Guinea Pigs have been fighting and one has a nasty sore. Advice required.

[LackaDAISYcal]

I took delivery of my baby piggies on Tuesday, and on Weds there was an altercation in which we think one of them bit the other one, as I noticed a scabby bit on her head the next day.

It seemed to be getting better, but last night I noticed it was looking scabbier so I put some vaseline on it. There was an almighty ruckus this morning, and the injured piggy was making a racket and shaking her head. There is now an area about the size of a 5p coin behind her ear that is just raw flesh :( I think the other two have been trying to groom her rather than ganging up on her though.

I've put a wire mesh divider in the cage to seperate them but they are still "together". Is there anything I can do for her, or is it a case of just letting it heal on its own. It doesn't look infected, so not sure she needs the vet. Of course this would happen today when everything is shut :(

Oh poor guinea-pig!

Yes, your other GPs probably are trying to groom her, especially if the wound is where she can't reach it.

Keep them seperate when they are alone but when they are having cuddles let them be together -you can pick them up and re-arrange them if it looks like they are trying to groom her.
You don't want her to be segregated from her siblings,just long enough to heal.

I'd use salt water and gauze or paper towel to clean the wound. The Vaseline will stop her claws getting a grip on her skin if she tries to scratch.

(Our cat licked the fur off her belly once and gave herself a 'lick granuloma' where the bodies repair system goes into overdrive. We were adviced to use salted warm water.She had a collar on too-easier on a cat than a GP)

Google Peter Gurney - he's a GP expert and has lots of health /injury web-pages.
And if you can, join Cambridge Cavy Trust (£35 for all your pigs/ annual fee.

Little buggers always seem to do these things on a Bank Holiday.

Maybe phone the breeder for advice.They might recommend you keep 2 only but you want to make sure they will settle.If not you have to think about the dynamics of your group.

My boars have a strong metal grid in their night cage (so effectively they have a 4' x2' cage cut into 2'x2' each. It's not nearly big enough but it's only for sleeping in winter). Every day they went out to their big shed and have enough space to get out of each others faces. This has worked for us, I didn't want them seperate all the time but I didn't want my GP1 attacked again. It was the little quiet one who did it.We think too much coriander- it was nasty and boars can fight to injury/death in extreme cases.

Keep the wound clean, let her have supervised group hugs and see how she goes. Hopefully it's a spat that will settle when they sort out their pecking order.

Keep us posted.

Thanks 70, my GP guru :o
They are a bit confused by the separation, but can talk to each other

I'll bathe it in salted water and try and let them have some quality time together. Apart from that first squabble, things seem to have settled and they have been getting on just fine.

I need to sort out their permanent accommodation, I didn't realise how quickly they would grow!

I do have to say, ime once they start to fight, they will always fight. So keep an eye on them, but I think you will need to keep them separate.

I look after a trio of boars, one is very belligerent & eventually the other 2 turned on him viciously. Now they only spend time together daily outside in the run where they can leap & get away (they need the exercise, so not all bad). At night they are separated. Has been a very good solution; the bellicose but very bitten one healed up completely (had many bites for ages, i didn't try to treat) and he even gained weight, almost got plump for the first time in his adult life after I did the nightly separations.

differentname I had a mixture of GPs as a child- our only really 'fighty' one was our 2nd (a Himalyan sow) who attacked her mate (our first one who we were told was a girl. It was a boy). She was inadverantly responsible for his early death.
She was fine with her own (and only DD) but didn't get on with the new sow and her smuggled in DD (sow was pg).

But when she died the DD was great with the other two girls (We kept them in seperate mum/dd groups)

We always put it down to her having pink eyes- the OPs lilac is a pinkeye and from what I can gather, she's the bossy one.

The OPs babies have just left their own home, so everything new and strange and I suppose the dynamics have been altered. There was a boar in the family but he's not in the new group.

So, Daisy if I was you, I'd phone your breeder and see what they recommend.
If you keep your piglet seperate for too long she might not get accepted back into the pair. That might be fine if she can still mix with them, just house seperate. I've kept side-by-side GPs and let them play/graze together. (And the only pair of GPs I've ever bought -apart from my currant boars- were very independant , like they didn't 'need' us. We'd always bought singletons and kept as singles or families). This was before I knew they needed cagemates, it was the 70s-80s. That's my excuse.

The breeder might suggest they take one back- I'm sure they would rather do this-ethically they have a responsibilty to the piglet. but best done earlier than later if that's the way it pans out.

Our 2 still have their 'face-off' but it's all noise and bluster. But I've noticed they keep a distance between them wheras sows are more physically close when they sleep.

ragged are your boys littermates or 'bonded'? Are they the same age or is there an older boy?
Ours came to us as brothers, but one is a Smooth and one is a Half Measure Abbysian (smaller, very fluffy with a couple of 'rossettes'. Well it looks like someone has blown onto his fur to make a rossette, the fur doesn't sit in a ridge like a proper Abbysian)
But I wonder if they were a bonded pair rather than littermates.Though their parentage might be mixed along the way?

