Urgent Please Help! Guinea Pig Sows Fighting

[AlbusAndBen]

Hi everyone!

I'm new here, and I brought my 3 guinea pig sows (Hazel, Cherry and Clover) home from the support adoption section and my local P@H about 4 weeks ago.
They're about a year old and I was told that they are sisters (they look VERY alike), and so I presume they have lived together all their lives.
Clover (dominant piggy - the one in my profile pic) has been displaying normal dominant behaviour (mounting, chasing, teeth chattering etc.) towards Cherry (I presume this is bc Cherry is the biggest pig, although she is a softie and wouldn't hurt a fly- Hazel is the smallest and Clover snuggles up to her). I thought that this would settle down as they got used to their new surroundings.

The problem started last week when I noticed she was becoming much more aggressive towards Cherry - chasing her faster, lunging at her, kicking her out of the bedroom and the pigloo Cherry always uses and not letting her get to the food bowl (I hand feed them veggies, and stuff various places with hay, so she is getting food). And this afternoon I noticed a deep cut in Cherry's ear - it's visible from both sides of her ear and has clearly bled a lot.

At the mo they have a 2ft x 5ft hutch and a 2.2 meter by 80cm cage (with an added 80 x 80 loft) is supposed to arrive at some point this week. I'm hoping that the behaviour will settle down when they get a bigger cage, but I am concerned that the fighting will only get worse.

I've phoned my vets and they're useless they refuse to give advice over the phone and I'm frankly under the impression that they just want my money and don't actually care about the pets. All the advice I can find is aimed at boars (I used to have a pair of brothers and I had to separate them because the fighting was serious and they were gonna kill each other - what am I doing wrong!?), can anyone who has had past experience with sows fighting help me? Should I separate them? Cherry minds her own business and never bothers Clover, she keeps to the other side of the hutch, so why would Clover lash out at her?

Thank you!

 

[Mother Hubbard]

Hi there
Girl trios can work and sometimes not like humans sends on their personalities. Clearly your biggest is wanting to ensure dominance over a possible rival. Can you make sure you 3 food bowls, well 3 of everything to stops squabbles. Can you try cleaning everything and bathing them all so all is neutral. It's a last chance saloon in my books before separation.

 

[AlbusAndBen]

Thanks for the reply,

I have ordered some more items in the hope that it will stop squabbles. I'm thinking of cleaning everything and bathing them when their new cage arrives. But if that doesn't work is there anything else I can do before separating them? I just think that it's weird that they're suddenly fighting bc they've lived together their whole lives? I've heard talk about hormonal imbalances causing problems, but how common are they?

Thank you!

 

[gizzy]

Hi, Dificult to analise Sow behavure , they are a law upon them selves

first thought is that Clover is homonal ! dos this behaveure perist or is it periodic!
if this behavure olny lasts a short wile then it could be that she was around her menstrsle cycle,
you could look at her vulva (sow privet parts )
if they are slightly swolen during these times then that would sugest she is in season

if it is constant perhaps ask you vet to examin for lumps ect in the tummy ,
could be a syst or somting of that nature that is causeing her to be hormonal

another thought, you say they are about a year old , ,mabe they are younger and are reching machuraty,
simpilest explanation , usualy the simpalest is they are displaying domanance

 

[AlbusAndBen]

Hi gizzy

The behaviour seems to persist, and it seems to have got worse? I took Cherry to the vet 2 weeks ago bc her wee was like milk & I was concerned about her calcium levels, and he said that she was in the very early stages of getting ovarian cysts (he recommended having her spayed which idt is a god idea but that's a different story), bc Cherry is developing cysts does that make it more likely that Clover will?

Thanks for the thought but I think they have stopped growing.

 

[gizzy]

Hi, just keep an eye out for blood shows on the bedding

 

[AlbusAndBen]

Hi, just keep an eye out for blood shows on the bedding

Okay, I will

Thank you : )