Amysguineapigs
Teenage Guinea Pig
Its been a week since i had to separate Cookie and Billy as they had a bad fight. Cookie looks content on his own at the moment, i know guinea pigs should live with others but honestly Cookie has been utterly miserable living with Billy, and seemed content been on his own as an indoor pig with human attention throughout most of the day before we had Billy. But we did what we thought was right for Cookie but unfortunately has ended up been a complete disaster, Cookies only just become his old self again after been treated with antibiotics due an awful infection in his mouth from a bite wound.
Since this we've been racking our brains on what to do, theres no way I'm re introducing them. At the moment their in a double story hutch which is split, this can only be short term as they cant even see each other. I split the outside run yesterday to see how they react through bars, they went up to each other, no sign of aggression but after 5 minutes Cookie wasnt interested and made little interaction. Cookie seems content on his own, but Billy has gone from a confident pig to a shaking timid one, he is very lonely, i can see he needs to be with another pig.
My dad was going to design hutch from the one with have so its split on one level with mesh in-between so they can see each other. But i still feel Billy wont be getting the interaction he needs been so young (7 months).
I dont know whether this would work or is completely wrong! But we have a herd of 4 sows, we mentioned neutering Billy and housing them with them but will have to extend the C&C and try and make more room. But we have a few concerns if this is possible. Would a boar make the sows fight or disrupt their herd? We have one sow who is quite dominant, would this course Billy to fight with her?
As some of you may know from the past Cookie has watery eyes, and has lost 2 friends around the age of 2, which made us and our vet believe maybe his carrying something, although theres no evidence to suggest he is. But what if he is and its in Billys system now and he passes it on to the girls? Theres just so much to think about.
Ive even thought about possibly rehoming Billy, but thats something i really want to avoid, i believe that we decided to have him therefore his our responsibility to make sure his welfare needs are been met.
I would love to hear some advice on the situation.
Thanks
Since this we've been racking our brains on what to do, theres no way I'm re introducing them. At the moment their in a double story hutch which is split, this can only be short term as they cant even see each other. I split the outside run yesterday to see how they react through bars, they went up to each other, no sign of aggression but after 5 minutes Cookie wasnt interested and made little interaction. Cookie seems content on his own, but Billy has gone from a confident pig to a shaking timid one, he is very lonely, i can see he needs to be with another pig.
My dad was going to design hutch from the one with have so its split on one level with mesh in-between so they can see each other. But i still feel Billy wont be getting the interaction he needs been so young (7 months).
I dont know whether this would work or is completely wrong! But we have a herd of 4 sows, we mentioned neutering Billy and housing them with them but will have to extend the C&C and try and make more room. But we have a few concerns if this is possible. Would a boar make the sows fight or disrupt their herd? We have one sow who is quite dominant, would this course Billy to fight with her?
As some of you may know from the past Cookie has watery eyes, and has lost 2 friends around the age of 2, which made us and our vet believe maybe his carrying something, although theres no evidence to suggest he is. But what if he is and its in Billys system now and he passes it on to the girls? Theres just so much to think about.
Ive even thought about possibly rehoming Billy, but thats something i really want to avoid, i believe that we decided to have him therefore his our responsibility to make sure his welfare needs are been met.
I would love to hear some advice on the situation.
Thanks