sarah.w
New Born Pup
I have a 3yr old boar who's life long friend had to me put to sleep as he had what was believed to be heart/kidney failure. At first he didn't seem too upset, I think he was just waiting for us to return him.. But then he started showing signs of stress, he is a house pig and receives alot of attention but I just felt like all of the attention I could give him wasn't enough.. He hadn't lost his appetite, he was just extremely vocal (more than usual) as if he was shouting for the other pig and would be running around his cage frantically.
So I decided that getting a friend would be the best thing for him.. I gave him 2 weeks mourning period and in that time gave him lots of fuss and attention..
I rescued a little boar who is 1 and a half/ 2yrs old, I had done my research and could see that a baby pig would be best or a pairing with a submissive pig.
My new guinea pig was in quite a state when I got him.. Timmy my older guinea pig got a health check and weighed 1067g and poor tommy (newby) only weighed 546g, he couldn't put any weight on his back leg, but was previously housed in a small hutch with a rabbit, so I assumed that he had received a nasty kick, before any xrays could be carried out the vet wanted him to be more of a acceptable weight.. So I had a course of antibiotics and painkillers and pumped good quality hay, fruit and veg and vit c into him. A week later he was putting weight on his leg and gained 10% of his body weight.. During this time they were housed next to each other, due to me having a large 2 tier cage I didn't want to risk the newby struggling to get up and down the stairs. They could smell, see and hear each other and Timmy seemed extatic to have someone to chatter to.
I introduced them in neutral territory and all went well.. Timmy seemed happy to finally meet the pig he had been hearing and looking at for the past week. Then I let them run around in my large kitchen and it went really well, I had tubes for them to play with a plenty of greens for them to munch..
The meetings were going so well and the vet was over the moon with both pigs conditions I cleaned timmys cage out, put fresh fleeces down and put 2 feed bowls, water bottles and scattered their fruit and veg around to prevent them from having an excuse to fight and all went really well.. They housed together lovely for about 2 weeks. Until recently.. My older pig has started showing the usual dominant behaviour, strutting, chattering, chasing and mounting which I have kept an eye on but didn't intervene as nothing seemed out of the ordinary.. But them timmy the older pig has started to become more aggressive, to the point were tommy had a slight limp and I separated them.. They still live next to each other they just have a floor of the cage each.. Slowly but surely I've been bringing them back in contact with eachother, they were bathed using the same shampoo and allowed to play in the kitchen, it was ok for the first 10 mins and then they actually had a fight, they were separated for a while and let back out together and were ok. They have been getting better and better so again, I cleaned them out and tried them together again and a massive fight broke out were my older pig actually came worse off! He had a little cut on his lip and leg! I'm at my wits end, should I just keep them separated? I would love to house them together, there's no better feeling than seeing them snuggled onto each other or pottering around together. I have already been advised to keep them separated, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips or anything that worked for them?
It's worth asking. Any help is appredicted
So I decided that getting a friend would be the best thing for him.. I gave him 2 weeks mourning period and in that time gave him lots of fuss and attention..
I rescued a little boar who is 1 and a half/ 2yrs old, I had done my research and could see that a baby pig would be best or a pairing with a submissive pig.
My new guinea pig was in quite a state when I got him.. Timmy my older guinea pig got a health check and weighed 1067g and poor tommy (newby) only weighed 546g, he couldn't put any weight on his back leg, but was previously housed in a small hutch with a rabbit, so I assumed that he had received a nasty kick, before any xrays could be carried out the vet wanted him to be more of a acceptable weight.. So I had a course of antibiotics and painkillers and pumped good quality hay, fruit and veg and vit c into him. A week later he was putting weight on his leg and gained 10% of his body weight.. During this time they were housed next to each other, due to me having a large 2 tier cage I didn't want to risk the newby struggling to get up and down the stairs. They could smell, see and hear each other and Timmy seemed extatic to have someone to chatter to.
I introduced them in neutral territory and all went well.. Timmy seemed happy to finally meet the pig he had been hearing and looking at for the past week. Then I let them run around in my large kitchen and it went really well, I had tubes for them to play with a plenty of greens for them to munch..
The meetings were going so well and the vet was over the moon with both pigs conditions I cleaned timmys cage out, put fresh fleeces down and put 2 feed bowls, water bottles and scattered their fruit and veg around to prevent them from having an excuse to fight and all went really well.. They housed together lovely for about 2 weeks. Until recently.. My older pig has started showing the usual dominant behaviour, strutting, chattering, chasing and mounting which I have kept an eye on but didn't intervene as nothing seemed out of the ordinary.. But them timmy the older pig has started to become more aggressive, to the point were tommy had a slight limp and I separated them.. They still live next to each other they just have a floor of the cage each.. Slowly but surely I've been bringing them back in contact with eachother, they were bathed using the same shampoo and allowed to play in the kitchen, it was ok for the first 10 mins and then they actually had a fight, they were separated for a while and let back out together and were ok. They have been getting better and better so again, I cleaned them out and tried them together again and a massive fight broke out were my older pig actually came worse off! He had a little cut on his lip and leg! I'm at my wits end, should I just keep them separated? I would love to house them together, there's no better feeling than seeing them snuggled onto each other or pottering around together. I have already been advised to keep them separated, but I was wondering if anyone had any tips or anything that worked for them?
It's worth asking. Any help is appredicted
