I never thought to ask this one here but as someone else has asked about rabbits I thought I would give it a go.  My guniea pig gave birth to four babies but they were all born dead.  I had taken her to the vets as I saw some blood and was concerned but she said nothing was wrong.  Do you think the stress of going to the vets caused it?  I love gunieas and my son is very upset.

maby a little afterbirth?
Im afraid ive never bred rabbits or guinnea pigs, only rats and dogs. Could you telephone another vet in the area for a second opinion? I know if im not happy with a vet i go to their competition and make sure the origional vet knows full well that i not happy.
I think i just like to complain, but, if it were me id make a call. For the sake of 50p you could find out whether the bleeding is normal, like a little late afterbirth or something, or something to worry about.

Was it her first litter? Did you see them being born dead, or did you discover it later? Guinea-pigs are very sensitive animals, and the stress of the vet visit could have caused her to kill the babies when they arrived. It's very sad when this happens, isn't it? Tell your son how sorry I am.

I think you may have misread the message thedark.  I think it is very hard to say if the visit caused it, whether it did or not I would not feel responsible as obviously if you had concerns you had no choice but to consult the vet.  I'm not sure but I think it was quite a large litter for a guinea pig, maybe that was the problem.  I'm very sorry it happened though they are such lovable creatures.

Four babies sounds like a lot for a GP They normally only have one or two - how old was she?  I think I'm right in saying that GP's should have their babies as soon as possible after becoming physically able as their pelvic bones fuse....  A little blood after birth sounds quite normal BTW

Actually, four isn't that unusual for piggies, but you're right to say they should have their first litter when they're under 6 months old because of the problems caused by the pelvic bones fusing.

Was the blood seen before the birth or after?

Yes i did, sorry lol

It's all too easy to get hold of the wrong end of the stick on these boards isn't it? ;)

Its just me being stoopid lol
I do agree though, i usually get the soggy end lol

Hi thomas the spot,

We have eight guinea pigs at the moment.  It isn't unusual for them to have four or above.  Were you there when they were born?  Its just that last year we had two guinea pigs who were sisters and they were both pregnant and gave birth to their babies within two days of each other in my daughters bedroom.  They both had four guinea pigs but one of the first litter died because the mother was still attending to the one before and I had popped downstairs and my daughter ran down and said that she wasn't bothering with the one that had just been born.  I ran upstairs and the baby was still in the bag which the mother hadn't taken off and it died.  My daughter was really upset.  Were your babies still in the bag and thats why they could have died or were they actually dead as they were born?

Unfortunately both the mothers died when the piggies were less than a week old so we had to feed them on lactol milk (although they can eat guinea pig food soon after birth because they are born with teeth)  which they seemed to love and they all survived and grew into healthy strong guinea pigs.  I wouldn't have thought going to the vets would have killed your guinea pigs.  How is the mother is she okay now?

She wouldn't have killed the babies herself, guinea pigs aren't like hamsters they are quite happy for you to handle their young without harming them.

I had guineapigs when I was young, and one of mine gave birth to 3 babies while I wasn't with her and didn't tear the sacs from any of them, so they all died.  She gave birth to the last one while I was there, and I ripped the sac for her as she didn't seem to know what to do, and that one was fine.  Maybe it was a similar problem with your guineapig.

Thanks everyone for your help.  It was her first litter.  She hadnt broke the bags open which makes me suspect they died before they were born. Although obviously she might not have known what she was doing I suppose.  I have had gunieas for years they are such lovely little things and we actually got sold a boy that was supposed to be a girl !!! There are two of them having babies at present but the other one looks slightly behind.  They are probably around 6 months which I know is within the danger period and she obviously passed them okay and is fine in herself.  I got a complete bimbo for a vet who had no idea if it was normal or not.  Does anyone know if there is guniea pig equivelent of champdogs.  There is so little information about these kinds of problems.  Mind you I had to laugh when she said she wanted to scan her.  She would have had to take half her fur of her belly and the shock of that would definately have killed her.  I just feel awful as Robert was the one who found them.  Not very nice for a child.

It does sound like she did not open the sacs, not sure you can blame the vet as things were probably normal when they saw her it just went wrong at the birth by the sounds of things.  In nature it does sometimes take animals a birth or two before they get it right.

Sorry Isobel but if I pay £18.00 for a consultation I do not expect the vet to stand there and say I dont know what to do or say.  Then just get some information faxed over from a collegue which said what I already knew.  I dont blame her for the babies death as obviously there was something wrong but she was a qualified vet so therefore should have been able to diagnose.

