Guinea Pig influx!!

[Catherine]

I feel so sad for that little female. She was just too young and probably too run down to survive. That is an alarmingly high death rate.  It could get even worse as more litters are born. Little females like that are just too young to have healthy litters.

It doesn't take long to reach fifty piggies if you let them breed. From there to 300 is probably a shorter time than you would think.

That was so irresponsible to let the guinea pigs go like that. I can't believe no one noticed what was going on.

Odd about the ring worm and mites. I hope they are both responding to treatment.  Maybe the older ones have already had ring worm and have some kind of immunity to it.

[Cibach]

As previously stated, the final number of piggies removed from the premises was 325. These have been distributed around the country to Piggy Bank rescues.

In Glynneath there have been 16 pregnancies concluded.
9 of these produced 16 live babies.
2 of the mum's died at full term taking their babies with them, 1 of these after a c-section to try and save them all, but without success.
5 mums miscarried at various stages of development, but survived themselves. This resulted in 18 preterm babies lost and 3 still born.
3 young females are still pregnant.
And there are 6 tiny little ones that are still on pregnancy watch with about 4 more weeks to go to be sure. They are tiny, but technically they could be pregnant. They don't seem to be showing any signs, but that is no guarantee.

Overall the mortality rate of the babies throughout the animals removed, is well over 50%. And more than 30% for the mums.(using figures from all the rescues involved)

There are a number of females who should have been pregnant, but are not, but are showing signs that they have been, so the conclusion is that they miscarried during the rescue effort. Something that may have been avoidable if the rescue personnel had been permitted to catch them.

Baby piggies are wonderful, but miscarried litters, dead mothers and still born, full term babies are not. And it all was entirely avoidable.

Whilst we have rejoiced in the safe arrivals, we have wept and are feeling depressed about all the losses.
At least none of the surviving piggies will ever have to go through this again.

[Catherine]

That is a terribly high death rate.

All of it was avoidable since the situation shouldn't have happened.
Certainly things would have been better if experienced people had done the rescuing.

I hope knowing that the piggies are safe in future will lift your spirits a little.


It just seems so sad to think of very young females dying in childbirth. The loss of that many babies is a heart break.
When people do foolish things like let their piggies run wild like that, it is the guinea pigs that end up suffering.

I do hope the little girls are not actually pregnant.

[Cibach]

Well, it looks as though the pregnancies are over, for Glynneath at least. A couple of the other rescues have a few females who must have "caught" in transit who are yet to deliver. Happily there have been no more deaths, and some absolutely adorable babies!!
There are still 5 females who's pregnancy watches have a few more days to go, but they are showing no signs at all. This is a great relief as they are far too tiny to be Mums.
So peace reigns at the rescue again, well as much as it ever did!!
All we need now are forever homes. Suzy has put that on her Amazon wish list but couldn't find a store to supply them!!
Still babies usually have no difficulty finding homes and since most are with their Mum or an Uncle pig it means the older ones get a home too.
Fingers crossed.

[Catherine]

I am glad there have been no more loses of moms and babies.
I am glad there are no more babies.

It may take a little time , but I am sure they will all find great homes. People love baby guinea pigs. If they come with an older friend, so much the better. 

You have all done well rescuing so many guinea pigs. I think your connections between guinea pig rescues are a great idea. We don't even have guinea pig rescues here. The Toronto Humane Society does a good job though. The piggies have their own room and very nice set ups.

This is the biggest rescue I have ever heard of. Everything after this is going to seem easy.

Amazon is the wrong place to find homes. You need a piggie Fairy Godmother.