Grayrose Cavies

Feed update

I went out to the Agway to pick-up another two weeks supply of pig food. I told them I wanted eight 25# bags of guinea pig pellets. Imagine my surprise and delight when they told me that they now carried it in 50#. Plus it was made by a different company – Blue Seal. And it's less expensive. So I bought 250# of food and spent less than I had planned.

The label says that Blue Seal has no corn and is 20% protein. I'll let you know how everyone does.

I also bought a couple of the food hoppers that hang on the side of the pens. I'm tired of the junior boars climbing into their dishes and peeing on most of the food. They are still figuring out how to use the new food dispensers, but so far no one has climbed in and peed.

This afternoon I am driving up to Elmira to meet Shelley of the Shire Cavies and pick up four satin teddies she is getting for me from Bee Balm Farms.

Choosing Your Cavy Feed

Finding a good cavy feed can be challenging at best.  What one breeder swears by may not work for you at all.  It takes time and patience to find a feed that is readily available in your area and that your cavies do well on.

There is no "perfect feed" out there.  And even though the feed bag has the same name on it (like Manna Pro), does not mean it has the same stuff inside.  Many feed companies will swap out ingredients if something cheaper comes along, so stay in touch with you feed Rep. and look at the ingredients tags to see if they have changed something. Some feeds (like Manna Pro Rabbit Gro) use different mills in different parts of the country.  Some mills are known for having poor quality feed, some for high quality. So just because your breeder friends in New York have great luck with a feed, does not mean you will have the same results with the same feed in California, even though it has the same name on the feed bag.  Do your research first!  Ask the feed reps where the feed was milled.

Call the manufacturers (all of them that you can find) and ask to talk to someone who really knows guinea pigs, and see why they think you should use their feed.  Let them "prove" to you that their feed is worth your business.  Then ask them if they know about the "other guy's" feed.  Compare the feeds as much as possible.  You will learn fascinating things about each feed company doing this.  You may also find that you will be offered "free" feed or coupons, to try their feed out. 

Also, find out who your feed store gets their feed from (which large distributor).  My feed store did not even know they could get Oxbow Cavy Performance.  I called "their" supplier/wholesaler and asked, the supplier said they could easily send a bag if it to the feed store in their weekly order.  The feed store was surprised when I told them this, but when they called their wholesaler, sure enough, the Oxbow was readily available.  So...you may have more feeds available to you than you think (more than even your own feed store thinks/knows about!)! It took a couple days of calling around, but at least I found some alternatives to the poor quality cavy chow that my feed store regularly carries.

Probably the best thing to do is research all available cavy feeds in your own area.  Find one that is readily available (you may have to drive a bit to find it!), made with good ingredients (no animal products, no corn if possible, etc), preferably hay based (usually alfalfa), has Vit C, and is fairly fresh (within 3 months).  You may have to try it out for a few months before deciding if it is the right feed for you.  It can be a challenge finding a good cavy feed in your area, keep calling, be willing to drive a bit or even have it shipped in if necessary.  Consider combining your feed needs with other breeders in your area, you may be able to get a good quality feed shipped in if enough people commit to purchasing it.

When evaluating the feed you have chosen to go with, make sure it looks and smells fresh.  It is better if it has been stored inside, as heat or vermin can ruin a good bag of feed.  After using it for a while, your animals should appear healthy, bright eyed, have shiny coats, and nice hard bodies.  Some good indicators that the feed you are using is working: high conception rates, healthy animals, low incidence of pregnancy toxemia, low stillborn rate, nice sized babies, and comments from the judges that your animals feel great and have great coat and body condition. 

Some indicators that you may need to switch feeds or at least supplement you current feed:  poor condition (flabby bodies, too fat, etc), dull or thinning hair, low conception rates, sows dumping their litters, baby small and weak, high stillborn rate, babies not thriving after weaning, many cases of pregnancy toxemia, neural tube defects in newborns (folic acid deficiency), difficulty walking/bleeding gums (or other signs of Vit C deficiency), sows dying during childbirth or right after (calcium deficiency?), animals not making senior weight (if it's in their genes to be large)  and judges making comments about the poor body/coat condition. 

May everyone find a feed that works for them!

Bad Feed, Dying Pigs

Sorry no baby pictures again, but what I tale I have to tell.

