C
CavyBroadcastingSystem
This is my first experience w/ this behavior, and I was wondering if anyone else on here has heard of/seen it and could explain it to me.
First off, this is not our first piggy. We've had four before her, both males and females.
Her name is Penny and we got her Tuesday night from Petco - I liked her b/c she was nice and calm and let me pet her right away.
She is still in quarantine, but she can see/hear our other pig in the next wire cage, so I don't think she's lonely. Penny doesn't make much noise at all compared to my other wheekie, Cookie, who will call me for 5 minutes even after I've left the room. She spends 99% of her time in her sleeping bag, and when I do go in to pull her out, she has no physical reaction to my touch at all. Her eyes are half-closed and she just sits there. The first time I touched her, I thought she had died! ?/ She even felt cool and stiff - freaky! She doesn't even move until I lift her up off the ground, and then she'll "wake up" and kick her feet for footing. I was so scared the first time this happened. Then, I was hoping she would get over it in a few days. It's been 3 days so far and she still reacts this way, every time I pick her up. Could this be normal cavy behavior? Has anyone else had a piggy act this way?
Another thing I noticed about Penny is the way she jumps when she's sitting on my lap. She's not curious at all like Cookie and will sit perfectly still on my legs, or climb up into my hair if I have it down. There she'll sit for hours if I let her. While unusual in my experience, this I could attribute to personality. But sometimes while sitting here, her little body will "jump" or "jerk" like someone has poked her w/ a pin. Her eyes widen when this happens, so I know she feels something, whether it's just her body moving or she feels actual pain. Could this be nerves or something? This jerking will continue for the entire time she's here, so it's not like she calms down and it goes away.
Like I said, I have never had a pig act like this, so I don't know if she's sick or if this is her personality. She seems to be eating alright, although she doesn't eat much fresh fruit or veg (she does seem to like dandelion leaves, though) when she's in my lap. But then again, I never see her out of her sleeping bag, so I have no idea how many pellets she's eating. My kids accidentally dumped her food bowl yesterday and I had to refill it, so I don't know how much she had eaten until then. She still poops like a trooper, though - in the time it took me to carry her back to her cage just now (one room away), she had pooped 11 times in my hand (yes, I counted them :red ).
Sorry this is so long. I am just a bit worried, and I want to make sure to get her to a vet if these are signs of sickness. It's mostly the jerky/jumpy action, the continuous stay in the sleeping bag and the frozen piggy stance she takes on while in there. I hope I'm just paranoid!
First off, this is not our first piggy. We've had four before her, both males and females.
Her name is Penny and we got her Tuesday night from Petco - I liked her b/c she was nice and calm and let me pet her right away.
She is still in quarantine, but she can see/hear our other pig in the next wire cage, so I don't think she's lonely. Penny doesn't make much noise at all compared to my other wheekie, Cookie, who will call me for 5 minutes even after I've left the room. She spends 99% of her time in her sleeping bag, and when I do go in to pull her out, she has no physical reaction to my touch at all. Her eyes are half-closed and she just sits there. The first time I touched her, I thought she had died! ?/ She even felt cool and stiff - freaky! She doesn't even move until I lift her up off the ground, and then she'll "wake up" and kick her feet for footing. I was so scared the first time this happened. Then, I was hoping she would get over it in a few days. It's been 3 days so far and she still reacts this way, every time I pick her up. Could this be normal cavy behavior? Has anyone else had a piggy act this way?
Another thing I noticed about Penny is the way she jumps when she's sitting on my lap. She's not curious at all like Cookie and will sit perfectly still on my legs, or climb up into my hair if I have it down. There she'll sit for hours if I let her. While unusual in my experience, this I could attribute to personality. But sometimes while sitting here, her little body will "jump" or "jerk" like someone has poked her w/ a pin. Her eyes widen when this happens, so I know she feels something, whether it's just her body moving or she feels actual pain. Could this be nerves or something? This jerking will continue for the entire time she's here, so it's not like she calms down and it goes away.
Like I said, I have never had a pig act like this, so I don't know if she's sick or if this is her personality. She seems to be eating alright, although she doesn't eat much fresh fruit or veg (she does seem to like dandelion leaves, though) when she's in my lap. But then again, I never see her out of her sleeping bag, so I have no idea how many pellets she's eating. My kids accidentally dumped her food bowl yesterday and I had to refill it, so I don't know how much she had eaten until then. She still poops like a trooper, though - in the time it took me to carry her back to her cage just now (one room away), she had pooped 11 times in my hand (yes, I counted them :red ).
Sorry this is so long. I am just a bit worried, and I want to make sure to get her to a vet if these are signs of sickness. It's mostly the jerky/jumpy action, the continuous stay in the sleeping bag and the frozen piggy stance she takes on while in there. I hope I'm just paranoid!
