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Guinea Pigs Fighting?

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AmyP&M

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Yesterday, I started to notice a lot of squeaking coming from their cage. I watched them for a while and it seems that one of my guinea pigs Pippa has started to be sniffing my other Maisy a lot around her belly and her bum area. If Maisy tries to move away Pippa will follow her and continue. Maisy doesn't seem to enjoy it so she snaps back at Pippa and then Pippa snaps back too, and then they'll get in eachothers faces. In the 2 years i've had them i've never seen them act like this. Pippa does seem to get a bit 'frisky' sometimes and sniff around at Maisys bum and chuffle, but Maisy normally joins in the chuffling and it doesn't last for long. When we first bought them Pippa would actually hump Maisy (there both girls) we thought for a while we'd been given a boy by mistake but the humping stopped after a while. They've been at it all morning and won't seem to stop unless I get involved. What I find most strange is Pippa has recently been diagnosed with bladder stones and is due for an operation on Thursday. She has been acting a bit worn out obviously because shes not feeling well but now suddenly shes like this.
Any idea what could be causing these outbursts? There normally very loving with each other and lick one another and cuddle up. None of them have been hurt or been showing signs of extreme aggression.
 
Hello

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like the ovarian cysts are affecting her hormones and making her very strong in 'season' Some of our girls have the odd occasional strong season too

This is taken from our Sow Behavior guide and will give you more info on Seasons

Sows in season
Girls come into season about every 15-17 days. Often you won't notice, but sometimes, they can be very hormonal. I have observed that this happens more often with adolescent girls, freshly bonded or introduced girls or after an operation that interfered with the estrus cycle.

The girl coming into season can be grumpy or temperamental for a few days (especially if she is the alpha sow). Over the perhaps one and a half day of her season, she will sniff bottoms, rumble, chase and mount her companion as if she were a male. Her companion will either kick her off straight away or allow her to hump until she's fed up, all accompanied by lots of squeaking and often a fair bit of kerfuffle! However, things should stay well below the level where fights would threaten. The humped sow will make it clear when she's fed up.
Well bonded girls will often reaffirm their bond with tender cuddling on the following day.

Coming into season can spark a reopening of the dominance dispute, especially when the undersow is not happy with the way things are. What we think of as sexual behaviour is very often used as a dominance tool to sort out and redefine the relationship.


Good luck with the operation on Thursday, please remember to get some painkiller for after the operation to give at home. Here is a link to Guinea Lynx at excellent medical resource regarding post op care http://www.guinealynx.info/postop.html
 
Yesterday, I started to notice a lot of squeaking coming from their cage. I watched them for a while and it seems that one of my guinea pigs Pippa has started to be sniffing my other Maisy a lot around her belly and her bum area. If Maisy tries to move away Pippa will follow her and continue. Maisy doesn't seem to enjoy it so she snaps back at Pippa and then Pippa snaps back too, and then they'll get in eachothers faces. In the 2 years i've had them i've never seen them act like this. Pippa does seem to get a bit 'frisky' sometimes and sniff around at Maisys bum and chuffle, but Maisy normally joins in the chuffling and it doesn't last for long. When we first bought them Pippa would actually hump Maisy (there both girls) we thought for a while we'd been given a boy by mistake but the humping stopped after a while. They've been at it all morning and won't seem to stop unless I get involved. What I find most strange is Pippa has recently been diagnosed with bladder stones and is due for an operation on Thursday. She has been acting a bit worn out obviously because shes not feeling well but now suddenly shes like this.
Any idea what could be causing these outbursts? There normally very loving with each other and lick one another and cuddle up. None of them have been hurt or been showing signs of extreme aggression.

It is likely that Pippa is either fishing for fresh redigestible poos to restock her own digestion or that she is also developing ovarian cysts, which can cause hormonal issues; especially small growing cysts.

You can try and see whether syringing her poo soup will help. this is made by soaking some fresh poos from a healthy guinea in water, so it contains some of the "good" stuff. Persistent digging can be irritating for the other pig.

I am very sorry for your issues. Please make sure that you have got everything at home to syringe feed in case the recovery is not going as smooth. Ask your vet how soon after the operation Pippa can have painkillers again in case you need to see an out-of-hours vet as an emergency. Keep her on vetbed, light fleece or towels for the first 2-3 days and check on her during the first night. Contact your vet if the wound reopens or if the is very lethargic and has no interest in food and if she is also not picking up after her body has settled down again after the operation (can take 2-3 days, but you should see a daily improvement).
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-syringe-feeding-guide.115359/

For the long term, you are looking at a low calcium diet, either by following the IC diet (listed under daily veg in our general diet thread) or the information in this thread here.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...or-a-balanced-general-guinea-pig-diet.116460/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/low-calcium-diet-for-bladder-piggies.105930/
Please filter any water; it is not just the calcium, but also the minerals that can contribute to the bild-up of gunk and stones. it can make quite a difference.
The currently best low calcium pellets are these here for the UK; 5 pellets per piggy per day will do: http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/small_pets/food/guinea_pig/bunny/195679

With members from all over the world, it would help us greatly if you please added your country or UK county to your details, so we can tailor any advice better. Click on your username on the top bar, then go personal details and scroll down to location. Thank you!
You also want to look at cystease, a glucosamine based bladder wall coating food supplement for cats, or vegetarian glucosamine to support the irrited bladder in the long term.
 
Is the possibility of her having ovarian cysts something I should be worrying about?
 
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