StardustEcho
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi everyone.
I have a pair of boys that live in a 3x4 C&C. They've been together since they were around 8-10 weeks old and they're now coming up on 3. There have always been a few dominance things as they've grown. Marsh rumbles at Kino frequently and occasionally chases him a little but Kino generally ignores him or rumbles back till he gives up. There was one instance where Marsh bit Kino while on the way back from the vet when they were teens. I chalked it up to them being in the same carrier as he clearly doesn't like to share. Kino was fine, I put them in neutral territory when we got back just in case and they never had another instance like it. I took Kino out for a groom today and noticed a small-ish wound on his back side. It wasn't there when I last did a health check two weeks ago but he's never liked being touched on his back so I don't know when in the last two weeks it appeared. I'm going to try and get him into the vets as soon as I can to get it checked, but my gut tells me it was likely Marsh. He's been slightly more dominant than usual this week and more pronounced in his chasing of Kino but never to the point I've seen Kino be affected by it. He's eating normally and still perfectly happy to tell Marsh off when need be. There's been no squealing, fighting or anything I've noticed either.
My questions are what do I do in the meantime? I can set them up side by side (though it'll be a temporary 2x3 for each which I hate) until I can get answers from the vet. I can also separate them completely but I worry that it's unrelated to Marsh and they'll struggle being bonded again if I do so. They seem fine around each other right now but I'm not sure I really want to take the risk of leaving it be either. Any advice would be great, thanks!
I have a pair of boys that live in a 3x4 C&C. They've been together since they were around 8-10 weeks old and they're now coming up on 3. There have always been a few dominance things as they've grown. Marsh rumbles at Kino frequently and occasionally chases him a little but Kino generally ignores him or rumbles back till he gives up. There was one instance where Marsh bit Kino while on the way back from the vet when they were teens. I chalked it up to them being in the same carrier as he clearly doesn't like to share. Kino was fine, I put them in neutral territory when we got back just in case and they never had another instance like it. I took Kino out for a groom today and noticed a small-ish wound on his back side. It wasn't there when I last did a health check two weeks ago but he's never liked being touched on his back so I don't know when in the last two weeks it appeared. I'm going to try and get him into the vets as soon as I can to get it checked, but my gut tells me it was likely Marsh. He's been slightly more dominant than usual this week and more pronounced in his chasing of Kino but never to the point I've seen Kino be affected by it. He's eating normally and still perfectly happy to tell Marsh off when need be. There's been no squealing, fighting or anything I've noticed either.
My questions are what do I do in the meantime? I can set them up side by side (though it'll be a temporary 2x3 for each which I hate) until I can get answers from the vet. I can also separate them completely but I worry that it's unrelated to Marsh and they'll struggle being bonded again if I do so. They seem fine around each other right now but I'm not sure I really want to take the risk of leaving it be either. Any advice would be great, thanks!
