Stanley has become more aggressive as day has gone on

Helen82

Helen82

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hello - just need some advice as I daren't go to bed at the moment. Background info: there was blood in Primrose' wee on Wednesday, I took both her and Stanley to vet on Thursday and she was diagnosed with cystitis. She's fine in herself, not shown any sign of pain when toileting, currently no blood in wee and is having Cystophan on her food in the morning for the cystitis. Yesterday I went in and saw that Stanley's left eye was shut and weeping. I took him on his own to the emergency vets (didn't want to stress Primrose with another vet visit) and he had a bit of hay stuck in his eye and the eye was scratched/ulcerated. I gave him eye drops when I got him home and had to take him out of their cage twice yesterday evening to apply lubricating gel (as instructed). The vet told me that today I had to twice give him eye drops, and three times apply gel, at five spaced out intervals during the day, which I have done. After the fourth time I got him out of the cage about 5.30pm to apply his second dose of eye drops, he really started to bother Primrose with excessive rumblestrutting. She made all the right submissive noises but he wouldn't leave her alone and started initiating scuffles with her. From then on and after I had him out of the cage the fifth time to apply the third dose of gel, they keep alternating between napping and then Stanley again just won't stop rumblestrutting and trying to scuffle with Primrose and it's getting more and more fraught. A few times now I've had to raise my voice to shock them into stopping because I'm worried the scuffle will become serious. Up until today their bond has been fine but now everything seems to have gone downhill. It's as if he's so fed up with me catching him and putting things in his eye, he's taking out his anger on Primrose, or maybe he doesn't want her to know he has a 'weakness' at the moment so has gone super-aggressive. They keep alternating between napping, bits of eating and then the extreme behaviour. They are in a 2x5 C&C cage and I'm wondering whether I ought to divide it tonight for both of their safety or whether he would possibly then risk injuring his eye more if he was desperate to get past the dividing grids? Feel terrible that I seem to have messed everything up.
 
Thinking it's also a fear/pain to aggression thing too as he's fearful of me cos I keep doing awful things to his eye and he doesn't know what's happening and maybe the painkillers have worn off. The emergency vet gave him a Metacam injection on Saturday to tide him over the weekend but maybe it hasn't tided him over enough.
 
It could be that he is feeling poorly but still wants to keep his “top dog” position in the pecking order? My boys are separated (due to fighting) but live in the same cage separated by bars. When Chunk was really poorly, hunched in one corner, he would go crazy if Reggie went anywhere near him! Chattering like mad and squeaking! Chunk has always been the dominant one so I think he was defending his title! Hope your babies get better soon!
 
Reggie&Chunk said:
It could be that he is feeling poorly but still wants to keep his “top dog” position in the pecking order? My boys are separated (due to fighting) but live in the same cage separated by bars. When Chunk was really poorly, hunched in one corner, he would go crazy if Reggie went anywhere near him! Chattering like mad and squeaking! Chunk has always been the dominant one so I think he was defending his title! Hope your babies get better soon!
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Thank you - I hope so too
 
Update: I decided not to put a divider in as they've had so much unrest etc the last few days I didn't want to add another element to the mix. So like the crazy person I am I ended up sleeping on the floor on the landing for a couple of hours so I could hear what was going on in their room. My back couldn't take anymore so I went to my proper bed after that with the door as wide open as possible. They had a bit of scuffle about 2.30/3ish but when I went in this morning no-one was injured, thank god!

I got Stanley to the vets at 9.50, not massively impressed with the vet tbh… (This is my 'normal' vets btw, not the guinea pig vet in Matlock, as I had to go through their out of hours service providers on Saturday so the treatment continues with them.) Anyway, he dyed his eye again (only after I asked him to) to check. I couldn't see cos I was holding Stanley but the scratches are still showing up but apparently they don't look deep thankfully. He wouldn't give him a Metacam injection like the vet on Saturday did. He gave me some to syringe him with (0.16ml cat Metacam once a day) but I'm not at all confident, especially as I've got to carry on with the five separate eye treatments each day aswell. I put the dose on four bits on cucumber but he would only eat one... Treatment is to continue all week and I'm to take him back to the vets again at the end of the week.

Temperament-wise he seemed okay when I put him back with Primrose - she had done some 'home improvements' whilst we were out so he was too busy exploring those, and he's having a nap at the moment. I'm just a bit wary of whether his mood will deteriorate again as the day goes on and I keep having to catch him for his treatments.
 
Sorry to hear this is happening. The meatacam at home may help they tend to love the taste so it is not a battle -This will keep him pain free if any of the aggression is due to discomfort... Just offer the metacam by syringe, take top of metacam bottle and use a 1ml syringe to suck it up with

Helen82 said:
Update: I decided not to put a divider in as they've had so much unrest etc the last few days I didn't want to add another element to the mix. So like the crazy person I am I ended up sleeping on the floor on the landing for a couple of hours so I could hear what was going on in their room.
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Awww bless you

Just going to tag @Wiebke into this incase she can shed some light on the behaviour

