Oh gosh! This is pretty stressful isn't it?

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Sue and Smartie

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I've had my two girls living next to each other for a couple of weeks now, first in separate cages, then in the same cage with a divider. Today they have gone in together for the first time. I am worried that Kanga is upset, she doesn't like change. I'm worried about them fighting, they have had a scrap already and they've only been in for 15 mins (no blood though). I know I have to give it time but my goodness, what a worry! I do have a set of oven gloves at the ready in case I need to break them up.
If it does come to having to separate them again they will have the divider back in so it's not a problem for me if that happens, but I hate it when my piggies are stressed...
 
It can be so blooming stressful this bonding stuff! 🙈 Have you done the bonding with the ladies in a separate area or just put them together in the cage?
 
Hopefully they settle down. As asked above, did you put them in a neutral (clean) area or just removed the divider?
 
I don't have another cat-proof cage, but I have cleaned & scrubbed it, put in new fleece, a new open sided hidey, to make it as neutral as possible.
 
What happened during the scrap? They also won’t necessarily have a fight. Girls don’t tend to, although it’s not outside the realms of possibilities.

When bonding you only need a pile of hay and veg, no hides. So that needs to come out. That in itself can cause issues, even if it’s hot more than one entrance.
 
They were rolling around in a ball of fur, shrieking at each other. Like a pair of cats really going at each other. It lasted seconds but felt like an hour! Then Fifi ran into a corner, and Kanga strutted about rumbling. And I checked for signs of blood.
It's actually been quiet for a bit as Kanga has been asleep.
 
My boys did that the first time I brought them home and a re-dominance shift occurred. No blood either but yes definitely stressful!

I trial separated my boys because I thought their bond failed. However, the submissive one was biting at the bars to be back with the now newly dominant pig (formerly submissive).
 
That doesn’t sound good. I’ll leave it for others to respond as I’m not as experienced with sow bondings. Did you take the hide out?
 
I have just removed tunnels & hidey & now they are back to chasing again.
 
Is it just dominance chasing or more aggressive? You are going to get chasing as that is normal, but a furball fight is concerning
 
Kanga approaches Fifi, Fifi moves away, Kanga chases her some more, then eventually they stop and just glare at each other while eating hay.
 
Bonding can be SO stressful, I was very lucky with my two boars because their bonding was pretty much immediate after some general dominant behavior. I wish you and your piggies the best of luck, and I hope it works out! 💛
 
Did they settle down? How was the piggy being chased behaving? Was she squeaking or wanting to face up to the chaser?
 
It's quieter this morning. We have got through teatime yesterday and breakfast this morning without any incidents, mainly by scattering the food all around the cage so that they can each eat what they want without having to get too close to the other.
As far as the chasing went, it seemed to be on both sides, and the one being chased would run away for a bit, then stop and turn on the chaser. But there were no more out & out fights, just rumblings & teeth chattering. Then one would start eating hay, and the other would do the same. It's difficult to look menacing when you have hay hanging out of your mouth. At one point it looked as if Fifi was going to start on the other end of the hay in Kanga's mouth but she thought better of that and found her own bit.
It IS quieter this morning but I also think they are rather tired after all that activity yesterday. The oven gloves are still at the ready in case it all kicks off once they are not so worn out.
 
I feel as if it's been a lifetime but in reality it's less than 36 hours since they went in together. Still no more fights, just a bit of rumbling now & again.
One of the cats is sleeping on the oven gloves :))
I'm about to dish out the Piggy Treats (some fresh grass) so that will keep them quiet for a little while.
 
Yes! it really is :luv:
I think Fifi is ready to make friends, Kanga is still thinking about it.
I have got a bag of piggy treats from Rosewood Naturals, and if it gets a bit heated in there I sprinkle some of that around and they are then too busy finding the bits to argue.
 
Well done - holding your nerve is always so difficult. But sounds like it has paid off.
I’ve done numerous bondings but when it’s my own piggies I am so on edge as I’m invested in the outcome for them. Hang in there.
 
Kanga is older, and she's already had so many changes to deal with this year. It's no surprise to me that she's taking a while to settle with yet another change.
 
Today I am cleaning out the cage. It's a full clean out so I will be removing the piggies while I change everything. Normally I would put them in the carry box while I do this but I am not confident that they will cope with being in such close quarters together. Do you think it would be better for my partner to have them on his lap while I do the cage? They have got cuddle cups they like so they could sit in those. I don't want to separate them now they are beginning to work out their relationship. It usually takes me about 15/20 mins to do a thorough clean.
He won't mind cuddling the piggies :luv:
 
Sue and Smartie said:
Today I am cleaning out the cage. It's a full clean out so I will be removing the piggies while I change everything. Normally I would put them in the carry box while I do this but I am not confident that they will cope with being in such close quarters together. Do you think it would be better for my partner to have them on his lap while I do the cage? They have got cuddle cups they like so they could sit in those. I don't want to separate them now they are beginning to work out their relationship. It usually takes me about 15/20 mins to do a thorough clean.
He won't mind cuddling the piggies :luv:
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Could you just usher them down one end while you do the other? I usually try to disturb new bondings as little as possible for the first week - 10 days. The standards can slip a bit short term but it may be easier than taking them both out. If you can’t, then as long as the newbie is ok with being handled then perhaps a shared lap time would work while the cage is cleaned. I’d definitely avoid the confined space of the pet carrier for now.
 
Thank you Vicki, yes they are both fine with being handled. I will clean like a demon and get it done as fast as I can!
I need to change the fleece so can't really do just one end at a time.
 
I managed the clean out in 10 minutes. It went really well, he had both pigs on his lap, Kanga with her face poking out of the cuddle cup, and Fifi with her nose near Kanga's. And they both sat there like little angels, no rumblings or anything. When I put them back in the Piggy Palace they just got on with the eating.

I saw another funny thing yesterday. Kanga was nesting in a corner, she'd got the hay into a lovely hollow and was just settling down when Fifi started zooming round. Round and round, back & forth, and every time she went into Kanga's corner, she did a huge leap right over Kanga. Kanga was rumbling away as if she was saying, can't I get a minute's peace around here?
Fifi could be a show jumping pig 😀
 
This is all normal. My boys do this. Just this morning both we doing laps with Cappy rumbling the whole time but he wasn’t doing it slowly. He rumblestruts, popcorns, and then does laps.

The kicker is if Mokey is interested in participating.

Sounds very promising for your duo. Once their normal behavior becomes commonplace you’ll look back at these threads and feel relieved. I know in two months I learned an immense amount compared to when I was younger and had Chuckie who we didn’t know the ins and outs of caring for a pig.
 
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