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Urgent help needed

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geordiepaul2001

Hi all,

We had a bit of a situation yesterday whereby one of my male guinea pigs humped and ejaculated on the other male guinea pig.
After this the one who was subjected to this just lay in the corner for three hours which we put down to trauma.
This morning the guinea pig is just lying still and making wheezing noises whilst breathing.
We are trying to find a vet now as we think it's possibly a uti.
Any thoughts?

Paul
 
I think that it is highly unlikely that the mounting by his cagemate will have anything to do with his condition. His cagemate more likely was taking advantage of him being under the weather.

How old is the guinea pig? Is he still eating? Are his nostrils wet?
 
I son think he is eating as he hasn't moved all morning.
I am at work at the moment and my wife is at home with him, she says he is now lying on his side and still doing the high pitched wheezing.
Not sure about the nostrils....he has had diahorrea though
 
geordiepaul2001 said:
Hi all,

We had a bit of a situation yesterday whereby one of my male guinea pigs humped and ejaculated on the other male guinea pig.
After this the one who was subjected to this just lay in the corner for three hours which we put down to trauma.
This morning the guinea pig is just lying still and making wheezing noises whilst breathing.
We are trying to find a vet now as we think it's possibly a uti.
Any thoughts?

Paul
Click to expand...

Do you suspect a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or do you mean Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (URTI) ?

If you have time after finding/talking to/visiting a vet, scan through the pages on here and check out the UTI and URTI/hayfever threads for symptoms and management/treatment suggestions.

Meanwhile, keep the pigs apart but not out of sight, if you can.

Just seen post above - VET.
 
My wife has him at the vet now but is waiting to be seen.
Unfortunately she doesn't think she can feel a heartbeat anymore
 
Any update on your pig? I'm sorry if he didn't make it. I have to agree with lovelygirl on the relation to the 'humping' episode; a pig will take advantage of a pig weakened by illness and attempt to overtake in dominance.
 
Wishing your piggy the best of luck!

The humping is dominance behaviour, like the others said; but URI (or heart trouble) can strike rather quickly, so it's good that you are having your boy seen as soon as possible.
 
Thanks for all the well wishes.
Unfortunately Gilbert died whilst waiting to be seen at the vets, the vet did state that she wasn't sure what had killed him but it was likely to have been an infection and that even if we had got there sooner he would still have died.
My 5 year old has helped me to bury him in the garden and wrote him a letter telling him how much she will miss him.
The dilemna we have now is that we have one guinea pig left by himself, and after the behaviour yesterday don't think he will take kindly to a new addition into the cage.
Do you think he will be ok by himself?

We are busy scrubbing out the cage with jeyes fluid to make sure the infection doesn't spread to him.

Paul
 
Sorry you lost your piggy. But his friend will be happier with company you just have to find the right friend for him, most rescues will help you bond him with someone new! Humping is part of their natural behaviour and is nothing untoward so to speak. If you are worried about him falling out with another boar you could get him neutered, by a cavy savy vet (Go on a recommendation and then check that the vet you want to do the neutering is going to do it!) then you could get him a girlfriend.
 
I'm so sorry Gilbert passed away, it does sound like the problem escalated quite quickly.

A bereaved guinea pig can be more accepting of new company. How old is your remaining boar? How large is the cage? Provided the cage is big enough, it's perfectly possible to try bonding him with another pig. If he's young, he may get on better with an older boar, or vice versa - if older, he may accept a younger boar.
Ideally, if there is a rescue near you willing to help, take the remaining pig along to the rescue and basically let him choose which pig he gets on with; sometimes it best to let them decide which pig is on their "wavelength" so to speak!
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
I'm so sorry Gilbert passed away, it does sound like the problem escalated quite quickly.

A bereaved guinea pig can be more accepting of new company. How old is your remaining boar? How large is the cage? Provided the cage is big enough, it's perfectly possible to try bonding him with another pig. If he's young, he may get on better with an older boar, or vice versa - if older, he may accept a younger boar.
Ideally, if there is a rescue near you willing to help, take the remaining pig along to the rescue and basically let him choose which pig he gets on with; sometimes it best to let them decide which pig is on their "wavelength" so to speak!
Click to expand...

The cage is around two and a half foot by one and a half foot.
I am currently looking online for rescues, however (as daft as it seems) we want to allow a reasonable amount of time to pass before replacing him out of respect.
 
I didn't realise they were so young, bless them.

The cage sounds a bit too small if I'm honest; for two pigs, especially two boys, even more so two boys of a hormonal age (4-8 months), the minimum they really need is 2x4ft. Most rescues will state this also.

I understand wanting to leave a little time between Gilbert's passing and the adoption of a friend for the remaining boar, you can only move on when you're ready, I'm sure your guinea will appreciate a new friend whether it's in one day or one month.
 
I'm so sorry you lost your piggy :(
To put your mind at ease about the humping, the first friend I got for my piggy, also called Gilbert, was Alfie, a sweet but frail little thing. Gilbert knew straight away that Alfie was ill and displayed the full range of dominance behaviour towards him including aggressive humping. Because of this I actually misread Alfie's subdued sulking as timidness due to the bullying, rather as a sign that he was ill. I had only had Alfie a week when he died. The next day I introduced Gilbert to his new friend Milo, who was strong and healthy, and I was amazed that they hit it off straight away and there has never been any humping or other dominance behaviour between them :) So I would not be afraid of getting your remaining piggy a new friend as his behaviour was almost certainly just because the other was poorly.

Hugs from my two boys at this sad time x
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
I didn't realise they were so young, bless them.

The cage sounds a bit too small if I'm honest; for two pigs, especially two boys, even more so two boys of a hormonal age (4-8 months), the minimum they really need is 2x4ft. Most rescues will state this also.

I understand wanting to leave a little time between Gilbert's passing and the adoption of a friend for the remaining boar, you can only move on when you're ready, I'm sure your guinea will appreciate a new friend whether it's in one day or one month.
Click to expand...

Just measured properly and the cage is 3.3 feet by 1.9 feet.
 
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