baby guinea pig age question

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onetwo

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 12:48 am


I was/am having a really bad week. I broke my cell phone (3rd one in 15 months), my fridge konked out on me and I lost $300 in food, I had to leave my home (I'm an agoraphobic) for an appointment in a city I'm not familiar with and I got lost had a major panic attack, my car died and needed a new battery (but had a panic attack about it being more serious) and the heat was making my stomach issues much worse.

So very bad week. Probably the worst time to check out a local shelter, I know. I went to put my app in to foster special needs piggies and saw the cutest baby boy piggy and I adopted him. Now I'm worried that he is younger than they thought he is. They *said* he was 5 weeks (they had him for 7 days) but tonight I noticed that he still has an ambilical stump. So my question is how long does it take a piggies stump to heal up and fall off? Hes eating great. He loves the orchard grass, alfalfa pellets, and veggies. The cage is babyproofed and hes loving the fleece.

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:31 am


I'm sorry you're having a bad week; I hope your luck improves soon.

If he still has an umbilical cord, he has been removed from his mom too soon. Even if he is eating on his own you may want to supplement with hand feeding:
https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html#pups

Cinnabuns Legacy

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:03 am


Oh no. I'm so sorry to hear about your week, and sincerely hope things improve for you. Bless you for taking the little guy, no offense but it sounds like the shelter/staff that evaluated him may not be extremely cavy savvy. Glad to hear he's got a good appetite though.

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akintolife

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:32 am


It does sound like he's younger than the shelter staff said, but it's great that he's eating well.

So sorry to hear about your day though. Panic attacks are the worst (I have an anxiety disorder and suffer from them myself).

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PooksiedAnimals
Supporting my GL Habit

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 6:48 am


How much does he weigh?

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CavyHouse
Supporter in '11

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 12:14 pm


The pups born in our rescue normally weigh 300 grams (2/3 pound) by 3-4 weeks and put weight on quite rapidly after that. Knowing his weight would help, as PA mentioned above.

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onetwo

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 12:32 pm


Not sure how much he weights. I don't have a credit card and over the last 6 months since my scale broke I have bought and returned 4 scales that failed to work properly. We are in the middle of the country so the nearest city is 50+ miles away. Next trip to the city I am GOING to find one.

This is day 2 since I adopted him. Anyone have any guesses on how old he is? I know with human babies the ambilical stump comes off around 7-10 days. I did a complete exam of him last night and that was when I found the tiny hard dry lump in the middle of his tummy. Its dried up but has not fallen off yet. I know he is more than 15 days old because the shelter said his surender date was 7-7-2011. At least thats what is says on the adoption paper.

My boys decided to call him Raichu. They are absolutely obsessed with pokemon. Heres a pic of him...

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mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:00 pm


Adorable! but so tiny. Even though he was clearly taken from his mother too early, if he's active and eating well, I wouldn't worry. I'm sure you know to give him alfalfa pellets or hay for extra nutrition. As Pink Rufus said, extra feedings (Critical Care?) wouldn't hurt.

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LandosMomma

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:36 pm


Oh lord he is tiny! Love the name. He is very cute. Extra feeding will be a must. You know we have had babies with an imbilical stump well into 8 weeks old.

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onetwo

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:42 pm


The hard part about the pellets is trying to keep them away from the other piggies. I have been giving them all unlimited KMs timothy pellets and 3 times a day I take out the baby and give him alfalfa pellets and extra veggies.

He is so cute even his poops are tiny and I find that adorable! At least I know hes pooping a TON and they are perfectly formed. I'm thinking about walking down to my vets and having them weigh him on their scale but its already over 100 degrees and to drive the car such a short distance would be even hotter. He is eating very well and has taken to the other piggies fantastically. If feel bad for him because Twinky is showing his dominance by humping him over and over but when Twinkie's on him you can't even see the poor baby underneath, just hear him crying...

dmppiggie

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 1:46 pm


Pellets should not be given unlimited--about 1/8 cup per pig. Hay is what should be given unlimited.

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onetwo

Post   » Fri Jul 22, 2011 2:29 pm


I know DM I have been giving my piggies 1/8th a day until the baby came around. I wanted him to have unlimited pellets like he is supposed to but everyone else was eating them. Since they aren't over weight I don't see why unlimited pellets for them all will hurt them (i've noticed that the last two days they have eaten 5/8th of a cup between the 4 of them instead of 3/8th a cup between the 3 of them). As long as they are not eating more than 1 cup per day I'm not going to worry. The average is 1/8-1/4 and my piggies have always scarfed their pellets within 30 minutes of them being in the cage. The last 2 days there have been a few left over all day long. I give 1/4 of a cup between 2 bowls and then fill the bowl next to where Raichu likes to lay when its empy which is usually once more later in the day.

They have been eating alot of hay, all of them. Thats unlimited. No worries.

I just want to make sure the baby is doing good since I never had one this little before. I borrowed a friends food scale. Its not digital so I couldn't get a very accurage weight but he is just under 250 grams and is about 6 inches butt to nose.

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