Last week I made the decision to switch to Manna Pro Gro. I hadn't been real happy with the old feed I was using. It was fine, but my litters had tended to be small with 2-3 babies. And my abbies just weren't making senior weight. So I went down to Tractor Supply and bought 100 pounds of Manna Pro Gro.

Then my relatives arrived. We had fun but it was a bit of a zoo around here. My nephews and niece had so much playing/helping with the pigs. They left Wednesday. Tuesday night, though I noticed one little abby sow wasn't eating. She seemed listless and dehydrated, and unable to hold her head up. My niece and I took turns force feeding her. By morning she seemed to have recovered somewhat and was eating on her own.

After saying farewell to the family, I went down to be with my pigs. One particularly perky abby boar was just lying there. Same symptoms. I gave him some extra Vitamin C along with a forced meal of mashed banana, Pedialyte, and a little calcium. One of the rescued/dumped pigs had collapsed as had a teddy boar. A junior satin abby boar was just flopping around, unable to move his back legs or lift his head. A satin intermediate teddy sow wasn't eating. More of the same treatment.

First thing Thursday, I checked on the pigs. The rescue sow was dead as was the teddy boar. A red abby sow was starting to act listless. I fed everyone, did a load of wash, went to the gym, stopped by the school to get my kids, then on to Agway.

We are leaving tomorrow for two weeks in Maine. The manager of the local pet shop is housing sitting for us. She knows all about putting Vitamin C in the water, but just to be on the safe side, I decided to swing by our local Agway and picked up 200 pounds of guinea pig feed. The pigs really like it, and my americans, at least, got down right fat from it. I could resume the Pro Gro when we get home from vacation. In addition to the feed, I also picked up more bedding.

Last night I fed everyone their old feed, added extra C to the waters and force-fed the victims another meal of mashed banana, pedialyte, and calcium while trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

This morning the satin junior abby boar was looking better, moving around on his own, his head up, eating. Likewise for the satin teddy sow. On the other hand, the perky abby senior boar was barely moving, and the original abby sow looked awful. The red abby was still moving around, but not much. They all died this afternoon. I watched the boar die. He was twitching and drooling. Then it hit me. He'd been poisoned. It was the Manna Pro Gro. It has been so hot and humid. This was a new shipment of feed they had just got in, but the store manager had ordered it a month ago, so it there were obviously some problems either in the shipping or at the plant.

No babies died during all of this, but last week, not long after I started with the Pro Gro, two nursing sows had died. I figured it was belated toxemia, although I've never had a problem with that before. Now I think it was the feed as well.

The junior satin abby boar and the satin Teddy sow look like they are going to make it. The rest of the herd is actually looking more perky. I thought they were looking rather subdued because of the heat. But they've had a full day now on their old feed, plus extra hay, veggies and Vitamin C. I think part of the reason the disaster wasn't more widespread is that the kids had most of the pigs outside on the grass most of the week, so they were eating grass rather than pellets. The ones that did die weren't among those that went outside.

Keep your fingers crossed that this is the end of this disaster. I'm going to be away for a couple weeks and will resume posting around August 1st. I hope to have some new pigs with me from the great state of Maine.

Pregnancy Toxemia Prevention

Here you go Michele!  I thought this might go better under a "medical" or "health" category, but couldn't find one, so I picked "caviary management". 



In all my research the fundamental problem/cause of toxemia is inadequate blood flow, leading to inadequate nutrients in the pregnant sow.  This sort of summarizes all my reading on the subject.  So exercise seems to be a good preventative thing to keep in mind.



Excellent article on preventing this (you may not have been able to prevent your sow from getting this, it could be she was just prone to it):

http://www.netherworld.com/~cowboy/PregnanyToxemiaandCardio-vascularhealth.htm

Toxemia article: http://www.salcavies.com/pregnancy/toxemia.shtml

Good medical article, graphic images: http://www.radil.missouri.edu/RADILinfo/dora/GUINEAPA/repro.html

A Great article on cavy care  (great note at the bottom of this one in regards to preventing toxemia): http://home.houston.rr.com/caboodle/guinea_pig_care.htm



I am sure there are others, but this is what I have found so far.



 Here are some of the things I do to try & prevent toxemia in the future (and sometimes it's just not preventable):  



1) use huge cages, give those sows lots of room to run!  Use the biggest cages you can find or build.  I also leave the boar in until close to the end, so he can keep chasing her around & exercising her (unless he's needed elsewhere of course!)



