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Sudden behavioural change?

S

starpiggielove

Junior Guinea Pig
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My 3y/o boar has suddenly started to have these kind of panic attacks. The first one was when I was holding him as I usually do, he is very friendly and loves snuggles, and gets them often. All of a sudden he jumped out of my arms (to my panic! thankfully he fell onto a large blanket), and since, he's been seemingly fine, then suddenly running off scared. He has never done anything like this, and now he's frequently very anxious. Recently he has had dry ears, which were given a bit of oil, but they were definitely a sensitive spot (when touched, he'd freak out). I've checked his ears over and I can't find anything abnormal anymore. This new panic thing seems to have no trigger. Any direction on what to check for him? His environment has not changed at all either. Neither has anything in the house, or on my person. My other guinea pigs act completely normal.
 
starpiggielove said:
My 3y/o boar has suddenly started to have these kind of panic attacks. The first one was when I was holding him as I usually do, he is very friendly and loves snuggles, and gets them often. All of a sudden he jumped out of my arms (to my panic! thankfully he fell onto a large blanket), and since, he's been seemingly fine, then suddenly running off scared. He has never done anything like this, and now he's frequently very anxious. Recently he has had dry ears, which were given a bit of oil, but they were definitely a sensitive spot (when touched, he'd freak out). I've checked his ears over and I can't find anything abnormal anymore. This new panic thing seems to have no trigger. Any direction on what to check for him? His environment has not changed at all either. Neither has anything in the house, or on my person. My other guinea pigs act completely normal.
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Hello how strange for your piggy to change behaviour
I would check his weight daily and maybe have a check up at the Vet
As I’m sure you know piggies are excellent at hiding any illness/ pain and it may be he is doing just that.
It would reassure you anyhow
Good luck
 
Guinea pigs have very sensitive hearing and can hear in higher frequencies than us . Therefore it is possible he has picked up on something inaudible to you but that has frightened him

When you get home out of the cage, do you get his cagemate out at the same time?

The dry ears, unless the ears were checked and oil was recommended by a vet, we always advise to never trust anything on spec. Dry ears can be a sign of a fungal infection, for example, and we would not recommend using anything on them until a vet has seen them as it then hides markers to make a diagnosis
 
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