I know you're upset, T-t-S, but would you rather the vet had lied to you? Diagnositics, even in people who can tell you their symptoms and how they feel, is a difficult skill, and there are still 'mystery illnesses' that aren't in any of the textbooks. In many cases for specialist information (as with poultry, for example) you need a specialist vet.

I think it is as JG says.  I don't think you can say it was something obviously wrong, we can't know for sure but it sounds very much to me as though the mother did not open the sacs up, young cannot open them themselves, but at the time of the vets visit they may very well have been perfectly OK.  It also sounds to me the vet tried very hard to confirm they were OK, consulting another colleague, offering a scan, not sure what else you would have liked? 

I am sorry guys but I totally disagree.  I went with a GP not a rare animal.  Presumably a vets training covers small animals? I know diagnoses is not easy but I have seen many vets over the years with all my small animals and not once have I ever experienced anything like this.  They have all been able to say yes something is normal or no something is not.  She did not have a clue and with something so basic as this I think I am justified in my feelings. Even the Vetinary nurse knew bleeding was not normal as did I.  I have already said Isabel I dont blame the vet for the babies death.  The main thing is that Ruby is okay now which is all that really matters to me and I have found some of the postings useful.

Fortunately I have now found a Cavy specialist centre based in Huntingdon in a book so I shall be ringing to find out if there are any vets in the area who specialise.

Hmmm...Its been heard of for vets to give GP's penicillin - which is fatal - by mistake.  Thats the problem with vets, they are expected to know so much about so many things :(

If you Google search try under Cavies the correct name for piggies.

Yes it does sound as if she wasn't sure what to do and just left the guinea pigs in their sacs and they suffocated.  I had a rabbit (who I didn't even know was pregnant because the garden centre where I got it said it was a boy) and that got pregnant by my male french lop who used to hop round the garden because he refused to be caged, and he let my two other rabbits out of their cages (both female it turns out) and got them pregnant.  I went to the cage one day and just found the baby rabbits still in their sacs.  The other rabbit also had babies and they died and then the mother died too a few days later. 

There is a site for Peter Guerney on the internet who is a well-known guinea pig breeder who writes books.

We also had that problem with Rabbits.  We got a boy that was supposed to be a girl.  He lived for nearly 2 years with the girls and then one day I went out and found them in a bale of straw which was in the run.  Unfortunately he had also got the female pregnant again.  I kept them all but it cost me a fortune to have them neatured.  I lost the last one of them two weeks ago.  I just didnt feel it was fair to sell them on to someone who would just leave them in a cage for the rest of their lives so they all lived together in a colony.  We have now got the GPs as this area is awful for Mytsi and even though I have mine jabbed I have still lost 3 to it.

I love gp's i wish i could have them ,but im not sure the dogs would be happy,
My friend has one who she bought from the pet shop , then one morning she woke up and the kids said'' someone has left a guniea pig baby in pippins cage and it looks just like piipin'' whoops  !!

Peter Gurney's advice is always spot on, i have used his books like a bible with our guinea pigs :)

Lindsay
x

I am a show breeder of guinea pigs and have been for 25years.
Dont worry about your sow (female) sometimes this happens loosing a whole litter. Give her a rest to get her back into condition, then put her back with the boar (male) she should be fine the next time.
Sometimes they are frightened of their own babies, they dont know what they are, and so wont clean them up when they are born, then the babies die. When they are frightened they can trample over them they dont mean to hurt them, just trying to get out of the way.

When she is in pig (pregnant) with her next litter, as soon as she starts
to show (noticable pregnant) handle her as little as possible, and keep her in a quite room.
If you see her giving birth then leave her and the babies along, give her her favorate food eg carrots - cabbage etc with hay, dried food & water, and cover the cage with newspaper to give her some privetcy, and no peaking to see how she is getting on.
Leave her for 24hours, she should have bonded with her babies and every thing should be ok.
I always clean out the cage the next day giving her fresh shavings and hay.
I only handle my new born babies for a few seconds each day to check that their eyes are not closed, if they are I wet a piece of cotton wool with warm water to gently open the eyes and apply golden eye ointment usually for a couple of days, which you can get from the chemist.
I wean my babies at 4weeks by removing the mother, and sell any between 6-8weeks old.

I hope this helps.