HOW OLD DOES A CAVY GET?
by Mette Lybeck Ruelokke (Mette the Vette)
The magazine is published monthly and contains approx. 40 pages of cavy information, including Mette the Vette's articles, forthcoming shows, reports on recent shows, and tips for cavy fanciers. Subscriptions for the magazine are available from :
Mr P Gammie, 7 Alresford Road, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8HGor via The Winking Cavy Store for those outside the UK
According to my Guiness Book of Records (1980 issue) the longest living cavy ever reported was 'Snowball' owned by M.A. Wall, England, which died on February 14th 1979 at the age of 14 years 10 months (although a certain famous and now deceased 'baggy old Golden Sow' was reported to have reached an age of over 20 years, the owner couldn't confirm the rumours). However, it is too much to expect that your cavy should be able to reach more than half the age of 'Snowball'.
The expected life span of a cavy varies dependant on several different factors. Cavies kept alone as pets seem to live longer than cavies in a large stud, where breeding accidents and contagious diseases are more likely to occur. Severe inbreeding tends to reduce viability as well. Apart from that, there are big differences between breeds. Abys and Peruvians tend to get relatively old, and sometimes a cross bred cavy can become very old. If Jackie Raynor's ever-winning Aby 'Display' was a Self Black, it would not have been showable today. More probably it would have been dead and gone for ages. Apart from Self Blacks, Satins and certain strains of Golden Agoutis seem to have shorter than average lives.
Roughly speaking, the average life-span of a cavy is about 4 years. An average means, that some cavies are able to reach a much older age e.g. 7-8 years, whilst others die of old age when they are only 1 1/2 years. Some strains seem to be very hardy, whereas others are weak. A well-known strain of pet cavies in Denmark gaining lots of Pet Class awards, all reached a very high age, 6 years in average. A boar named Peter (not to be confused with the CAVIES editor of the same name)jumped at the age of7 years over a very high wire partition, when he realised that the neighbouring sow, Sheila, 5 years, was in heat; and he sired a single baby, which was born without trouble, although it was 2 years since she had her last litter. And Peter's son, Peter Junior died recently at the age of almost 8 (There would be no risk of confusing a cavy of such libido with P. Gammie - ENB).
Scientifically it has been proven that, not only inbreeding but also breeding with only young cavies, may reduce average life time. If a boar is used only until he is about 2 years, there is no selection for a long life. Whatever he becomes like in appearance from 2 to 7 years he'll still produce the same type of babies. But if he continuously is bred from, he'll probably be able to breed and produce long living babies until he dies or becomes sterile.
The next question is: Is it desirable to breed for high age in cavies? The pet owner would certainly answer 'yes' to that question, as for them the single animal is the most important, and for them the recipe of using only old, fertile boars for breeding can be useful.
But for fanciers, who don't think in terms of individuals, but in terms of stock as a whole, most aren't interested in long living cavies, as they'll soon run out of space. A shorter average lifetime will result in a quicker turnover, thereby securing a quicker improvement of stock according to standard, and of course less time and money involved in keeping lots of retired pigs alive. So unless the life of stock becomes so short that it ruins the showing and breeding careers, most fanciers don't bother about selecting for long life. But isn't it cruel to deliberately breed cavies with a short life? Mv answer is 'no'!! For me a good quality of life is the Alpha and Omega (everything). A long life is not necessarily a good life. As long as they are housed, fed and cleaned in an appropriate way, kept sometimes alone, sometimes in company, bred from etc., it must be the ideal cavy life, no matter how short it may be, instead of living alone and unattended in a small and dirty hutch for ages, which - unfortunately - is the destiny of many pet cavies. Think for yourself Would you prefer to live a rich life with friends, pubs, having a family, getting around, eat and drink a little too much and generally enjoy life, although knowing that it could cost you some years in the end; or would you rather live isolated and ascetic on a desert island with the main purpose of living as long as possible? I certainly know what my answer would be!!!
HAND REARING
Thanks to Marion Macdonald Nimmo for her excellent description of hand rearing of orphan babies ('Readers Write' last month). I'm impressed by your success in saving three quarters of the babies. But I'm afraid that most people haven't got the spare time to do such a big job. I must admit, too, that I don't know 'Complan Original Flavour'. Although I visit England quite regularly (not Doncaster this year, unfortunately), I'm not able to know all the different products, and I'm always happy when fanciers can supplement my own facts on this subject. That's always a problem when an overseas vet writes for English fanciers. Please keep on helping me fulfil my mission.
DIFFERENT SIZES
To Geraldine Blackman, writing in the last issue about different-sized babies in the same litter, I've recently written about the item, so there is no point in repeating myself. Please read Mette the Vette, Aug 1994 issue. If you don't have the issue yourself, I'm sure you can borrow it from someone else. As you will realise, it's a matter of coincidence, and may happen again in any sow. And apart from correct feeding, you can do nothing to avoid it.
Mette Lybek Ruelokke