Hair Loss

[SmAsh]

i have a long haired boar who we have recently paired with a baby boar. We have noticed that the front fur has been trimmed. Now today half of his fur has been trimmed. It's not bald patches it actually looks like he has been to a hairdressers and looks good. I thought it maybe self barbering but he would not be able to get to his head. And the hair is not ripped out. You should be able to see from photo that he used to have long fur all over his face as well.Any ideas?

 

[Wiebke]

i have a long haired boar who we have recently paired with a baby boar. We have noticed that the front fur has been trimmed. Now today half of his fur has been trimmed. It's not bald patches it actually looks like he has been to a hairdressers and looks good. I thought it maybe self barbering but he would not be able to get to his head. And the hair is not ripped out. You should be able to see from photo that he used to have long fur all over his face as well.Any ideas?

View attachment 45729

it looks like he has been barbered. That is not at all rare with long-haired, especially newly bonded piggies.
More information in this link here: Barbering ( Eating Hair)

 

[SmAsh]

I looked at the articles but there are no bold patches just trimmed hair

 

[Wiebke]

I looked at the articles but there are no bold patches just trimmed hair

Barbering does in most cases not involve bald hair patches (that happens only in extreme cases of dominance grooming, mange mites or pain), just long hair nibbled down to a noticeably shorter length. If you look closely, there are not bald patches on most of the example pictures where long haired piggies have been socially barbered.

Here is another example if that hopefully makes it clearer. You can see how Carwyn's sides have been trimmed short by his new companion Heini - not by me!

 

[SmAsh]

Thank you so much, I put them in the run today and watched intently and caught the baby (Woody) doing it. Ash has long white fur and he has been getting green patches we thought it was weird but now realise it is where Woody is pulling the hair in to his mouth. From the thread you sent me I understand that I should leave them to it unless it goes down to skin?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much, I put them in the run today and watched intently and caught the baby (Woody) doing it. Ash has long white fur and he has been getting green patches we thought it was weird but now realise it is where Woody is pulling the hair in to his mouth. From the thread you sent me I understand that I should leave them to it unless it goes down to skin?

Yes, just leave them be, especially as long as it is social grooming that is accepted by the dominant piggy as a sign of affection!
Carwyn's haircut has been courtesy to his baby wifelet Heini. Lately she has stopped (after about half a year) but is has never gone any worse than that pic. It is not rare that baby companions go overboard with their long-haired adult companions; they can barber them all round in about a week in determined case, but usually not down to the skin. In most cases, the hair is eventually allowed to grow back to full length.

If it is any consolation, my 5 year old peru lady Tesni has just started giving her new ittle 6 months old "toy boy" husboar a shorthair cut...

 

[SmAsh]

Thank you so much for your help, these are our first Guinea pigs and we seem to be getting every type of Guinea pig behaviour possible, it's really interesting and fun but at the same time worrying when we discover their new trend for the week.

 

[VickiA]

I've been keeping piggies for many years and there is always something new to learn about them!