounts of Critical care mixed with squash baby food with a 1 cc syringe ; giving them pedilayte to drink. (per guinealynx)

Ihave only had them since about 8 pm tonight and they look good but I do not know what to expect with this .

Iplaced this in the Infirmary just in case someone here has actually done this before with pigs.
I already have a thread started on guinealynx but would appreciate assistance from RO from anyone who has knowledge on this

Thanks

Maureen

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

you are doing fine, they do come out ready to go,lol. They will be fine with eating food like a big piggie!!!!!! But i have to add one IMPORTANT thing, is that PICTURES are a must, nothing cuter then a baby piggie. Good luck

 

[mistyjr]

:yeahthat: yeah, Pictures is a must!

 

[Maureen Las]

One of them got diarrhea this AM and died tonight ; I contacted Randy who thought that they should probably have KMR instead of CC, however this conflicts with the guinealynx forum

I think that I actually over fed the one that died; it was the bigger one and ate more.

Iam really a novice at doing this

The little one is still OK but I am worried

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Aww so sorry about the piggy who died Poor little one How is the other one doing?

 

[tonyshuman]

So sorry to hear you lost one, Maureen. I don't have any knowledge of this but want to say I'm rooting for you and the remaining baby. Will it eat without being force-fed, so you know you don't over feed it?

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

is the other one eating pellets on his own? if he is i would stop the CC, no need for critical care if it is eating. So sorry about the loss of the other one, but it happens, even if mom didnt die it could have happened. I dont know about the Milk, i have never read anything about using that for baby piggies, they pretty much come out ready to go, not needing assistance. good luck and keep us updated on the wee lil one

 

[Maureen Las]

if they had a mother they would nurse on and off for 3 weeks in additionthey would begin to eat hay and pellets and greens on their own ; theyDO need additional feeding when they are orphans and they cannot sustain themselves on the little that they take in on their own.
Since I only have one pup left now it is very reclusive and is hiding in a towel. Several people have told me thatI should have another pig butI do not have another pig (we just sent all our small animals to St paul rescue)

Randy mentioned something called Fox valley 32/40 and i just found out thatI can order it on-line; I talked to the owner and he is getting it out today so thatI will get it tomorrow.

I will feed this baby small amounts of CC until then and he actually drank unflavored pedilayte from a 1 cc syringe. he is really samll and not getting bigger which is a concern

http://foxvalleynutrition.com/prod/products.asp?PLID=1

Randy uses this product and the wild life rehabber near me does too
No one on guinealynx told me that you can order this; they are really against milk replacements on that forum

 

[Maureen Las]

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

is the other one eating pellets on his own? if he is i would stop the CC, no need for critical care if it is eating. So sorry about the loss of the other one, but it happens, even if mom didnt die it could have happened. I dont know about the Milk, i have never read anything about using that for baby piggies, they pretty much come out ready to go, not needing assistance. good luck and keep us updated on the wee lil one

Not eating anything on his own although did nibble on a lettuce leaf yesterday before the sibling died.

 

[Maureen Las]

Several people and forums have told me this guinea pig pup needs another pig with her to teach her "the ropes"

We don't have any guinea pigs at our shelter right now , however the manager of Petco here (I know her) gave me a female guinea pig from the store to live with this little one for several weeks to see if it will help.

the little one perked up right away and looked like she was eating a bit of hay and greens.

I am giving the little pup a lot of unflavored pedialyte but she is not taking in much CC. I do not want to force it as much as I did with the one that passed.

the little pig looks good, very small but very perky .

I hope that she can hang on a few more days ; she will have a better chance the older she is.

ray:

tell me never to offer to do this again; I must be addicted to stressing myself out
but William the cat is doing really well.

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

do you know the sex of the baby?

 

[Maureen Las]

the baby is a girl

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Good luck, Maureen! It sounds stressful for sure!

 

[Maureen Las]

I got another young female pig (Rosie) as a companion for Cleo ( the baby)
She is still here and doing well on day 11 of her life. She improved a lot whenI introduced a companion.
She is not gaining enough weight although she looks good and is very lively.

Iam still doing frequent feedings of pedialyte and have combined critical care with almost everything imaginable to get her to like it ( but she doesn't ); she is eating hay on her own and may be eating small amount of pellets on her own ; I am not sure :?
I am spending all my time trying to get her to eat CC

I realize that each day that passes that she has a much greater chance of making it to a point where she is independently eating and drinking on her own.

I have been on guinealynx a lot recently

 

[Maureen Las]

Baby Cleo is 3 weeks old tomorrow; she is now eating on her own and a lively little noisy guinea pig.
I have barely left the house for the last 3 weeks ..fed her every 3 hours during the day
I am very attached to her now but I probably won't keep her; the inn is full and now I have the 2 chinchilla rabbits also.

 

[Kohana]

Good to hear she is doing well! Hopefully she keeps it up

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

glad to hear that she is doing well

 

[luvthempigs]

I just now saw this thread and am wondering if everything turned out okay with the baby guinea pig? I hope so...and thank you so much for taking them in and trying to help them