My Guinea Pig, Ellie, delivered a litter prematurely (possibly due to mishandling by a stranger). Cavies should weigh a good 135+ grams at birth and these babies were 82g, 82g, & 78g. Both parents are very high show quality - Dad is gargantuan.
#1 was still born
#2 was sleepy looking
#3 was bright-eyed, just SO tiny
I went about a day without intervention, hoping that Mom was feeding them, but Ellie is completely dry. Typically pups can eat solid food on day one, but it just wasn't happening. I'm watching these babies slow down, eyes closing more & more, hardly moving, and the thing that just kills me - Mom on one side of the cage, babies all the way on the other side. The little one randomly falls over - I KNOW they're going to die.
One thought I had was that they will probably never ever popcorn in their short lives.
After breeding Exotics for well over a decade and having several hundreds of babies here, I know that hand feeding can be completely futile despite even the most valiant effort. But being a human being with a heart, I can't help myself, and start hand feeing LifeLine w/colostrum.
Well they just sucked it down! And then they started running all over the place like little loonies. I did have to laugh to myself a little bit - "That's what LifeLine DOES, lol! I created it and it took me 2 days to remember that it exists for just this purpose"
I did kind of want to yell at them and say, "Stop running around, you need those calories to grow!"
One baby has gone from 78g. up to 102g. (30 grams smaller than a newborn) and soon as she started on LifeLine, I saw her eat a piece of hay WOOHOO! Solid food! She has the biggest bright eyes...still just a tiny little thing, but she'll live.
The other little baby has gone from 82g Down to 52g. Her eyes have completely closed. She doesn't move. When I pick her up, she shoves her mouth into my hand, searching for something to suck on. I feed her LifeLine/Dyne/Colostrum with an eye dropper. She takes it very enthusiastically...for about 10 drops, then she is DONE. When I pick her up she's cold, so I give her warming treatments before I feed her.
I don't think she'll live.
One thing I've learned is LifeLine + Eye dropper is a Huge pain because the bee pollen & oregano get stuck in the tip. She's too small for a syringe. So I've started sifting out the bigger pieces with a salt shaker and that has made the whole process MUCH more pleasant.
All I can do is what I'm doing. It's not fun watching a little animal waste away to nothing. Wish me luck.
Dawnna
#1 was still born
#2 was sleepy looking
#3 was bright-eyed, just SO tiny
I went about a day without intervention, hoping that Mom was feeding them, but Ellie is completely dry. Typically pups can eat solid food on day one, but it just wasn't happening. I'm watching these babies slow down, eyes closing more & more, hardly moving, and the thing that just kills me - Mom on one side of the cage, babies all the way on the other side. The little one randomly falls over - I KNOW they're going to die.
One thought I had was that they will probably never ever popcorn in their short lives.
After breeding Exotics for well over a decade and having several hundreds of babies here, I know that hand feeding can be completely futile despite even the most valiant effort. But being a human being with a heart, I can't help myself, and start hand feeing LifeLine w/colostrum.
Well they just sucked it down! And then they started running all over the place like little loonies. I did have to laugh to myself a little bit - "That's what LifeLine DOES, lol! I created it and it took me 2 days to remember that it exists for just this purpose"
I did kind of want to yell at them and say, "Stop running around, you need those calories to grow!"
One baby has gone from 78g. up to 102g. (30 grams smaller than a newborn) and soon as she started on LifeLine, I saw her eat a piece of hay WOOHOO! Solid food! She has the biggest bright eyes...still just a tiny little thing, but she'll live.
The other little baby has gone from 82g Down to 52g. Her eyes have completely closed. She doesn't move. When I pick her up, she shoves her mouth into my hand, searching for something to suck on. I feed her LifeLine/Dyne/Colostrum with an eye dropper. She takes it very enthusiastically...for about 10 drops, then she is DONE. When I pick her up she's cold, so I give her warming treatments before I feed her.
I don't think she'll live.
One thing I've learned is LifeLine + Eye dropper is a Huge pain because the bee pollen & oregano get stuck in the tip. She's too small for a syringe. So I've started sifting out the bigger pieces with a salt shaker and that has made the whole process MUCH more pleasant.
All I can do is what I'm doing. It's not fun watching a little animal waste away to nothing. Wish me luck.
Dawnna