I Have A Jealous Piggy...help!

[Honey West]

One of my girls, Trixie, has always been a bit on the bratty side, but lately its gotten bad. Recently, my other girl Cookie, had come down with pnuemonia,so I had to separate them from their shared home. Trixie has become increasingly jealous seeing that we have been paying a little more attention to Cookie in the past month because she had been so sick. I've been trying my best to not neglect trixie, and hold her and play with her as much as I've been with Cookie, but Trixie has become almost vindictive both twords my boyfriend and I and Cookie(who has always been her bestie). Cookie is thankfully starting to recover so I've tried to let the two of them play recently and Trixie will make defensive noises and push or chase Cookie away. She will sit in her cage and whine and make us think she wants our attention, then when we pick her up she will blow us off and do her own thing. I'm honestly worried to put them back in the same living space when Cookie is 100%. But I don't want to deprive them of the relationship they had before Cookie became sick. How do I get Trixie to mellow out and realize we are not neglecting her?

 

[Lissa]

One of my girls, Trixie, has always been a bit on the bratty side, but lately its gotten bad. Recently, my other girl Cookie, had come down with pnuemonia,so I had to separate them from their shared home. Trixie has become increasingly jealous seeing that we have been paying a little more attention to Cookie in the past month because she had been so sick. I've been trying my best to not neglect trixie, and hold her and play with her as much as I've been with Cookie, but Trixie has become almost vindictive both twords my boyfriend and I and Cookie(who has always been her bestie). Cookie is thankfully starting to recover so I've tried to let the two of them play recently and Trixie will make defensive noises and push or chase Cookie away. She will sit in her cage and whine and make us think she wants our attention, then when we pick her up she will blow us off and do her own thing. I'm honestly worried to put them back in the same living space when Cookie is 100%. But I don't want to deprive them of the relationship they had before Cookie became sick. How do I get Trixie to mellow out and realize we are not neglecting her?

Hello, My mom had this problem when Elvis got sick she put him in his own cage and when he was better his brothers were very mean to him, She put the cages side by side so that they could get used to each other and after a few weeks she was able to put Elvis in the cage with his brothers again. She just had to take time to get them reacquainted with each other. They are all happy now and has had no repeat of the anger. I hope this helps you.

 

[Wiebke]

Some piggies can be very jealous of attention. Make sure that you always feed, cuddle and play with Trixie first.

You are bound to see dominance behaviour when you put two piggies back after a separation as they have to re-establish their hierarchy; this applies to all guinea pigs. Trixie is more likely to go to the higher and and exhibit it for longer, but dominance is NOT meanness for the sake of being mean!
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/dominance-behaviours-in-guinea-pigs.28949/
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/sow-behaviour.38561/

Make sure that you conduct the introductions on neutral ground and remove any hideys with just one exit for the first few days until Trixie and Cookie have settled down.

 

[1GuineaPig1]

I understand how worried you must be, but it's okay. They do need some time to be reacquainted with each other. Try to play with Trixie a lot more, cuddle her, and give her lots of veggies. (But not too many! Play with Cookie too, but maybe don't let Trixie see. Put their cages side by side, and get them out every day or so and let them play, but if it gets too serious, separate them. Hope this helps!