Sick, lonely, rejected Guinea Pig.

[Lynith]

Hi all. I have a herd of Golden Girls Peruvians. Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia. Blanche has always been a bit of a runt, weighing in at 450g at 8 months old. She's always snuggled with her tubby sister Dorothy for warmth.

Last weekend Blanche had a seizure after a warm bath and her body temp, blood pressure, and blood sugar tanked. We took her to the ER and she made it through the night but barely.
All testing has come up clear and We've been waiting on the results of some blood panels. So far no answers. We are thinking it might be her jaw because she refuses to eat hay but she'll eat all the greens I give her. But Critical care is helping.

She's struggling, wanting to be out with her herd. But Sophia, her mother, just attacks her non-stop. No blood, but Blanche will be cowering in the corner and Sophia will be biting at her butt relentlessly. Is this normal behavior when one is sick? Dorothy and Blanche are still BFFs so I've been putting her in Blanche's cage once in a while for social visits. But I know guinea pigs don't do well in solitary. But until we find out what's wrong with her and she gets better she's going to be alone and I worry that will hurt her recovery.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help little Blanche out? She's such a sweet girl. We have a 3 year old child who is very close to Blanche. (She's a bit rough with her but Blanche kinda loves it when she's not eyeing the rainbow bridge. Blanche runs TOWARDS her when she enters their enclosure. Maybe she likes the snuggles for warmth?)

 

[Wiebke]

Hi all. I have a herd of Golden Girls Peruvians. Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia. Blanche has always been a bit of a runt, weighing in at 450g at 8 months old. She's always snuggled with her tubby sister Dorothy for warmth.

Last weekend Blanche had a seizure after a warm bath and her body temp, blood pressure, and blood sugar tanked. We took her to the ER and she made it through the night but barely.
All testing has come up clear and We've been waiting on the results of some blood panels. So far no answers. We are thinking it might be her jaw because she refuses to eat hay but she'll eat all the greens I give her. But Critical care is helping.

She's struggling, wanting to be out with her herd. But Sophia, her mother, just attacks her non-stop. No blood, but Blanche will be cowering in the corner and Sophia will be biting at her butt relentlessly. Is this normal behavior when one is sick? Dorothy and Blanche are still BFFs so I've been putting her in Blanche's cage once in a while for social visits. But I know guinea pigs don't do well in solitary. But until we find out what's wrong with her and she gets better she's going to be alone and I worry that will hurt her recovery.

Does anyone have any suggestions to help little Blanche out? She's such a sweet girl. We have a 3 year old child who is very close to Blanche. (She's a bit rough with her but Blanche kinda loves it when she's not eyeing the rainbow bridge. Blanche runs TOWARDS her when she enters their enclosure. Maybe she likes the snuggles for warmth?)

Hi!

Guinea pigs are very supportive with any disabled piggies that can keep up with the herd but may reject any ill piggies that may carry a devastating bug into the group. Once they have made up their mind that a piggy is no longer part of a group, you have had it.

It depends on harsh the nipping and dominance behaviour is. If you remove at the first sign, you are preventing Blanche from settling back in. If it is really on a totally out of proportion, relentless level and goes on for more than a few hours, then I would separate.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

In this case, can you please place Dorothy with Blanche permanently as a bonded pair. Dorothy will always be accepted back into the herd as she hasn't left on bad terms, so I would not worry about a broken bond in the long term. I have reunited bereaved sows after several years of being with other mates; once they have been part of a stable group, they will always recognise each other as individual personalities and as 'family' - unless they have been expelled the Blanche has. It does unfortunately happen occasionally especially after medical separations, even between mother/daughters or litter sisters. Once sows have made up there mind, there is unfortunately nothing you can do apart from organising a stable round the clock companion for your expelled piggy.
The constant toing and froing is also very stressful for Dorothy; guinea pigs don't deal well with divided loyalties.

All the best! Sometimes we have to deal with unpleasant situations in groups and split them for longer term stability, as gutting as that is for us. Guinea pig society doesn't work to our pleasure but after its own rules...

 

[Siikibam]

pipped to the post I was also going to suggest you put her permanently with Dorothy.

 

[Lynith]

I have a fixed boar, "Professor" (doesn't fit the naming scheme) who is very protective of Blanche, Dorothy, and Rose. We got all 4 at the same time (give or take a few weeks.) Professor will stand outside of Blanche's hidey hole and chew at anyone who walks by. (Though he does try to mount her which she's clearly not in the mood for.)

Rose is indifferent to Blanche. They've always just left each other alone.

Sophia is actually a relative newcomer. We adopted her thinking adopting Blanches mother would be a nice addition. Should I separate the aggressor so the others don't join in, instead of separating the "victim"?

Not sure if any of those details change anything, I just didn't want to make the original post too long.

 

[Siikibam]

If the mum gets on with the others I wouldn’t separate her. I’d separate Blanche and get her someone from the herd to live with permanently, as advised by @Wiebke