At a loss...

It's so sad when they can't be together. I have two little boars who live side by side with a divider. Red goes frantic if I have Caspy out of his cage, he runs around looking for him, and yet it's Red that attacks Caspy. Caspy doesn't seem very bothered if Reds there or not, although he does lie against the divider with him and touch noses. They are such funny little things.
 
So just as an update. I took Mischief to the vet on Monday just to see if anything is wrong. We couldn’t find anything obvious but she has ovarian cysts and bladder sludge but none of these have worsened. So put her on painkillers to see if this improved her.

I just had a gut feeling she’s not right so wanted a second opinion, went to see John chitty in Andover who is a renowned expert of Guineas. He agrees with me re her behaviour that it’s linked to illness and/pain. So she’s going in on Friday for X-rays and scans if needed to try to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we upped her dose of painkiller to 1ml twice a day, to see if this helped her. I put them together in a completely neutral environment, no huts, bowls nothing...and within 2 minutes they were fighting. So I fear the bond is well and truly broken which is very sad. So I have two very morose Guineas currently. What was interesting is that this time the boy was aggressive towards her. I think he’s had enough.

So this weekend I am hoping to send him to an adoption centre to choose some more friends. Poor lad, he’s so sad. I can separate her so she can at least see the others. But he needs a friend or two soon.

All very stressful..I’ll keep you posted!
 
Aw no, glad he's going to get some news friends though just so sad that the bond is now broken. I hope the scans reveal something. Keep us posted! X
 
I have had a couple of sows with cystic ovaries who have benefited greatly in terms of their behaviour by having their ovaries removed. Neither of them had other symptoms, just grumpiness and hormonal behaviour. They both settled down within days of surgery and now have nice settled friendships with other pigs. Illness or pain can certainly cause a breakdown in a bond, this is always top of my list. So well done for getting her checked so thoroughly.
 
So the vet has called...nothing terrible in that her Bladder and Ovaries are ok which is very good news and my biggest fear. However she seems to have arthritis in her back and pelvis, she also has (which amazed me as she has never shown it) mild pneumonia in that there is some shadowing on her lungs. So she is being sent home with antibiotics and painkilllers. She is also having a blood test to check on kidneys and other organs as well. It just goes to show how they hide things as she has never shown any symptons of the above at all. No doubt the symptons are coming to the fore now.

I suspect she has just been feeling weaker and more at risk hence maybe her behaviour. The vet believes this is the case. Sadly I don't think we will ever be able to repair the relationship between the two of them and I dont want to put her under any more stress until she is better.

I am so pleased she is insured so that we have been able to really figure out what is causing these behaviour changes. Its very interesting..
 
Try oxbow glucosamine tablets for the arthiritis, i have 2 packs not being used at home. Shame you live far away
 
She’s back home, the vet nurse said she’d been a bit quiet after the anaesthetic and that she’d not eaten much...as soon as she saw me she ran over and then tucked into her dried food, so I think she was just homesick! She’s very happy tonight. As is her husboar who was delighted to see her through the divider. Two weeks of painkiller and antibiotics..let’s see...
 
Guinea Slave said:
Oh bless you,

Oh bless you! Thank you..I’ll look into these.
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No problem, i used them for my boar sky, he had arthiritis as he was 7 years old. He died from cancer in the end and i never used all of the tablets. I say tablets but they are more like a hay biscuit
 
Hi. Sorry to hear about your 2 beautiful pigs.
I had two brothers back when I was younger. Louie and Sam. They was a period after about 3 years they suddenly fought and they would keep on fighting.. which was incredibly hard to take. So I know exactly what it is like to see and expierence that. I didn't have much of an answer but I tried changing their diet slightly and things started to work out after a while.

I don't know if I was just lucky but maybe try giving that a go?
 
On reading the first post I'm wondering if the fight was caused by removing them both at the same time in the same carry case.

Catching and then confining whilst they are relocated is very stressful for piggies and to be forced confined close to another pig could in my opinion cause the aggression and stress to be focussed on what it can see, I.e. the partner pig.

Just a thought.
 
Eggsy said:
Hi. Sorry to hear about your 2 beautiful pigs.
I had two brothers back when I was younger. Louie and Sam. They was a period after about 3 years they suddenly fought and they would keep on fighting.. which was incredibly hard to take. So I know exactly what it is like to see and expierence that. I didn't have much of an answer but I tried changing their diet slightly and things started to work out after a while.

I don't know if I was just lucky but maybe try giving that a go?
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Thanks for this, it gives me hope! She’s on antibiotics and painkillers and then we are going to try once againin another week or so when hopefully she feels much better. At the moment they are next to each other divided by a couple c&c’s. They seem quite settled now.
 
Nick G said:
On reading the first post I'm wondering if the fight was caused by removing them both at the same time in the same carry case.

Catching and then confining whilst they are relocated is very stressful for piggies and to be forced confined close to another pig could in my opinion cause the aggression and stress to be focussed on what it can see, I.e. the partner pig.

Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Appreciate your feeedback. In my view they always prefer to be together, being separate in fact causes more stress usually particularly when they are bonded. Of course the carry case needs to be big enough.which it is. They’ve also been managed like this since together so it’s definitely out of character (they usually follow each other in without asking) I think it’s all pain related, it occurred to me that typically if an animal is sick in a herd they often remove themselves from the herd so maybe this is why? She feels safer and more secure on her own while she doesn’t feel 100%.

I guess only time will tell.
 
Just an update...Despite treatment and Mischief being very happy in herself, I tried re bonding them (knowing full well it was unlikely to work) and within seconds they wanted to fight. Fortunately I held onto herl so that they could not actually fight. I then had to cover the divider as they kept going for each other...goodness knows what has caused such an epic fail...So that was it..no returning. very sad.

She is now in a 'penthouse suite' a very 5x2 c&c built higher up into the shed which overlooks the other run with lots of things to play with She seems very happy and is enjoying being a 'mummy's girl'. She's put on weight as well (probably because I keep spoiling her!). I hate her being on her own but her health and way of being seem to indicate this is what she wants. When I work from home she is an office pig..shes happy with that.

So big Heath...has been to Wheak and Squeak and found himself two more lady friends :-) The lovely Anna has helped them bond and they have spent 5 days together to ensure the bond is tight before they come home. All very uneventful apparently (thank goodness!). So they are coming home tomorrow.... so Mischief will at last have some company in the shed again but in a way she is comfortable with..unfortunately i have two lots of cages to clean now! But thats a small price to pay for them to be happy.

I'll post pigtures soon!
 
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