pregnancy bleeding

Question
QUESTION: I have a guinea pig who is pregnant(although i am not sure how far along). She has starting bleeding from her vagina and i am not sure if this is normal. She is perfectly well otherwise. Thank you for any info you can give me Amanda.
ANSWER: Amanda,

Bleeding is only normal in two cases. One she is about to have the pups (babies) or two she has had a miscarriage and  has lost the pups.

Watch her and if she isn't moving alot or has placed her self close to the water bottle, food, hay, just to avoid moving to much and looks like she has the hiccups she is about to have the litter of pups.

If you don't notice any of these thing and still see more bleeding take her down to the vet and have her checked out.

I hope this helps and that everything is alright with your Guinea Pig.
   Take care now,
         Jules

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: This is not a guinea pig question. My rabbit has had 1o babies today. They all seem to be doing well. I am a bit worried that she may not be able to feed so many. Is there any substitute milk i can give them if she has problems and how often should I give it. Thanks Amanda

Answer
Amanda,

Unless the mother rabbit is known to be dead, there is a good chance that she is feeding her babies, even if she seems to be ignoring them. A mother rabbit does not constantly tend to her babies the way a mother carnivore does. Rabbit mamas feed their babies only twice per day, and then leave them alone. This is normal and natural: in the wild, a mother rabbit not in the process of feeding her offpsring stays as far away from the nest as possible to avoid attracting predators to her babies.

If mama rabbit seems to be "ignoring" her litter, check their condition before you interfere. If the babies' tummies are round and full-looking (you sometimes can see a whitish patch where the milk-filled stomach shows through the thin skin of the belly), they are warm, their skin is a healthy, dark pink, and not overly wrinkled, and they are sleeping calmly in the nest, then mama is feeding them. If the babies are very wrinkled, cold, bluish in color, have shrunken bellies, and perhaps are even crawling around looking for mama (instead of nest-sleeping, as a well-fed baby should), then you may have to intervene.

Here is a good site with all the information need on hand raising the babies if it comes to that. As if I where to list everything it would be really long. So here is that site you can check out, www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html

I hope this helps,
 Take care,
   Jules