dan3008
Junior Guinea Pig
So as some of you will know, by total fluke I ended up with a stable trio of boys. For over 2 years they've lived together and are doing really well.
About a month and a half ago, Rainbow, usually the biggest of the boys had lost weight. I went away for a week, came back and didn't weigh them for a couple of weeks due to my own health. When I finally weighed them, he had lost 300g... (he did weigh 1050g before i went away, and i came back to 750g)
Well I panicked. An emergency vet appointment later, and the vet couldn't work it out. So I had to divide the cage so that Rainbow could have his own area, and I'd been monitoring his eating and drinking.
fast forward 6 weeks, and 4 vet appointments, he's gained most of the weight back, but still no answers as to what went wrong. During the separation, all 3 of my boys have been fighting to get the divider down. So today I decided to start the reintegration progress. 2 hours together this evening and no upsets, no fighting and no issues. They even spent a bit of time cuddling up in the hay together. Rainbow's been obviously sad and withdrawn while alone, so it was nice to see him happy and popcorning with his brothers again.
I've put the divider back in place for over night, its a C&C cage and I'm using 2 panels to divide it so they can still chat through the bars. I just dont want to come down in the morning to a blood bath.
I'm going to give them more time together tomorrow, basically going to put them together for as long as they are happy.
I will be keeping a close eye on Rainbow's weight over the coming months and if he starts losing again, I may have to separate him permanently and get a new friend for him. However, for the time being, things seem ok.
I know the risks, and I'm working closely with a guinea savvy vet and a friend who works at a local rescue to make sure things go as smothly as possible. and worse case senario, I am willing to separate and refried as needed.
About a month and a half ago, Rainbow, usually the biggest of the boys had lost weight. I went away for a week, came back and didn't weigh them for a couple of weeks due to my own health. When I finally weighed them, he had lost 300g... (he did weigh 1050g before i went away, and i came back to 750g)
Well I panicked. An emergency vet appointment later, and the vet couldn't work it out. So I had to divide the cage so that Rainbow could have his own area, and I'd been monitoring his eating and drinking.
fast forward 6 weeks, and 4 vet appointments, he's gained most of the weight back, but still no answers as to what went wrong. During the separation, all 3 of my boys have been fighting to get the divider down. So today I decided to start the reintegration progress. 2 hours together this evening and no upsets, no fighting and no issues. They even spent a bit of time cuddling up in the hay together. Rainbow's been obviously sad and withdrawn while alone, so it was nice to see him happy and popcorning with his brothers again.
I've put the divider back in place for over night, its a C&C cage and I'm using 2 panels to divide it so they can still chat through the bars. I just dont want to come down in the morning to a blood bath.
I'm going to give them more time together tomorrow, basically going to put them together for as long as they are happy.
I will be keeping a close eye on Rainbow's weight over the coming months and if he starts losing again, I may have to separate him permanently and get a new friend for him. However, for the time being, things seem ok.
I know the risks, and I'm working closely with a guinea savvy vet and a friend who works at a local rescue to make sure things go as smothly as possible. and worse case senario, I am willing to separate and refried as needed.
Hope the bonding goes well for the little fellas, hope they all get along together now
