Advice please...long haired piggie

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Timmy is a 5 month old coronet. I got him as a baby and did not realise how long his hair would grow! I have been using hay as bedding but I am going to change to vetbed since I had to cut out a lump of knotted fur this evening. The problem with Timmy, unlike my other piggies, is that he hates being handled and is a biter, so grooming him is virtually impossible. He nearly ate my partners hand off this evening and it was definately a two person job!
Does anyone have any tips on keeping his fur from knotting? Will vetbed help and if anyone has a similar longer haired piggie, who hates being groomed, what do they do? :-\
 
:) I know its hard, but keep on handling him every day and give him treats and try each time to groom him. He must be groomed all his life as his fur will matt, he will get use to it and to make it easier for you, you can give him short hair cuts in summer so not much grooming will be needed, but you must get him use to it now. :)

Diane
 
Tbh vet bed wont make any difference i have 3 longhaired piggys 2 of them being white the one thing i try and do is brush them at least every 2-3 days and on there rear keep the fur quite short , also have a nice thick towel on your lap whilst u brush him give him a piece of carrot or something to take his attention

Good luck
 
I have a peruvian who granted will sit still and doesnt mind being brushed too much but she doesnt like having her stomach touched and gets very funny, ive recieved many a bite for touching her stomach while grooming..most of the time she just bites the brush. But some piggies just have problems with their stomach being touched so i dont blame her for it.

Just try getting him comfortable with being held, cucumber is usually a great bribe when they are sat on you they love it and even if they are scared and wont take anything from you usually, the smell of cucumber usually brings them round..thats what ive found anyway. When you brush him try to be as gentle as possible if they are hurt during grooming they usually associate being taken out of the cage with that pain. So thats why its good to hold him a couple of times a day and groom him once a day, so he doesnt always associate being out with being brushed.

The other option is regular trimming, ive known people whos piggies hate being brushed just clip the hair totally back and keep it short, it saves on grooming and matted hair.

Even if you use vetbed his hair will become matted if its not groomed, longhairs tend to have a habit of sitting in wee so make sure that you scoop wet corners out.

Hope that helps O0
 
Thanks for your advice. I will try, he has got a little better allowing me to stroke him but he is a bit of a nutter 98) He is unlike any piggie I have ever known. I handled him lots as a baby but he was just scared and now he runs away so fast, I cant catch him! He will only come to me for treats and won't go near anyone else, so I will keep at it. Thanks guys O0
 
I trim their hair quite short underneath so that they don't need grooming so much. Some of mine don't like it all but patience will make things easier. Is it just when you groom him he bites?
 
No Karen, he bites when I go to pick him up or if I even touch his back end-he hates that and this is where it is getting knotted. His fur has grown quite long now. I managed to trim some last night but my scissors were not sharp enough so I am going to get some hair cutting scissors and try again. He got so stressed out yesterday from it. Also, as I am sure you know, this breed is sort of long and narrow and he can stretch right round easily to bite even though I hold him correctly, whereas my other piggies are chunky (teddies and an abby x) so they cant stretch like he can.
He has always been highly strung (again I dont know if this breed is like this). He is the loudest of my piggies and so cute, I just want to do my best for him. Also, he bites when I try to clip his nails, so he is the only one I have to take to the vet for this and even she and her assistant struggle with him even though he is still quite little..phew.
I wouldn't have purposely got a long haired breed but I was ill when we were going to choose him as a friend for Lennie, so my partner chose him 98) As it is, he gave Lennie so much grief, they are now separated :-\
Mmmm, maybe I will take a drive up to Reading with him, scissors at hand.. ;D
 
He sounds just like my Bully although he is a teddy - not normally known for hysteria! I have the same trouble about picking him up etc and its not getting better its getting worse and he squeals continously to the point of making my other boys and bit "twitchy".

Anyway good luck with Timmy, sorry to 'hijack' your post!
 
piglover said:
He sounds just like my Bully although he is a teddy - not normally known for hysteria! I have the same trouble about picking him up etc and its not getting better its getting worse and he squeals continously to the point of making my other boys and bit "twitchy".

Anyway good luck with Timmy, sorry to 'hijack' your post!
Click to expand...

Hey Sue, you haven't hijacked mt post!
At least your Bully is shorthaired so not so bad! Does he bite? It is possible Timmy senses my nervousness picking him up as once bitten, twice shy as the saying goes, my others are fine. The teddies just sit there and let me groom them, clip their nails or whatever. Lennie doesn't like being picked up, but happily jumps on my lap especially if food is involved :D Timmy is just crazy however, so at a bit of a loss short of wearing padded gloves :P Someone else on here must have a nutty piggie or is it just me?
 
Yep! Bully is a biter! I picked him up this morning, clean hands etc he nipped my face, neck and hand, he is a deadly weapon! If I put my hand in the cage to stroke him he turns to bit it as if its food! If I don't put his food down quick enough he bites my hand to leave it!
 
I wud suggest as others have trimming his hair , but even while its short you still need to groom him each day , coronets hair grows all the time, but at least while its short its shudnt be as stressfull & hopefully you can get him use to it, treats are good , and it really is just a case of repeating it every day if poss , coronets are normally laid back but my boars are all complete divas when it comes to grooming ! talk to themm all the tiem they will pick up if u r stressed or worried , i always have the radio on to & dont make it out to be a big thing just a everyday thing & hopefully piggy will eventually relax, if you lived near me i would happily groom him for you ;D
 
Unless they're intended for the show bench, longhairs don't need all that hair so chop it off. I chop the hair off all over the body so they resemble abbysinians with too few rosettes ;D. Make sure the scissors are VERY sharp so the hair doesn't get pulled when you chop it.

Kat
 
Thanks everyone for your advice O0
Bramble, I wish I did live near you ;D We are going to attempt a haircut over the weekend :laugh:
 
You can get some good cheap hairdressing scissors that do the job from Superdrug. I agree with Kat and would trim him right off. I don't groom mine daily but I think it depends how long their coat is.
We had two that were 'biters', the only two I've ever had- they were long hairs. We started off by handling them for 10 minutes at a time every day- just sat in front of the TV. These boys were a year old by the way! I remember it took 6 wheeks of gradually increasing the time we held them (and eventually amount of times during the day), it was during the summer holidays- I would catch them and my son would sit and watch telly with them on his lap.
After this they never bit again- they were my 9 year old sons pets.
I'd happily do it for you but you're better off learning to do it yourself. :) Some of mine kick a bit when they get 'fed up' :)

Get him used to being handled :) Would love to meet him :)
 
Thanks to all of you, sounds like good advice O0

Karen, I would love to meet you and your piggies one day too :D
 
I have just brushed Tilly Fluff and she is a nightmare! I have started putting he in one of those little fleece pet bag thingys ( I cant remember what they are called lol) She runs about and buries her head in it and when she does that I can brush her with out her trying to nip me she nips the fleece instead. :) I also trim her especially around her bottom as that's her problem area and she is finally getting used to being bathed I find chunks of cucumber as bribery work ;)
 
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