The Importance of Rescue over Retail
Earlier this year, in May, we were alerted to a large group of guinea pigs brought to one of the local shelters. There were males and females, all together and allowed to breed indiscriminately. They were all in a bad state, with malnutrition, hair loss, dull eyes, upper respiratory infections, ringworm, and the whole gamut!
Over the years, we have specialized in taking in larger groups of pregnant females, knowing exactly what they need and how to give them the best care. So, this group shouldn't be any different, right? All the females were young, and the earlier into their pregnancy they arrive at the rescue, the better their outcome, as they have time to stabilize their strength and health before the babies are born.
Annabella was just one of the 20 in that group. She was also unusually tame for a feral pig that had been left to her own devices. In the following weeks, I watched her, and her family get healthier and stronger with each passing day. She also became HUGE. She was so large that I took a picture showing her big belly a day before the American 4th of July holiday to post on social media and ask our followers to guess how many babies she might have in there.
I had picked her up a few days earlier and must admit that I felt uneasy when I felt her tummy. I was not able to discern individual bodies as I can with normal pregnancies, and my heart sank a little. Perhaps she had a very large baby in there as well.
The next day, July 4th, she went into labor. It was just me and Avery holding down the fort, and Avery came rushing inside the ranch house to get me.
I ran to where Annabella was in the nursery, and she had managed all by herself to give birth to an absolute giant stillborn and underdeveloped baby. I removed the afterbirth and examined it, and it did not look healthy - mothers will usually eat the afterbirth, but I did not feel that she should be eating this one. My sense was that these babies had died inside her, perhaps several days ago.
After feeling her tummy, it was obvious there was another baby still in there, and it felt even bigger than the one she had managed to birth herself. Normally, guinea pig mamas have their babies in rapid succession. There is no break until the next one comes (unlike dogs and cats). But Annabella showed no sign of further labor and still had this enormous baby inside that needed to come out, or she would die. At this point, I realized her life was in real danger, and there was very little hope of a happy ending.
It was also Independence Day, a major holiday in the USA, and it seemed that ALL the vets were celebrating and unavailable. Annabella needed Oxytocin (a hormone given intravenously to start or strengthen contractions during labor), and without it, she would have little chance. It was reassuring that she still had a ravenous appetite and did not appear distressed.
And then it happened. She started having more contractions hours after the first baby. A miracle, really! But she was having a really hard time, and just a small piece of a baby's head was showing!
I picked her up and worked with her with every contraction to gently pull the baby out. It was so big! I do not believe I had ever seen a baby THAT LARGE come out of a small five-month-old guinea pig mama.
The next five minutes were extremely traumatic. I have never assisted in a birth this complicated, urgent, and dangerous to the mommy pig. I managed to keep my cool and gently worked with Annabella to get the baby out bit by bit with every contraction she had. You cannot just pull at a baby; you must wait for the contraction, or a lot of damage can be done to the mom. After just a few minutes, which seemed like agonizing hours, the baby rushed out with a lot of pinkish liquid. The table was covered; we were covered. And this baby was also absolutely huge.
Right after the baby came out, Annabella rushed over to lick it. Mother instincts are amazing. While tears were streaming down our faces, we watched as I gave her a few important moments with her poor deceased baby.
I am a veteran, having spent more than 25 years caring for and running a guinea pig rescue, and even I was shaken and traumatized.
Annabella took a course of antibiotics and was later declared 100% healthy. Not long after this, she found a new loving and forever home.
This story still distresses me to remember and write about, even though it was over a year ago. I’m not sure I will ever get over it, and I hope I never experience anything like it again.
Over the years, we have specialized in taking in larger groups of pregnant females, knowing exactly what they need and how to give them the best care. So, this group shouldn't be any different, right? All the females were young, and the earlier into their pregnancy they arrive at the rescue, the better their outcome, as they have time to stabilize their strength and health before the babies are born.
Annabella was just one of the 20 in that group. She was also unusually tame for a feral pig that had been left to her own devices. In the following weeks, I watched her, and her family get healthier and stronger with each passing day. She also became HUGE. She was so large that I took a picture showing her big belly a day before the American 4th of July holiday to post on social media and ask our followers to guess how many babies she might have in there.
I had picked her up a few days earlier and must admit that I felt uneasy when I felt her tummy. I was not able to discern individual bodies as I can with normal pregnancies, and my heart sank a little. Perhaps she had a very large baby in there as well.
The next day, July 4th, she went into labor. It was just me and Avery holding down the fort, and Avery came rushing inside the ranch house to get me.
I ran to where Annabella was in the nursery, and she had managed all by herself to give birth to an absolute giant stillborn and underdeveloped baby. I removed the afterbirth and examined it, and it did not look healthy - mothers will usually eat the afterbirth, but I did not feel that she should be eating this one. My sense was that these babies had died inside her, perhaps several days ago.
After feeling her tummy, it was obvious there was another baby still in there, and it felt even bigger than the one she had managed to birth herself. Normally, guinea pig mamas have their babies in rapid succession. There is no break until the next one comes (unlike dogs and cats). But Annabella showed no sign of further labor and still had this enormous baby inside that needed to come out, or she would die. At this point, I realized her life was in real danger, and there was very little hope of a happy ending.
It was also Independence Day, a major holiday in the USA, and it seemed that ALL the vets were celebrating and unavailable. Annabella needed Oxytocin (a hormone given intravenously to start or strengthen contractions during labor), and without it, she would have little chance. It was reassuring that she still had a ravenous appetite and did not appear distressed.
And then it happened. She started having more contractions hours after the first baby. A miracle, really! But she was having a really hard time, and just a small piece of a baby's head was showing!
I picked her up and worked with her with every contraction to gently pull the baby out. It was so big! I do not believe I had ever seen a baby THAT LARGE come out of a small five-month-old guinea pig mama.
The next five minutes were extremely traumatic. I have never assisted in a birth this complicated, urgent, and dangerous to the mommy pig. I managed to keep my cool and gently worked with Annabella to get the baby out bit by bit with every contraction she had. You cannot just pull at a baby; you must wait for the contraction, or a lot of damage can be done to the mom. After just a few minutes, which seemed like agonizing hours, the baby rushed out with a lot of pinkish liquid. The table was covered; we were covered. And this baby was also absolutely huge.
Right after the baby came out, Annabella rushed over to lick it. Mother instincts are amazing. While tears were streaming down our faces, we watched as I gave her a few important moments with her poor deceased baby.
I am a veteran, having spent more than 25 years caring for and running a guinea pig rescue, and even I was shaken and traumatized.
Annabella took a course of antibiotics and was later declared 100% healthy. Not long after this, she found a new loving and forever home.
This story still distresses me to remember and write about, even though it was over a year ago. I’m not sure I will ever get over it, and I hope I never experience anything like it again.
