Babies and Males

Question
Andy,
I am very concerned about some of your answers. Not only are you giving incorrect responses to some people, but also dangerous info.

In one response, you told the poster to not interfere with a mother and her new baby (poster was concerned about the mother)...to give it a few days. What you should have said was...Get that pig to an experienced cavy vet...NOW.

In a couple of others, you said to take the male away AFTER the birth. Well, what if the sow gives birth while they are asleep and they don't know it. The male should be taken away before to avoid another pregnancy.

In yet another you said the babies should be taken away at 6 weeks. If they are female, they can stay with the mother. If they are male, then they need to be taken away at no more than 3 weeks, again to avoid anotehr pregnancy.

If a pig is showing ANY signs of illness, they should be taken to a cavy savy vet immediately. Pigs hide their illnesses so that by the time you see symptoms, it may already be too late.

Regards,
Dana

Answer
Hi Dana

I always state that I am in no way an expert on pregnancy in guinea pigs, so only give out information that has been passed onto me.

Of course, I am aware that guinea pigs hide their illnesses, as they are prey animals. Where applicable, I advise vetinary attention, but in some cases it is possible to ease symptoms with remedies at the owners fingertips. To say that ANY signs of illness requires vetinary treatment is simply ridiculous. For example, having a problem with an eye might simply be caused by something being lodged in the eye.

I would be interested to know how you have managed to view my answers to questions asked by other people.

Furthermore, I answer questions out of my love for guinea pigs. The vast majority of my answers result in great thanks and support from the people I answer.

I don't claim to give perfect answers all the time but I NEVER give out information which I know to be false. I use trusted materials to provide my answers as well as my experience. If I don't know the answer to a question (pregnancy is an example) I clearly state this.

I suggest that the tone of your comments are just a little unfair seeing as you do not bother to provide me with the full question or answer that I was given. To my knowledge I am the only person available to answer questions on this subject on this site, so I can hardly remember every question I get asked. Please feel free to provide me with all the information about your concerns and I will be happy to address them fully and take on board your comments.

Andy