Guinea pig Cavia porcellus
تعريف
The guinea pig, or cavy, belongs to a rodent family native to South America, and the domestic form no longer exists in the wild; it is kept today as a companion animal and as one of the classical laboratory species. It is a strict herbivore and hindgut fermenter, with a caecum whose short-chain fatty acid content has been likened to the rumen's, and it practises coprophagy. The entire dentition is aradicular hypsodont and elodont, growing throughout life, so cheek-tooth elongation and malocclusion dominate the caseload in older animals. The defining nutritional fact is an absolute dietary vitamin C requirement: guinea pigs cannot synthesise ascorbate, and about 5 mg daily, or 200 mg per kilogram of diet, supports growth and reproduction. Reproduction is unusual for a rodent. Gestation runs 59 to 72 days and the young are born well developed, in litters of about three, weaning at three weeks. Adults weigh 0.7 to 1.2 kg and pet animals in UK practice show a median survival near four years. Clinically the gram-positive hindgut flora makes the species intolerant of narrow-spectrum antibiotics, which can trigger fatal dysbiosis; trimethoprim-sulfonamide, fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines, chloramphenicol and aminoglycosides are described as less disruptive.
المؤشّرات الحيوية
- الوزن عند البلوغ
- 0.7 – 1.2
- مدّة الحمل
- 59 – 72
- حرارة الجسم
- 37.2 – 39.5
- معدّل ضربات القلب
- 200 – 380 مصادر متعارضة
- معدّل التنفّس
- 42 – 104
- أقصى طول
- 50
- العمر عند أول تكاثر
- 2.5 – 3 months
- العمر المتوقّع
- 2.56 – 5.44 years
NRC gives males 950-1200 g and females 700-850 g; MSD gives 815-1000 g and AnAge 728 g, both inside this span
NRC gives 68 +/- 2 SE days, range 59-72; MSD gives the same 59-72 range; AnAge 68 days
Loyola University Chicago 37.2-39.5 C; MSD 37.5-39.5 C; AnAge 39.0 C
CONTRADICTION KEPT: MSD resting heart rate table gives 200-300 bpm (MSD description page says about 250 bpm); Loyola University Chicago gives 230-380/min. Widest span covering both; not averaged
Loyola University Chicago 42-104/min; single source
MSD gives 20-50 cm; NC3Rs states adults grow to roughly 30 cm
OBSERVED age at which mating succeeds in sows, tied to body weight (450-600 g), citing Ediger 1976. This is later than first puberty: AnAge's 66 days (2.2 months) is earliest female sexual maturity, and other veterinary texts put it at 6 weeks, but oestrus is not the same as a successful mating. Two husbandry limits belong with this figure: NRC notes body maturity is reached at about 5 months, and a sow must deliver her FIRST litter before about 6 months of age - after that the pubic symphysis mineralises and will not separate, so a first-time sow bred later needs a caesarean. That ceiling makes the 2.5-3 month window a recommendation, not just an observation. Boars reach puberty roughly 4 weeks later than sows.
This is the INTERQUARTILE RANGE of age at death - the middle 50 percent of a British pet population - not a typical life, not a maximum. It is stored this way precisely because the withdrawn value published a MEDIAN as a floor. In the same dataset (VetCompass UK, 675 pet guinea pigs under veterinary care in 2019): median survival time 4.025 years (95 percent CI 3.830-4.219), mean lifespan 4.022 years (95 percent CI 3.875-4.170), observed minimum 0.17 years and observed maximum 10.0 years. A quarter of these animals died before 2.563 years. Separately, AnAge records a MAXIMUM RECORDED AGE of 12 years in captivity, which rests on one animal (Kiklevich, J.V., pers. comm.) - a ceiling, not an expectation. Sex, neutering status and breed showed no significant effect on lifespan in this study.
تُعرض المؤشّرات المُوثَّقة فقط. غياب مؤشّر هنا يعني أنه غير مذكور في مرجع موثوق لهذا النوع — لا أنه ناقص من الصفحة.
السلالات — لا يوجد ارتباط
لا سلالة منشورة لهذا النوع بعد. السلالات محصودة بأعداد كبيرة وتنتظر اعتماداً بشرياً قبل أن تُنشر.
كل السلالات ←العلامات السريرية — لا يوجد ارتباط
لا علامة سريرية منشورة بعد — وهي أيضاً ما ينقص باحث العلامات.
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