2) lots of grass hay, Timothy & Orchard Grass is best (I buy loose by the bale)



3) keep cages very clean lots of fresh air (I use an exhaust fan)



4) lots of fresh water in clean water bottles, never let them run out of water.



5) you can add a bit of white sugar, karo syrup, or molasses to the heavily pregnant sows water bottle (make sure the tip does not clog!), do not add Tang to light colored pigs water bottles, it will stain coats (although the pigs absolutely love it!)



6) I feed Mann Pro Rabbit Gro (I special order it from my local feed store), it's very good feed,  very high in Calcium.  Some breeders have noticed a drop in toxemia cases when they started using this (it was recommended to me by David Hardesty & Carole Newbill).  You must put vit. C in the water if you use this. It has no C in it.



7) a note to above feed: other feeds are wonderful too, like Mazuri, Cavylets, etc.  Use what works for you or what other breeders swear by.  There is not just one correct feed, you have to try a few & find what you and your cavies do the best on.  The Rabbit Gro works for me.  Many breeders use Mazuri with wonderful results!  Just try not to feed cheap, treat filled feeds, like Kaytee.



7) give a little horse Sweet Feed & Calf Manna each day as a supplement (I do this too with my big huge pregnant sows; it can cause problems sometimes if you give too much Calf Manna throughout the entire pregnancy, makes for very big babies that are hard to pass)  Probably ok to give a little sweet feed each day to them the entire time, but Calf Manna only near the end.



8) make sure the sow likes her cage mates (no one is terrorizing her) & don't move things around a lot at the end of her pregnancy, or make sudden drastic changes (like new feed; although I don't pamper my sows too much in this department, I have been known to bathe them right before delivery or move them around with no problems)



9) do not breed from fat sows, obesity seems to make this condition more likely, keep breeding sows on the trimmer side



10) if a sow gets this condition more than once, you may consider removing her from your breeding program



Prevention:



Basically to summarize the above mess:  good husbandry, great nutrition, and room to exercise  are the best things you can to prevet Pregnancy Toxemia.



Some things I have also heard of, but have not tried yet:



1) give them a little squirt of liquid calcium near the end of pregnancy to head off symptoms (I tend to not want to do this, but use your own judgement)



2) add extra vitamins & electrolytes into her water during her pregnancy, Durvet makes one that is easily picked up at the feed store.  (I also do not do this)



3) give the big huge sows some alfalfa hay, in addition to the grass hay they already get.  It has extra calcium in it.  (I want to try this, but have not wanted to buy a bale of alfalfa for just a few sows, I plan on trying this in the future)



  A good way to see how your sow is feeling when she's huge is to bring small treats in daily, like bits of carrot, parsley, apple, banana, cabbage etc.  I don't feed much, but I could tell how my sows were feeling this way.  All of them would run madly to the front of the cage & demand the treat (standing up on their back legs), even right at the end of pregnancy.  If they do not come running for you, I would suspect 2 things, 1) a sick sow or 2) she's going to give birth any moment!  Cavies seem very food driven!



I think my sow has Pregnancy Toxemia, now what?!



 As far as treatments go: get her up & moving, and get extra fluids (water, orange juice, pineapple juice, etc), liquid calcium (can also be crushed Tums) & extra C into her right away (I have also heard a pinch of salt mixed in helps too).  I have never had a case of toxemia yet, so have no experience with treatment, but have researched it to try & be prepared.  And this course of action is always the preferred one in all my research.  I don't think there is any science to the amount of calcium, or intervals of dosages.  Basically everyone has told me to keep syringing until the sow looks better.  So if the sow is just a little "off" maybe just a few, spaced out doses would be good.  But if the sow has tremors & looks terrible, you may try dosing every 15-30 min. until tremors subside, then once an hour after that until she's perky again.  Keep it up for several days, or as long as you think she may need it.   



Treatment:



To summarize the above: syringe a cocktail of sweet liquid, calcium, and extra C; as often & as much as needed.



 I think I would be tempted to rehome a sow who was prone to toxemia (if I was providing good care for her in the first place) as it is suspected that some cases of toxemia are hereditary.  Use your judgment on this.



  Leslie Freeland

www.hiddenforestcavies.com