Pregnant Piggy Help!

Question
Hi there,

I run a small guinea pig rescue out of my home (The Cavy Corner Guinea Pig Rescue, in Ontario Canada) and I recently took in a male and female pair from our local animal shelter.
They are both adults, and the female is very obviously pregnant.
I separated them briefly but they were extremely stressed so now they are in seperate cages right next to eachother.

I put the male by himself (I tried him with another male but there was fighting) and the female is in with a 3 week old baby girl.

Now I have a few questions;

Since I don't know any history of the animals, I'm unable to tell if she has been bred previously. Given that she's an adult, I am very concerned about distocia.
As we don't have any qualified exotic vets in the area I am very very worried for her. We do have 1 vet that will treat guinea pigs but refuses to do surgeries of any type of them.

Is there any way to tell if her pelvic bones have fused? I would be willing to travel in order to get her a C-Section, but only if it is completely necessary.

Also, I'm wondering how to tell how far along she is?
I can clearly feel 2 babies, and believe that I can feel a thrid as well. If I'm sitting quietly with her touching her sides, the one on the left will occasionally move, but very slightly.

From what I can feel, the babies appear to be about 1/2 the size of my 3-week-old.

Also, when I'm holding her I can feel all of her ribs and bones. Because she has VERY long hair it's hard to see but when you're holding her, her hip bones and ribs as well as the back end of her spine are very prominent.
I'm not sure if this is because she's underweight, or if it's because she's pregnant. She's had to exact same lifestyle as the male and he is a good weight, even a little bit chunky.

One last thing, I'm wondering if I should trim the hair around her lady parts to avoid matting and such. Should I use clippers or just a pair of scissors?

Although the rescue has been open for months, we haven't yet dealt with a pregnancy.

Thank you for reading my extremely long question. :)

Answer
Senior males will almost always fight when introduced to another male. They will usually do allright with very young males, but anything else is a threat to their territory. As will all herding animals there is only one breeding male allowed to stay in the herd. When young males reach their sexual maturity they're forced out of the herd. That's nature's way of preventing inbreeding.

If you got the two pigs together they've most likely been housed together and the sow has probably had other litters. The body prominences are a sign of poor nutritional health. Definitely keep her away from the male. Typically the gestation is 70 days. You can feel movement at about two to two and a half weeks before delivery.

As for the pelvic bones, they do not fuse. Anatomically they don't touch one another. Bones do not move on their own, they're moved by ligaments. In a sow that's older than a couple of years and has not been bred the ligaments begin to lose their elasticity, thus making it difficult if not impossible to move the pelvic bones apart for delivery.

The result is the loss of both mother and litter. An emergency C section is seldom successful in these cases. By the time the problem is realized the sow has worked long enough that she's completely exhausted and the pups are out of oxygen and have died.

If she's been overbred and allowed to breed back after each delivery that would account for her poor condition. You might add hay and grain to her diet. Be sure they're getting cavy pellets and not rabbit pellets as the rabbit pellets do no contain Vit C. Rabbits are able to make their own Vit C but cavies are not, so it must be supplemented.

At this point there isn't much you can do but make sure she has plenty of good food, don't overdo the veggies except for a daily handful of parsley. It's the highest in Vit C and she needs the supplementation right now.

I would definitely trim her with scissors now, and keep her hair cut short so you can tell how she is physically doing. It will not hurt her to bathe her at this point, and clean hair is easier to cut. It will make delivery easier as well as the babies won't get tangled up in matted hair.

C sections are risky at best for a healthy pig, but one in her condition makes it unlikely she would survive the anesthesia, nor would her pups. This is probably why your vet doesn't like to do surgery on cavies as the risks are so high.

The best thing you can do for now is just keep her well fed and hydrated, clean bedding and hope she has the stamina to pull through. You can also try some Critical Care, a food supplement that can be compared to Ensure for humans. It's full of the necessary nutrients for maintaining body condition for times of stress. You may be able to get it at a pet store, but if not your vet should have it.

She is very stressed at this point. How sad that her previous owner was unable to provide her what she needed. I wish I could be more encouraging about the potential outcome, but as with any animal the health of the mother is critical in assuring healthy babies.

I hope for the best for both of you. This is a stressful time for you as well I'm sure.

Please keep me posted as to how she's doing.