Blood drawn

[Alice S]

Hi, I have just tried to bond my 2 females with a neutered male. My females are a bonded pair and have been for most of their life. I picked up a neutered male a couple of days ago and had them in cages next to each other. Bennie is a nervous little pig (he is a rescue from an abuse home and does have bite marks in his ears) but has been happily chatting away to the girls, one in particular has been chatting back. I have just tried some floor time with them all together and at first he was rumbling and their was some humping by both him and my dominant pig Gracie but it all seemed to be going ok. however then the teeth chattering started, I probably should have called it a day then but I gave them a couple more minutes to see if they would calm down again when Ben and Gracie started a fight under the wooden arch. By the time they had come out from under it Gracie had a cut on her lip. It did bleed a bit it stopped afer a minute or 2 and she is able to eat (I will take her to the vets tomorrow to get it properly checked). All 3 pigs now seem back to normal but Gracie and Audrey continued teeth chattering to each other for a good 5 minutes even when it was just the 2 of them again and even an hour or 2 after the pigs are still teeth chattering across to each other. I am worried I have now not only failed at bonding the new boy but possibly damaged the bond my 2 girls have. Now that he has draw blood is there any chance Gracie would be ok with him and what do you think I should do next. Any advice would be really appreciated. I feel terrible that my inexperience has caused all 3 pigs such distress.

 

[Claire W]

I am very sorry that this has happened. Sadly, since blood has been drawn, the bonding has failed. Your option now is to have Bennie living alongside the girls in a separate cage or look for a new friend for him if you have the space and finances to accommodate four piggies. Hopefully your girls will settle down again but keep an eye on them. I took my Elizabeth and Edward on a date last October with a mother and daughter pair. The bonding failed and Elizabeth turned on Edward but she settled down once removed from the mother and daughter. I tried them again with another pair of girls in March and this time, the bond was successful and Ella and Esme came home. When it comes to piggy companionship, it really does come down to character compatibility on whether they will get on

 

[Black piggies]

Hope your two girls relax back into their bond. Poor Bennie was maybe just too fear aggressive for this bonding to work. Teeth chattering could have calmed down into acceptance, so it was reasonable to watch and wait a little.