Post by Dawn - Admin on Apr 21, 2006 21:37:13 GMT
After the tragic loss of a brood sow, I was faced with the epic task of hand-rearing a litter of piglets. The full magnitude of the sows' maternal role struck me and since then I have gained nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for the incredibly devoted role the mother pigs play.
If the worst should happen and all attempts at trying to foster the piglets with another lactating sow have failed and you face the daunting task of hand rearing a litter of piglets yourself, then there are still several things you can do.
Rubbing the babies in your chosen foster sow's own young's urine will make the babies smell more like her own and sometimes if you have a particularly maternal sow she will often take them on. However, if she still won't feed them but tolerates them near her, then at least she will keep them warm which is half the battle with orphaned or rejected young.
I have tried several different milk formulas but I have found that Aptamil First ready to use prebiotics infant milk, (closest to human breast milk) is the best. It is readily available from major baby food retailers and I have successfully raised every litter of mini-pigs I have fed on Aptamil First, so far without casualties. I have, however, been extremely lucky enough to have several sows who will usually take in an orphan or at least nanny- pig the mini-pigs.
However, there are several substitute milk 'formulas', which different people prefer. Chris Strike who wrote the paper Hand-rearing and Supplementation of Small Mammals suggests, 'Goats milk, just as it is; canned evaporated milk diluted 50:50 with pre-boiled water; dried skimmed milk powder mixed double strength with pre-boiled water; Lactol or other cat/ dog milk substitutes. Begin all rearing by introducing the milk mix in a diluted form for the first feed and give only a small quantity until the reaction of the digestive system is judged.
Chris does suggest that once a compatible milk formula has been found that it is potentially damaging for your mini-pigs to keep swapping. It is also very important to test that the mixture is body temperature in order not to burn your piglets. The best way to do this is to use the inside of your wrist to check the temperature.
I don't advocate using a syringe, as the babies can easily inhale the milk into their lungs and this can lead to pneumonia. I use a cat feeding bottle, the Catac foster kit for cats (small size tea) I purchased from my vets but if your vet doesn't supply the feeding bottle then you can order from their website or phone, 01234 346406. I would suggest keeping a pack in the store cupboard to be prepared before disaster strikes. rem'ember to keep your thumb on the end of the bottle to stop the milk from spewing out and flooding the mini-pig's lungs.
Chris suggests feeding guinea pig babies '2ml every 2 hours' for newborn piglets and '4-6ml X 6 feeds' for '2-4 weeks'. This can be a real chore and it is very helpful if the 'shifts' can be split up between two people. I'm lucky enough to be able drag a poor mother into the fray in times of crisis and her help was much appreciated! Although cavyland advise never to begin feeding until the mini-pigs are 24 hours old, '24 hours old as they will undoubtedly choke on the milk". Do not force feed the piglets! Allow them to take in the mixture at their own pace and rem'ember they will need to pause for breath.
In addition, there is also the importance of washing the babies after every meal if they are without a nanny pig and gently rubbing each piglet's genitals with a warm moist cotton wool bud or soft tissue. This is to stimulate the passage of waste, ordinarily the sow would do this but without her it's down to the stand in, you. I would suggest that you weight your mini-pigs before their first feed of the day every week to check that they are gaining weight.
Chris also offers some advice on weaning your piggys onto 'hard food'. Although I have never had a problem with this apparently if you don't have a sow in with your piglets they may not know how to eat hard food or even what it is. Chris suggests, 'Young animals at weaning can be offered cereals (Weetabix, Farex etc.) and brown bread soaked in a milk mixture, plus small quantities of greens; slowly increasing the amount as their caecal bacteria increase in numbers to break down the cellulose. They would naturally seed their gut with bacteria from their mothers faecal pellets, encountered in the nest whilst small. If cellulose material is given in too large a quantity before gut flora have increased to cope, this material decomposes and ferments, causing toxicity and enteritis which is often fatal. This links in with the cavyland website, which suggests adding a 'dropping' to your milk mixture. This is a practice which I have never had to employ simply because my nanny sows have seen to that aspect of things and there has never been a problem. However, there is another option, which should also be explored almost as an additional insurance policy to this method and that is colostrum. Colostrum is readily available from a vet, (I would suggest colostrum made up for foals, as horses' digestive systems are very similar to that of a guinea pig).
comfycavies advocate the method described by Myra Mahoney in The Really Useful Guinea Pig Guide. 'Myra suggests feeding with a teaspoon containing a small piece of bread soaked in a mixture of one part evaporated milk to one part cooled boiled water. I've also found that Complan nutritional milkshakes work just as well. The baby will suck the bread and then sip the milk from the spoon.'This method may suit some pigs but it is worth bearing in mind that evaporated milk does not contain all the vitamins, minerals and probiotic organisms which aid digestion. It means that using Aptimil baby food helps them digest their food so they get more goodness out of what they are eating. This milk is also a specially formulated replacement for breast feeding babies, most babies get indigestion and terrible wind from powdered milk formulas and can't have cows milk. So it is worthwhile giving it a go.
As I mentioned earlier, orphan mini-pigs do need a nanny- pig to teach them to eat solids and act like guinea pigs. It is very important that orphan pigs learn the social behavioural patterns of a guinea pig. This is particularly important for young boars who can become aggressive with other pigs and when breeding with sows in later life if they have lacked a role model. I have purchased eight boars from pet shops and all have been very aggressive and on discussion with their breeders I discovered that they were weaned young and lacked a 'father' role model. I cannot stress how important it is for the psychological wellbeing of the pig to have a 'father' role model. I regularly have people comment on how friendly and bold my pigs are and this is because I don't breed with aggressive animals and I always have a boar in with sows. It is the boar who teaches the piglets how to play, this is a very important part of the mini-pig's education, as well as the feeling of security and comfort having a boar raising them brings.
When a 'father' boar is in with the sows before, after and during pregnancy you have a higher ratio of sows to boars born. Since recently losing my castrated short-haired male, I have had more boars to sows being born in litters conceived in cages without the male. Out of five litters born after his demise the ratio of boars born to sows was over 60-40 and unusually, two of the litters comprised entirely of boars.