Expert: Nicole Bury - 11/7/2009

Question
hello my pig gave birth to 5 g.pigs and two days later she passed so ive been givin them evaporated milk and have been doin awesome but one did die dont know why. makin sure there gettin probiotics and all. just wondering wen i need to wein them? they are like 23 days old. 2 are big piggies and then the other 2 are half the size  can there be runts for g.pigs?

Answer
Hello Alison!
Oh! Im so sorry about the mommy and baby dying! I hope your feeling better now what with those four beautiful little orphans in your care!
Well as far as starting to wien them off of your kind acceptance to hand feeding, try making this recipe for 'giunea pig baby food': The day's ration of alfalfa pellets can be crushed in a coffee grinder (or ground with a mortar and pestle, even a 'magic bullet' if you own one) or soaked overnight in a refrigerator and crushed by spoon. About 20 grams of powder and 5 mls of water will make a good paste (experiment). A stiffer paste reduces the danger of asphyxiation. Some piggies will appreciate the mash being warmed for a few seconds in the microwave. Pellets work the teeth (especially a drier mash) and stimulate the digestive system more effectively than baby food, though prepared peas, mixed veggies, etc are much smoother than pellets. I myself have used this recipe on my little sisters newborn giunea pig when its mother and brother died.
Also encourage eating standard foods: make sure pellets, hay, water, leafy green vegetables, and grass are always available so the cavy can begin eating on its own as soon as possible. Try introuducing these by hanging the water, putting food in the giunea pig dish and put a very obvious arrangment of vegtables in the centre of the cage, not hiding in the corner.
Also for the size of the giunea pigs, I would not worry right now. My own amazing adoption centre that I got my girls from showed me pictures of all four of the sisters, from which I took two. Gypsy and Naomi were very large and Shadow and Jemimah were very small. Gypsy and Shadow (My 2/4) are still obviously different sizes.