Bonding Sows

[PappisnDemba]

Hi - we lost our lovely sow in August and after several months deliberating we decided to find a friend for Demba (3yrs 9mths). Demba was fine, eating well and very sociable, but everything I read pointed towards her not living alone. Anyway, yesterday we took her to a rescue and she met a 7 month old sow. They interacted well, showing no signs of aggression so we brought her home. In my mind they would be great friends, eating and sleeping together like my previous pair. Early signs are very disappointing. When I got up this morning there are clumps of Demba's (my original piggie) fur all around the cage so she has obviously been chased and nipped during the night. Lily (new) has taken up residence in the wooden house and is purring angrily if Demba approaches. I have seen her jump at Demba once this morning, resulting in Demba's fur standing on end and much teeth chattering. Has anyone had any experienced this - is it likely to result in friendship? Thanks x

 

[TAN]

Do you have more than one hidey house? as they will need one each - the new girl is asserting her dominance - it can take a while for them who is going to be "top sow" - as long as no blood has been drawn things should hopefully settle down - did you just pop the new piggy in with Demba? - if you did it might be a good idea to clean out the cage to get rid of any smells so that they are both on neutral ground - have 2 water bottles 2 food bowls and two hideys - a bonding bath where they are both popped into a shallow warm bowl of water and bathed serves to get rid of the scent of the pigs and as pigs usually dont enjoy baths they end up forgetting any animosity and huddling up together ( at this time of year though this should only really be done if they are indoor piggies and are going into a warm centrally heated room ) there are some threads on here somewhere about bonding that will help - I have only ever bonded 3 sets of boars to sows - so a sow to sow bonding might be slightly different - good luck

 

[VickiA]

Any bonding and introduction is stressful for both you and the piggies. You have done the right thing for Demba as she will do better with another piggie for company. Ideally the introduction should be done on neutral ground.

In the early days please make sure that all houses have 2 exits and if space there needs to be one hidey each and one spare. Best items to use in this stage are small plastic footstools, wooden Stick arches, cardboard boxes with 2 exits cut. Have 2 of everything and at least a pig's space apart so that the dominant one cannot prevent the under sow from eating.

Nipping, squealing, mounting and rumbling are all part of the sorting of the hierarchy. But hair on end and lunging could escalate. If blood is drawn and one piggy is seriously injured then it is unlikely to work out between them.

Please make sure they have plenty of space so there is less cause for friction.
With sows, it is possible to separate them and then to try again with reintroduction if it isn't working at first. But if there are signs of injuries then my experience is that it won't work.

Not all sows snuggle together -mine are an amazingly bonded pair but seldom snuggle.

If you are concerned please speak to the rescue who helped you with the bonding,

Good luck.

 

[PappisnDemba]

Do you have more than one hidey house? as they will need one each - the new girl is asserting her dominance - it can take a while for them who is going to be "top sow" - as long as no blood has been drawn things should hopefully settle down - did you just pop the new piggy in with Demba? - if you did it might be a good idea to clean out the cage to get rid of any smells so that they are both on neutral ground - have 2 water bottles 2 food bowls and two hideys - a bonding bath where they are both popped into a shallow warm bowl of water and bathed serves to get rid of the scent of the pigs and as pigs usually dont enjoy baths they end up forgetting any animosity and huddling up together ( at this time of year though this should only really be done if they are indoor piggies and are going into a warm centrally heated room ) there are some threads on here somewhere about bonding that will help - I have only ever bonded 3 sets of boars to sows - so a sow to sow bonding might be slightly different - good luck

Thanks for your help. We took Demba to a rescue where she spent an hour and a half with Lily and there seemed to be no dominance issues. I had thoroughly cleaned Demba's cage so it was nice and fresh when we came home. We are now into our second full day and Demba is now just trying to keep out of her way as she knows she's going to be chased. It's hard as I'm so attached to Demba and wanted to improve the quality of her life and feel that I've made it worse. I know it's early days so as long as Demba is not being hurt I will persevere for another couple of days x

 

[PappisnDemba]

Any bonding and introduction is stressful for both you and the piggies. You have done the right thing for Demba as she will do better with another piggie for company. Ideally the introduction should be done on neutral ground.

In the early days please make sure that all houses have 2 exits and if space there needs to be one hidey each and one spare. Best items to use in this stage are small plastic footstools, wooden Stick arches, cardboard boxes with 2 exits cut. Have 2 of everything and at least a pig's space apart so that the dominant one cannot prevent the under sow from eating.

Nipping, squealing, mounting and rumbling are all part of the sorting of the hierarchy. But hair on end and lunging could escalate. If blood is drawn and one piggy is seriously injured then it is unlikely to work out between them.

Please make sure they have plenty of space so there is less cause for friction.
With sows, it is possible to separate them and then to try again with reintroduction if it isn't working at first. But if there are signs of injuries then my experience is that it won't work.

Not all sows snuggle together -mine are an amazingly bonded pair but seldom snuggle.

If you are concerned please speak to the rescue who helped you with the bonding,

Good luck.

Thanks for your advice - hopefully it's early days so I'll persevere a little longer. It's so hard when you have had a closely bonded pair - like yours, mine rarely snuggled but they were always mooching around together - that's all I wanted again x

 

[TAN]

I feel your pain! I had a lone boar (Bumble) who I didn't want to have neutered,so went on the waiting list at Rugby Rabbit and guinea pig rescue (who no longer rescue due to the financial impact) to get him a spayed sow - after a 6 month wait we were offered a pair of tightly bonded sows Honey and Bea - after bringing them home i thought I had made the worst decision ever - I had nearly two weeks of rumbling ,chasing and two sows screaming at a randy 7 month boar - I could hear the girls screaming all through the night at him and even cried myself to sleep for a couple of nights- it did calm down and even though the girls don't snuggle with him they rub along and he is happy - they sometimes groom him but are still very tightly bonded to each other - as long as no blood has been drawn it should work itself out x

 

[VickiA]

Thanks for your advice - hopefully it's early days so I'll persevere a little longer. It's so hard when you have had a closely bonded pair - like yours, mine rarely snuggled but they were always mooching around together - that's all I wanted again x

I know exactly how you feel, especially when your original piggie Demba seems to be the under sow. Just keep a watching brief. It's early days and they are adjusting to each other.