My Sow's Grooming Needs are Hurting our Relationship

[Lil&Widge]

We've owned our coronet/american cross sow since she was just a pup, she is now almost three.

She gets plenty of socialization and for the first part of her life, happy purrs during lap time, and wheeks when she heard us come home were a regular thing.

But her long hair requires a lot more grooming than her short haired counterpart. She gets trimmed she we don't get major matts, but she still required frequent brushing and has to be bathed more often than our american. But she HATES all of it. We've tried giving treats at grooming time, and try and do it as non-threatening as possible, but it always results in loud whining, teeth chattering, and even striking at me (her teeth make contact, but she never bites down hard or draws blood.) We tried cutting back on her grooming, but she became a mess pretty quickly, which made when we did have to groom again even more traumatic.

After a couple of years of this, she seems to like us handling her less and less in general. Even when it's just the lap time she used to love. Purring became less frequent, and stopped all together about a year ago. She's started whining when she's being handled, and in the past couple months has started to short bursts of random teeth chattering when she's on my lap.

We love her and it's distressing to us that we have essentially seemed to desocialized her by inflicting activities on her she really dislikes, even if they're not the majority of our interactions. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Lady Kelly]

When you say she gets messy quickly, is it very messy? Is it wee or poop? And how quickly does it build up again?

In the past couple of years has she seen a vet at all? Just wondering if there may be something causing her pain and/or discomfort which is causing the behaviour

 

[Lil&Widge]

When you say she gets messy quickly, is it very messy? Is it wee or poop? And how quickly does it build up again?

In the past couple of years has she seen a vet at all? Just wondering if there may be something causing her pain and/or discomfort which is causing the behaviour

She has seen a vet. Other than having him suggest a conditioner for her slightly dry skin (more grooming, yay,) he said she was just feisty.

When a say regularly, with her hair trimmed to a medium length, she has to be brushed a couple times a week. If we go more than a week without a thorough brushing she gets small mats on the underside of her rump that she then gets poo ground into. She really hates having her tail area and tummy touched, so having clean or clip them is an ordeal. She'll also get the hairs in that same area that clump together with wee if she isn't brushed regularly. Then they dry in the clump, and the hairs won't shed out properly unless she's bathed and brushes.
But even though grooming is only a small part of our interaction, it just seems to affect her opinon of me.

 

[Lady Kelly]

She has seen a vet. Other than having him suggest a conditioner for her slightly dry skin (more grooming, yay,) he said she was just feisty.

When a say regularly, with her hair trimmed to a medium length, she has to be brushed a couple times a week. If we go more than a week without a thorough brushing she gets small mats on the underside of her rump that she then gets poo ground into. She really hates having her tail area and tummy touched, so having clean or clip them is an ordeal. She'll also get the hairs in that same area that clump together with wee if she isn't brushed regularly. Then they dry in the clump, and the hairs won't shed out properly unless she's bathed and brushes.
But even though grooming is only a small part of our interaction, it just seems to affect her opinon of me.

Hmm I'm not too sure, have you read through our piggy whispering tips? Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips

Maybe also try and have the brush out with her on occasions where you don't brush her so she doesn't solely associate it with the horrendous deed of being groomed. Not many piggies like to have their bums or tummy touched and I know Donald is very loud in his protests when I have to brush the area I've also had a previous pig who was extremely fiesty and once bit me (not drawing blood) on my stomach through my t shirt just because she had had enough of being on my knee after 2 mins