Heeeydevon
New Born Pup
Hey all!
Backstory:
So my piggy's (Paprika) mother (Rosemary) passed away about a week ago. She suddenly became sick, I took her to the emergency vet, got her on meds, but unfortunately 4 days later she passed away (age 7 approx as she was a rescue - I owned her for 3 years) surrounded by myself and her daughter.
Her daughter took the loss hard as they were closely bonded. She had pulled her mother's bedding into her dome the first night and complained when I tried moving her mother's old dome a couple days later, so I left it for a few more days.
The baby:
The day after her mother's passing I brought home a 2 month old baby pig home as I knew I would need to quarantine for 7 days and didn't introduce her to Paprika to let her come back to her normal self.
After 7 days I set the baby's cage beside Paprika's, who barely noticed her as she's super relaxed and isn't bothered by anything... Until she saw the baby. Paprika made quite a few rumbling noises, lots of whiny squeaks, but the baby was instantly energized by the existence of another pig.
1st bonding exercise:
I placed bother Paprika and Poppy (the baby) in a neutral area where they could get acquainted and Paprika wasn't having much of it. She seemed very annoyed, chased her around, and just seemed stressed. So I decided that maybe she wasn't done grieving. So I kept their cages side by side and allowed them to get acquainted without direct contact.
However, throughout the next few days I found Paprika showing a lot more interest in the baby. She would sleep alongside her cage, stare into her dome, and would eventually bring her toys to the side of the baby's cage to show her how to play.
2nd bonding exercise:
Today I tried bonding them again, this time with a single large double sided dome. Then it happened. Popcorn central. Although Paprika (3 years) would get a bit annoyed that Poppy kept invading her personal space, she was relaxed, allowed her to eat next to her, popcorned, and she's now laying along side Poppy's cage with her toy waiting for her to come out of her dome. There was no biting, just nudging when Poppy was up in her face. Even instances where they were scared and share the dome, Paprika was completely fine.
My question is:
How many more bonding sessions would you recommend and at what point could I look into cohabitation with Poppy and Paprika? Should I redo the cage layout to avoid Paprika getting territorial? And are there any further bonding exercises that you'd recommend? Paprika is highly interested in Poppy Always sleeps along side her cage now, and even brings her food near her cage to wait for Poppy to eat. Poppy observes Paprika all the time and is nothing but popcorn and chirps when she sees her.
Photos: the chubby one is Paprika, the mother is the one below her, and the baby is Poppy
Backstory:
So my piggy's (Paprika) mother (Rosemary) passed away about a week ago. She suddenly became sick, I took her to the emergency vet, got her on meds, but unfortunately 4 days later she passed away (age 7 approx as she was a rescue - I owned her for 3 years) surrounded by myself and her daughter.
Her daughter took the loss hard as they were closely bonded. She had pulled her mother's bedding into her dome the first night and complained when I tried moving her mother's old dome a couple days later, so I left it for a few more days.
The baby:
The day after her mother's passing I brought home a 2 month old baby pig home as I knew I would need to quarantine for 7 days and didn't introduce her to Paprika to let her come back to her normal self.
After 7 days I set the baby's cage beside Paprika's, who barely noticed her as she's super relaxed and isn't bothered by anything... Until she saw the baby. Paprika made quite a few rumbling noises, lots of whiny squeaks, but the baby was instantly energized by the existence of another pig.
1st bonding exercise:
I placed bother Paprika and Poppy (the baby) in a neutral area where they could get acquainted and Paprika wasn't having much of it. She seemed very annoyed, chased her around, and just seemed stressed. So I decided that maybe she wasn't done grieving. So I kept their cages side by side and allowed them to get acquainted without direct contact.
However, throughout the next few days I found Paprika showing a lot more interest in the baby. She would sleep alongside her cage, stare into her dome, and would eventually bring her toys to the side of the baby's cage to show her how to play.
2nd bonding exercise:
Today I tried bonding them again, this time with a single large double sided dome. Then it happened. Popcorn central. Although Paprika (3 years) would get a bit annoyed that Poppy kept invading her personal space, she was relaxed, allowed her to eat next to her, popcorned, and she's now laying along side Poppy's cage with her toy waiting for her to come out of her dome. There was no biting, just nudging when Poppy was up in her face. Even instances where they were scared and share the dome, Paprika was completely fine.
My question is:
How many more bonding sessions would you recommend and at what point could I look into cohabitation with Poppy and Paprika? Should I redo the cage layout to avoid Paprika getting territorial? And are there any further bonding exercises that you'd recommend? Paprika is highly interested in Poppy Always sleeps along side her cage now, and even brings her food near her cage to wait for Poppy to eat. Poppy observes Paprika all the time and is nothing but popcorn and chirps when she sees her.
Photos: the chubby one is Paprika, the mother is the one below her, and the baby is Poppy
