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