Post-Vet Brotherly Animosity

[sebastianT]

Hello Everyone,

Our two boars (Paws and Pants - brothers/8 months old) have always gotten along great together. We have had both of them since they were about 4 weeks old. They eat, sleep, and generally hang out together all the time. Today, we had to take Paws on a small vet trip to check for some urinary concerns (all seems good). Since coming back from the vet however, pants and paws have had huge issues sharing the same space. They share a 5x2 cavee cage and so have plenty of space to run around in, and we recently replaced the bottom Coroplast section, over which we place some towels and fleece. Since Paw's return from the vet, they have been constantly chasing, mounting, and generally harassing each other. Neither of them have drawn blood at this point, but as my wife and I would like to sleep, we had to put up a divider along the middle of the cage to prevent them from continuing to go at it. I believe that paws had some kind of fluid used on him at the vet to allow for one of the tests they did which may have strongly changed his scent upon his return (about 4 hours ago at this point).

I suppose my question to everyone is to ask: how should we go about re-integrating them properly? Not only do we miss seeing them happy together, but we aren't huge fans of splitting the space both of them got to use in half in order to keep them from fighting. We also aren't certain if what caused this was the change in scent after the vet visit, the change of the Coroplast bottom of the cage, or if perhaps it's just something hormonal at their age. I didn't want to keep them in the same space since I was afraid one might draw blood, and at that point any chance of re-bonding them would be out the window. It was just shocking to see their change in demeanor happen so rapidly! Any advice on this would be really appreciated.

Also, since I did not mention it earlier, Pants is blind!

Thank you all!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.

Can I clarify , did you only take paws to the vet? Ie pants didn’t go with him? We always recommend that boars go everywhere together and should never be separated for vet trips.
Coming home and smelling like someone else is likely to have been the issue (much less likely for it to be the coroplast), particularly if pants didn’t go with him and is blind, so was only exposed to a new smell within his own territory which he would then have thought someone was invading his territory.

Any Separations can also be where underlying issues can be brought to the fore.
They will be forced to reestablish their bond upon being reunited which will result in an increase in dominance, as you have seen.
What matters is whether it was just dominance and in a normal situation (the scent change aside) separation is not needed and does mean in doing so they need to go through it again. Or whether the behaviour was so intense that this could be a symptom of a bigger issue which existed between them and being separated for the vet trip has now brought to light.
In your scenario, I’m guessing it’s a separation going to the vet and him coming back smelling different.

To do that you will first need to give a couple of days for paws to go back to smelling of himself. You do not want to put them together if he is still carrying any ‘vet scent’.
Then to reunite you need to put them on neutral territory. As the cage has been split each half will become their own territory in the days they are apart so you cant just remove the divider and let them go back together (potential risk for it being seen as a territory invasion again and cause a fight ). You will need to place both piggies into a pen/Space which neither of them see as their territory. You should not add any hides into this space. There should just be hay and water
Upon being put into this neutral space and being reunited you will see the dominance behaviours resume as they reestablish their bond (this is why separation can make things worse). What matters is whether they settle down together over several hours in the neutral space and go back to how things were or whether the behaviours continue/intensify.

If they settle down and go back behaving as normal then after several hours in neutral space, you can remove the divider in their main cage, make sure it smells of both of them or is also neutral (you may need to clean the cage again particularly if paws has spread his ‘vet scent’ all over the space as if pants smells that it may set them off again).

If they start with negative behaviours - intense chasing and mounting and signs of a problem, aggression etc, and it is essential that you spot the difference between normal dominance behaviours (for which you do not step in and should not separate at all) and if things have gone wrong - then it is a sign that things are not well between them and it’s unlikely they can be reunited. They would have to stay separated permanently if there is any fighting or if their bond has been affected negatively.
In the event of permanent separation, they need a 3x2 cage each side by side so your 5x2 would need to be extended to a 6x2.

Hopefully this is just a blip following a separation/ smelling different and they do still have a bond and will go back together nicely after a bit of time to calm down

I have added our guides to help below

Bonds In Trouble
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated Bonding Dynamics and Behaviours

 

[VickiA]

Great advice above.
I’m so sorry that you’re in this position, but as it has been explained you will need to do a full reintroduction on neutral territory to see whether they will accept each other again. They will have to go through acceptance, and all the usual dominance all over again if they have been separated. Unfortunately, the change in scent and a separation mean that you do have to go back to the beginning. I did once have two sows who went to the vets together, stayed at the vets whilst one had surgery, and then came home together, but the change in scent caused similar issues on their return homeand they had to be reintroduced on neutral territory.
If you follow the advice given above and read the detailed guides, you stand the best chance of getting them back together, but please be advised that this is by no means guaranteed and they may always have to live side-by-side. Good luck.