Sending lots of healing vibes x x
 
Helen82 said:
Hello - just need some advice as I daren't go to bed at the moment. Background info: there was blood in Primrose' wee on Wednesday, I took both her and Stanley to vet on Thursday and she was diagnosed with cystitis. She's fine in herself, not shown any sign of pain when toileting, currently no blood in wee and is having Cystophan on her food in the morning for the cystitis. Yesterday I went in and saw that Stanley's left eye was shut and weeping. I took him on his own to the emergency vets (didn't want to stress Primrose with another vet visit) and he had a bit of hay stuck in his eye and the eye was scratched/ulcerated. I gave him eye drops when I got him home and had to take him out of their cage twice yesterday evening to apply lubricating gel (as instructed). The vet told me that today I had to twice give him eye drops, and three times apply gel, at five spaced out intervals during the day, which I have done. After the fourth time I got him out of the cage about 5.30pm to apply his second dose of eye drops, he really started to bother Primrose with excessive rumblestrutting. She made all the right submissive noises but he wouldn't leave her alone and started initiating scuffles with her. From then on and after I had him out of the cage the fifth time to apply the third dose of gel, they keep alternating between napping and then Stanley again just won't stop rumblestrutting and trying to scuffle with Primrose and it's getting more and more fraught. A few times now I've had to raise my voice to shock them into stopping because I'm worried the scuffle will become serious. Up until today their bond has been fine but now everything seems to have gone downhill. It's as if he's so fed up with me catching him and putting things in his eye, he's taking out his anger on Primrose, or maybe he doesn't want her to know he has a 'weakness' at the moment so has gone super-aggressive. They keep alternating between napping, bits of eating and then the extreme behaviour. They are in a 2x5 C&C cage and I'm wondering whether I ought to divide it tonight for both of their safety or whether he would possibly then risk injuring his eye more if he was desperate to get past the dividing grids? Feel terrible that I seem to have messed everything up.
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I would recommend to separate them with a divider for day or two to allow them both to settle down and feel better in themselves. Illness can impact on the hierarchy and shift dynamics.
Bonds In Trouble
 
sport_billy said:
Sorry to hear this is happening. The meatacam at home may help they tend to love the taste so it is not a battle -This will keep him pain free if any of the aggression is due to discomfort... Just offer the metacam by syringe, take top of metacam bottle and use a 1ml syringe to suck it up with


Awww bless you

Just going to tag @Wiebke into this incase she can shed some light on the behaviour

Sending lots of healing vibes x x
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Thank you - we need them at the moment!
 
Wiebke said:
I would recommend to separate them with a divider for day or two to allow them both to settle down and feel better in themselves. Illness can impact on the hierarchy and shift dynamics.
Bonds In Trouble
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Thanks - I will probably do this, just watching them a bit longer at the moment to see how things are. I've given him his first eye drops of the day; Primrose trying to lick it all off again narked him for a bit, but not for long. Just a bit concerned that neither of them will have much space and get aggravated and/or depressed if I divide the cage. Both of them are eating and drinking fine at the moment so I want that to continue.
 
Helen82 said:
Thanks - I will probably do this, just watching them a bit longer at the moment to see how things are. I've given him his first eye drops of the day; Primrose trying to lick it all off again narked him for a bit, but not for long. Just a bit concerned that neither of them will have much space and get aggravated and/or depressed if I divide the cage. Both of them are eating and drinking fine at the moment so I want that to continue.
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If they are OK for the moment, then leave them be. A short term separation is an emergency measure to prevent things from going over the edge when they are clearly building up.
 
Wiebke said:
If they are OK for the moment, then leave them be. A short term separation is an emergency measure to prevent things from going over the edge when they are clearly building up.
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Fingers crossed things feel a bit less fractious tonight so I am leaving them together for the time being. Not sure how much of the drops are actually being allowed to work as Primrose seems to have a taste for Isathal… We'll see how we get on, and then Stanley is booked in again at the vets on Friday morning - hoping that there will be some improvement in his eye by then.
 
sport_billy said:
How are they doing today?
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Merab's Slave said:
Hope the piggies are both feeling better now
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Sorry I missed your posts - *touch wood* things have calmed down a bit now. Stanley still not enjoying his eye treatment (well you wouldn't, would you!), and he gets a bit over-rumblestrutty when I pop him back, but nothing like it was on Sunday night. Added to everything he's at a rather awkward age; possibly about 10/11 months. Primrose doesn't help matters as she likes to try and vigorously lick his eye afterwards which he's not at all keen about. I've just bought some grain free Science Selective pellets which they both love so am using these as rewards; when I take Stanley out for his drops, Primrose has learnt to run up to the loft and beg for pellets... The problem is I keep telling her to eat more hay, eat her veg etc, but now all she wants are the new pellets! I put Stanley's Metacam dose on some mint leaves and he eats it up that way. Primrose has got a bit wise to the Cystaphan on her morning veg but I'm just about getting it into her - she's still having the occasionally 'bloody' wee but there has been added stress with the Stanley situation and I suppose it's still early days. Not sure how long it takes until there's enough built up in her system to make an improvement. Anyway, we're all soldiering on! Just got tomorrow to get through and then Stanley's back at the vets on Friday morning and we'll see where we're at. The emergency vet told me not to give them piles of hay anymore, so I'm putting their hay in a litter tray to try and minimise the risk, but Stanley still managed to run his face through it today and emerge with tiny bits of hay round his eyes :yikes:
 
Vets this morning - Stanley's eye appears to be healing okay (though my eyesight is obviously not good enough to see what the vet was referring to...) I've just got to continue with the eye drops and gel over the weekend and then on Monday he will be free of me and my Isathal-administering! He's been distinctly unimpressed with it all today.
 
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