Hi all,
this is my first post and I have a few questions about the behaviour and wellbeing of my male guinea pig.
We first bought him and his brother 1 year ago at 3 weeks old.
He was always a bit shyer than his brother, but all in all a very friendly character, would not run away when being picked up etc, enjoyed running around in their run and making lots of noise.
Last summer his brother ran away and since then he just hasn't seemed like himself anymore.
He seriously doesn't move anymore, just literally from his little house in his hutch to get food and back. He won't move when placed on the floor or in the run and he hardly moves about in his cage either.
This isn't due to being too scared too move when people are around, I could secretly watch him and he still wouldn't move. Is that normal for a guinea pig? How can I motivate him to move more?
We have now got him a new buddy so that he doesn't feel alone anymore and on the first day he, for the first time since his brother ran away, jumped for joy and squeaked. But the novelty wore soon off and he is now how he was before.
Also he seems to prefer moving his body to the left, like he will try to look to the right and his head slowly moves left again. Any idea why this might be?
Another thing that I was wondering about, his eyeballs seem to "swim" around and don't seem focused, kind of like a drunk or blind person, could that mean that he is possibly blind?
Thanks in advance!
this is my first post and I have a few questions about the behaviour and wellbeing of my male guinea pig.
We first bought him and his brother 1 year ago at 3 weeks old.
He was always a bit shyer than his brother, but all in all a very friendly character, would not run away when being picked up etc, enjoyed running around in their run and making lots of noise.
Last summer his brother ran away and since then he just hasn't seemed like himself anymore.
He seriously doesn't move anymore, just literally from his little house in his hutch to get food and back. He won't move when placed on the floor or in the run and he hardly moves about in his cage either.
This isn't due to being too scared too move when people are around, I could secretly watch him and he still wouldn't move. Is that normal for a guinea pig? How can I motivate him to move more?
We have now got him a new buddy so that he doesn't feel alone anymore and on the first day he, for the first time since his brother ran away, jumped for joy and squeaked. But the novelty wore soon off and he is now how he was before.
Also he seems to prefer moving his body to the left, like he will try to look to the right and his head slowly moves left again. Any idea why this might be?
Another thing that I was wondering about, his eyeballs seem to "swim" around and don't seem focused, kind of like a drunk or blind person, could that mean that he is possibly blind?
Thanks in advance!