Three Little Pigs
Sally Hurley is a woman of many skills and can now add Guinea Pig Midwife to her list. In early February, the foster caregiver was asked by Dakin to take in yet another guinea pig. “They told me she may be pregnant, so I said sure,” recalled Sally.
Laylla was indeed pregnant. The brown and white pig was 1 ½ years old, and she became more needy as her pregnancy progressed. According to Sally, “Laylla was desperate for attention. She rushed to the side of the cage any time I passed by, constantly begging for treats and to be petted.”
Sally’s website detailed Laylla’s discomfort. “She’s so blobby when she rests…and won’t sit in one place for long. When she stretches out, you can see how narrow her shoulders are to the lower half of her body.”
Then the oddest thing happened. “I was feeding her, and she sounded like a ticking clock! I realized it was the pups (guinea pig babies) grinding their teeth while still inside her…you can actually hear it. It was exciting because I knew she was close to delivery. Sally, like Laylla, was counting the hours, but as her husband Rob teased her, “A watched pig doesn’t pop!”
On February 21, Sally was working in her home office when Rob appeared and told her that Laylla was making odd noises. “I got to her cage to find her cleaning off pup number one. I was in the middle of a remote computer upgrade for work that was luckily taking forever, so I spent 40 minutes running back and forth between the computer and the big event!”
Laylla welcomed three male pups; Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Like all newborn guinea pigs, the boys were born with fur and teeth. Although they wobbled around for the first day, they were moving quickly by the second.
At just a few weeks old, Sally stated that the boys have distinct personalities. “Snap, who was born first, is the smartest of the group, he knew how to navigate the cage before the others. Pop was next, and he’s the mama’s boy, a real cuddler. Crackle, the last one born, has the most attitude, and is biggest.”
At this point, Crackle has found his next home, while the other two pups (and Laylla) are awaiting their future families. Sally, a huge guinea pig fan who has fostered more than 30 Dakin pigs, enjoys their company. “I love them because they can talk to you, and guinea pigs make so many different noises. It’s really been a fun experience.”
Sally’s fostering of Laylla (and her pups) enabled this adorable guinea pig to receive loving care and attention when she needed it most. When Dakin pets are welcomed into foster homes - for even a brief period - they enjoy a cozy environment with individualized attention that helps make them good candidates for adoption. In 2023 alone, more than 50% of animals arriving at Dakin benefitted from the amazing dedication of foster caregivers! If you’d like to learn more about fostering, click here.