RE: Sow died after 2 stillborn babies

Question
Dear Pat
We very sadly buried our purebred Rex female yesterday, after similarly burying her 2 babies, born dead over the prior 72 hours.
We purchased both male and female Rex guinea pigs from a breeder who told us they were both approx 4.5 months old, and researched information in order to breed this pair. I previously had a female (purchased already pregnant) and we raised her 3 babies some years ago, keeping a female one - however tragically they were killed by a predator shortly after we moved house.

My daughter had begged me since then to get another guinea pig... so this is what started our process.
This male and female got along well, seemed healthy and were very social. The female was obviously pregnant but seemed well so we didn't think it necessary to go to the vet.

Only one week ago however the female started seeming to 'spit out' small pellets of carrot. We didn't know why this happened.

The male is well and now lives alone in the cage, but I am distraught at the deaths of both babies and mother, and am wondering if you have any suggestions or advice?

Thank you kindly,
Lisa

Answer
Oh I'm so sorry Lisa. Something like this is so hard to handle when you just can't find any reason for it. I wish I could give you something solid to understand and make this tragedy make sense. But sadly this is one of the perils of breeding pigs.

This is nothing you did or didn't do. The pigs were healthy when you got them. This is one of those unpredictable failures that has happened to nearly every one of us who have bred these little creatures, and even with many years of experience we're still left wondering why it happened.

Without showing us any signs at all a sow will suddenly just go bad and no matter what we do we're helpless to change it. Being a health care professional I have done IV therapy on pigs that I hoped I could save. I've spent endless hours doing everything I could, but it was always a failure. In many cases I think I prolonged death, not life. So even with a medical background these pigs are still part of the unknown in many ways.

I think I would honestly start looking for a replacement just to help fill the void. Don't think about breeding. It's always a dark unknown as to when you will succeed and when it will fail. This is not something you're going through alone.  Many experienced breeders still have these issues regardless of their training and experience.

I have friends who are both cavy breeder/exhibitors and veterinarians. They too suffer these losses and are just as helpless to do anything about it. Taking the sow to the vet would have changed nothing. They sometimes go 'toxic' very suddenly and it's not a detectable condition that can be predicted like a woman going to her obstetrician to assure a healthy pregnancy.

So please give yourself permission to say that this is not anyone's fault. It was just horrible bad luck. But having a new pig will help ease the pain of the loss and give you both something new to focus on so that these bad days will pass sooner.