Can a guinea pig be psychotic?

Status
Not open for further replies.
pugerud

pugerud

Joined
Jul 25, 2011
Messages
14
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Norway
Last weekend I had the most horrible experience as a guinea pig mother. I came home late from work, and as soon as i stepped in the door I noticed that something was wrong.. Silence!
Usually when I come home there's a choir of wheeks to greet me, but last Sunday there was nothing. I enter my piggies room and I find my piggie Jørgen dead in a pool of blood. Needless to say, my other piggie had somehow bitten him to death.
After this happened my surviving (murder) piggie has been acting VERY strange. Knut and Jørgen used to be the best of friends cuddling together, playing etc - now Knut is acting like a wild piggie again, running away from me, refusing to come out of his hide outs when I bring him his veggies etc. And on top of it all - he has chewed all his long hair off (he doesnt have any bald patches, he's litterally just given himself a haircut)
I'm just wondering whats wrong with him and what I can do to help my poor little piggie to come back to normal. Is this normal guinea pig behaviour?
I'm a bit clueless about this

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73595 anyways here's a picture thread of my two piggies when they were younger.

RIP JØRGEN!
 
OMG - this is awful :( What a terrible shock it must have been.
I've heard of boars fighting to the death but only ever thought it could happen if they didn't get along, fought and had to be separated ?/
Have no advice tbh and hope someone can help shed some light on this.
 
Oh how shocking for you - it is extremely unusual for pigs to behave like this with their cagemate. I would suspect a physical cause given the change in behaviour and self-barbering. I know that a thyroid tumour can affect barbering, hormone imbalances can affect behaviour, neurological problems within the brain could also be a cause. I think discussing this with a very good cavy vet would be a good idea.

Suzy x
 
pugerud said:
Last weekend I had the most horrible experience as a guinea pig mother. I came home late from work, and as soon as i stepped in the door I noticed that something was wrong.. Silence!
Usually when I come home there's a choir of wheeks to greet me, but last Sunday there was nothing. I enter my piggies room and I find my piggie Jørgen dead in a pool of blood. Needless to say, my other piggie had somehow bitten him to death.
After this happened my surviving (murder) piggie has been acting VERY strange. Knut and Jørgen used to be the best of friends cuddling together, playing etc - now Knut is acting like a wild piggie again, running away from me, refusing to come out of his hide outs when I bring him his veggies etc. And on top of it all - he has chewed all his long hair off (he doesnt have any bald patches, he's litterally just given himself a haircut)
I'm just wondering whats wrong with him and what I can do to help my poor little piggie to come back to normal. Is this normal guinea pig behaviour?
I'm a bit clueless about this

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=73595 anyways here's a picture thread of my two piggies when they were younger.

RIP JØRGEN!
Click to expand...

Firstly i am sorry for your loss. :(

Did Jorgen & Knut have any bite marks on them? If a fight was the cause of death both pigs should have quite severe wounds on them especially round the face areas.
If not then a fight is unlikely.
The only time i have seen lots of blood in a cage is when a boar had passed it, he was diagnosed with a UTI (i now think it was likely a bladder stone).

Jorgen's passing may have been traumatic for Knut to witness & this could be why he's reacting the way he is. He is also likely to be grieving, how long this takes is dependant on the individual pig.
Regarding him barbering himself, it may be a sign of stress in this instance but piggies do barber themselves & their cage-mates for no apparant reason.

The only thing i can suggest you do is as you would with a new pig - speak to him in a soft gentle voice & keep trying to tempt him with food, he should come round but in his own time. You could also think about getting him a friend. :)
 
How very awful for you. Are we sure that Knut was actually a murderer. If and tthere were friends before it seems really odd to me. When piggies fight to the death they usually both endure injuries and its quite rare they die from it. In my experience piggies will fight and get serious injuries but one will always be stronger and the weaker has to submit. But they usually end up in a corner bitten and injured and they would starve to death rather than be too injured.
Is there anything else that was odd, what exactly were his injuries? How was Knuts when you came home?
The fact he is very lonely and insecure suggests that he was closely bonded
So terribly sorry for your loss 8...
 
Very shocking behaviour. RIP Jorgan.

One of my pigs is quite psychotic, but more in the way that he bites, and does a sort of fitting action when you hold him.
 
I've experienced a similar situation...

We think the dead pig had died of a heart condition or something and the 3 other pigs became stressed and decided to eat the other pig to hide the dead body to stop preditors being attracted...
This went hand in hand with a drastic change in personality that took a good week for them to calm down...

We think the behaviour afterwards was due to the stress of what ever spooked them to go on and try and 'dispose' the dead pig...

It's a horrible sight to be greeted with and it really upset and distressed me and I'm not easily upset...

Hopefully things will calm down over the next few days...

Rip little pig... Pop corn free...
x
 
Thank you all for your help and consern!
Knut was taken to the vet after Jørgens passing and he had some bite marks on back neck and right foot - but other than that he seemed fine. Guess they must have gotten in some argument while I was gone.
Knut is however doing much better now, I decided to take him out of the guinea pig room and keep him with me in my bedroom so that he isn't lonely. He's still a bit scared when I try to pick him up but has now started licking my face/hands again when we cuddle - so at least that is a good sign!
He still hasn't made a sound yet, but I'm hoping he will come along soon.
I also knitted him a little woolen blanket that he can snuggle up with now that he's alone.

I'm considering getting a new piggie to keep knut company. But I'm scared that the same scenario might repeat itself. What are your experiences with getting a younger boar? Knut is around a year now I would think (he's a rescue piggie so I'm not quite sure)
 
pugerud said:
Thank you all for your help and consern!
Knut was taken to the vet after Jørgens passing and he had some bite marks on back neck and right foot - but other than that he seemed fine. Guess they must have gotten in some argument while I was gone.
Knut is however doing much better now, I decided to take him out of the guinea pig room and keep him with me in my bedroom so that he isn't lonely. He's still a bit scared when I try to pick him up but has now started licking my face/hands again when we cuddle - so at least that is a good sign!
He still hasn't made a sound yet, but I'm hoping he will come along soon.
I also knitted him a little woolen blanket that he can snuggle up with now that he's alone.

I'm considering getting a new piggie to keep knut company. But I'm scared that the same scenario might repeat itself. What are your experiences with getting a younger boar? Knut is around a year now I would think (he's a rescue piggie so I'm not quite sure)
Click to expand...

i would personally neutar him and get him a girlfriend. less likely they'll fight.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top