I have a few questions

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JodiMN

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:48 pm


I will have to post a new thread when he joins our house and Jeffy.

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JodiMN

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:51 pm


What about quarantine?

He is in a great foster home now and has gone through quarantine and several doses of Ivermectin as a precautionary . He is well and healthy.

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JodiMN

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:52 pm


Here's a thread to look at regarding him and other she has for adoption.

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=13885

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Red Blur
Chocolate Giver

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:56 pm


He's adorable!

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Stacy
Supporter in '11

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:37 pm


Jasper is a gorgeous pig! I love his hair. Congratulations Jodi!

pinta

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 2:42 pm


Dominic, a rescue pig from a couple of years ago(?) is thrilled with Raychelle, one of my most recent rescue pigs. He's in love with her and has no competition. Last time he had his eyes on a sow, she was already bonded to another boar and spurned his advances sending him into days long sulks.

One thing not mentioned about breeding your own pigs is genetics. You could be breeding a family of heart pigs or breeding pigs that will suffer down the line from inbreeding and genetic weakness.

ChadWPB

Post   » Wed Jul 28, 2004 3:17 pm


Pinta, your pigs remind me of Snuggles and Marilyn, our honeymooning pigs. Snuggles always sleeps near or next to Marilyn and vice versa. If Princess (diva sow) picks on Marilyn, he'll step in on her behalf. We noticed this bond developing before they were even allowed to be together while Snuggles was recovering from his neuter. They were in adjoining cages at the time.

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kirbygirl

Post   » Thu Jul 29, 2004 12:58 am


Actually Lisam, I am home most of the time. I'm homeschooled, my mom is a stay at home mom, and there is always at least one of us staying home to make sure the dog doesn't try to bother the guinea pig. So I really don't think she'll be too lonely.

The reason I decided I wanted a guinea pig is because I came onto the cavy cages site, then on to guinea lynx and learned a lot about them. I didn't think I'd get one for a long time, but when we had to put our hound dog to sleep, and I was feeling really sad, so to cheer me up, my mom bought me a guinea pig.

By the way, jasper is a very cute piggie. Love his hair! :)

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SusieQ
Scrapbook Addict

Post   » Thu Jul 29, 2004 2:00 am


Orvis, I just want to post a story for you. Maybe it will help someone else, too. I believe eventually Teresa said it will wind up on CavySpirit when she has time.

My boyfriend and I wanted to get some pets to cheer up our apartment, and after doing some research we decided on guinea pigs. We went to our local pet store and purchased the only pig there, who we named Dixie. The store staff assured us he was female, since they only sold females. We went to another store and bought a pretty sow who we named Mittens. Again, we were assured she was female.

A week later we noticed they were ill, and brought them to the vet. The vet treated them, and sexed them, and told us yes, we had females.

A few weeks later, Dixie and Mittens were fine. We added another sow, Ellie, to our herd, and we were happy with three pigs. After a while, we noticed that Mittens was very fat, and we started to get concerned. We were told that her pear shape might be normal, since we "knew" that she hadn't been with males.

On April 30, 2003, Mittens delivered 3 healthy pups. When I came home and saw them, I was in shock- this wasn't possible! We resexed all of our pigs carefully, and discovered Dixie was male. We separated him while the babies
were still wet, but it was too late; Mittens was pregnant again.

Ellie delivered 3 pups with some difficulty on May 25, 2003. She was very young and scared, and needed help unwrapping her pups from the birth sac. We noticed that one pup was considerably smaller and seemed weaker than the other two. He didn't bounce around and popcorn, and his wheek was a little reedy.

Mittens' second litter came on July 8, 2003. Four pups were born, and three survived. Out of the nine pups, we had 6 boys and 3 girls. The 3 girls stayed with us, and I found good homes for the boys.

In December 2003, one of my adopters called to let me know that the boar she adopted from me (named Jack) died, diagnosis congenital heart defect. We were devastated to hear about it, but hoped it was just an anomaly since he
was a runt and had failed to thrive the way the other pups did. He was six months old when he died.

In March-April 2004, I noticed one of Mittens' pups (named Bandit) was breathing very heavily, almost a hooting sound. We took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. At barely one year old, she
would be on medications for the rest of her life. She's also at a heightened risk if she ever needs to be put under anesthesia, because of the heart problems. Her condition isn't curable; we can only keep it at bay with the medication and hope she can live a normal life.

In May 2004, a second pup, full sister to Bandit and half sister to Jack, is displaying the same symptoms as Bandit, and she will also need to be put on the same medications for the rest of her life. At the same time, we found out that Dixie and Mittens also suffered from the same condition. I now have 4 heart pigs and have been in contact with the owners of the other pups to let them know about the genetic problems.

I never intended to breed these pigs, and I feel horrible that this happened and thankful that both sows survived with the loss of only one pup. However, I feel worse that I bred pigs that are carrying a gene with weakened hearts.
I had no way of knowing this; I just chose two pretty pigs from the petstore. You won't be able to tell, either, unless you can speak to someone who's bred the pigs themselves, and kept all their relatives through adulthood to see if any problems arose. Problems like tooth and jaw deformities, bone deficiencies, ovarian cysts, heart conditions, and
many more conditions can arise later in life, incurring huge vet bills for the owner, and pain for the poor guinea pig.

Please, please don't breed guinea pigs. It's heartbreaking to watch a pig you brought into the world suffering of a
condition caused by his genes.

There's no way to know. You could breed pigs that have a prediliction to ovarian cysts, or tooth problems, or will have other serious conditions. Forget the money; can you live with yourself watching those pigs suffer?

This isn't even considering the issue of all the pigs in shelters and rescues who need homes.

I know you don't want to hear it, but I hope you at least read this post and it makes you think twice.

_________


Kirbygirl, you sound like a sweetie and I know you'll try hard with your pig, but the point is, you're not a guinea pig. Your pig needs a same species companion. It makes a huge difference. People say they're happy, but how can you know when you have nothing to compare it to?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Jul 29, 2004 9:32 am


SusieQ, I added a link to your comments here on the breeding page where I talk about the medical risks of breeding. Thanks for putting together such a clear and compelling argument. People truly have no idea what they are getting into when they breed.

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RavenShade
Thanks for the Memories

Post   » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:03 am


Please, please don't breed guinea pigs. It's heartbreaking to watch a pig you brought into the world suffering of a
condition caused by his genes.


No lie. We got Princess from the pet store in the 80's, young and pregnant. She had two pups with deformed front legs. They got around okay, but they were never quite "right". Our vet at the time could only offer us physical therapy (to try to stretch the legs) or putting them to sleep (which is what eventually happend when they got sick).

Princess was never a good mom. She had one litter of seven, three of which lived past birth. One was a tiny tiny runt I named Puff. I sat up all night with Puff, willing him to live. He lived about three days. He just wasn't big enough.

The pig I kick myself for the most is Suzanna. Awsome pig. She died while pregnant. She's the biggest reason I don't advocate breeding.

They were "for us" pigs. We weren't showing (although Charcoal did go to one show), and we weren't breeding for a line, or selling them. In other words, there was no reason, other than to have more pigs/raise babies.

I would have rather have had more time with Suzanna.

carrie

Post   » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:09 am


Theres a pet store down the road from us that breed their own pigs, and they have rickets. Nearly every pig that is purchased from them is returned because "It walks funny... is something wrong?" Yet they keep breeding. Its so so sad.

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