Our smoothie is the bold one, he's bigger. But the little one was the instigator of The Fight.

Thanks differentiate, but there has only been one altercation and I'm sure it was about who got the biggest bit of cabbage now Mum's not in charge, and then they were trying to groom her.

We've put them back in together as they all were utterly dejected and were whimpering at each other through the bars. They are cuddled up together now. DH has been working on the pooter next to them and all is calm. We may separate them for night-time thouhg and their new indoor run is on order!

Differentiate? Gotta love autocorrect :)

70isa

They aren't my GPigs, I just foster them sporadically, but AFAIK:
GP1 + GP2 are same age, brothers or closely related, were bought at same place at same time. GP1 has always been a skinny little unpleasant toe rag, very aggressive & dominant towards GP2 & highly nervous about everything else. GP1 would not bother to eat, he was too busy strutting all the time. I reckon GP1 is a wild throwback. GP2 is cuddly, hugely fat, mellow, really only cared about food for ages.

GP3 was introduced as a baby when GP1+GP2 were about 1yo. GP3 is now 1yo & a fast little cunning devil to catch. GP3 was picked on heavily by GP1 until he grew up (no surprise) & now GP3+GP2 both quite aggressive towards GP1.

So GP2 has bonded towards civilised GP3, and told his (likely) brother to sod off. Understandably, GP1 is quite horrid to live with, I imagine.

Oooh that trio sound like a little nest of vipers [bushock]..I bet you're glad they are not yours.!
They break the "GPs should be kept in company" rule. In thr wild they'd have had their hareem and been Top Boar

Are they cuddly with people?

GP3 was cuddly as a baby, he's okay now, puts up with much grooming & quite a few baths from regular owners.
GP2 is nicely cuddly & friendly, went out on stud recently, has a good temperament to pass on.
GP1 (victim & bellicose) shits for England when held. He also bit DD badly once for no apparent reason. [buhmm]

GPs don't exist in the wild, but I know what you meant. GP1 would have turned into lunch quickly in traditional circumstances, let's be honest! Although there's not enough fat on him [bugrin].

They sound feisty ragged :o

All calm in the Daisy camp today, and they are coming out of their shells a bit, to the point they will come out of hiding when someone is in the room, provided you don't look at them. Until I appear that is; they have me pegged as top predator as I'm the one that picks them up and they all disappear sharpish, chuntering to themselves as soon as I appear!

Awww cute, glad they are settling. You can use antiseptic cream on them if cuts look a bit manky. If they are stroppy with each other, give them all a wash and blow dry - they bond over the horrible experience lol

Lol at bonding over a pampering session :o
DH now tells me that he had put some antiseptic cream on before he went to bed, but looking in the first and kit, there is only a TCP based cream. Maybe too strong? Or they liked the taste of it

How are your baby girls Daisy. Have you got them back together?
When you have 2 you'll have the bolshy one and the follower. If both animals know their "place" then it works well.
With 3 ,I suppose it's like 3 children (I was the middle child, neither boss nor baby)

Your Alpha pig will establish herself then the other 2 will have to find their place. There might be the odd squirmish (we were when GP2 attacked GP1, but it was a one off.Nasty but no blood).
He'll still push his brother out of the way, or block the door to the hedgehog house (for devilment) but nothing more.

It's nice when they've got themselves ordered, and peace reigns.

Hi 70 :)
They're all together still, and are either huddled together, or sulking in different hide holes after much squealing! I'm really not sure who the top pig is. I thought it was the lilac pink-eyed girl, but I'm beginning to see the littlest one being more bolshy, and noticed that when she is having a cuddle the other two get quite agitated, but I can take either of the bigger ones out without much fuss.
The little one is less content to be stroked or held too, and the others seem to feed off her agitation.

They were seeming more settled, but we moved them into the kitchen and I think it's too noisy for them.

They are funny things though. They have been doing a bit of what I think is popcorning? They do this jerky little walk, then hop into the air and then do more jerky walking. Funny when all 3 are doing it at the same time :o

And the worst squealing seem to be because one of them is sitting right on top of another one. Is this a domination thing?

And by god can they pack food away...and poop!

And y y y to them being like 3 children. I have 3 of those as well :o
And it's my little one that is the main protagonist too

Even females can "mate" with each other, it can be a dominence thing.
Yes the jumping, hopping is popcorning, they sometimes twist 180 degrees in mid air.

Other dominence signs are-
stiff body prowling with a rattlesnake style purr (it's not a happy purr it's like a low growl)
sidling side to side
who can get their face highest, until one backs down

our boys do a "shark move" nose to rump in a circle, GP1 nudges GP2 rump but doesn't bite or try to bonk him (I hope)

chattering, teeth going side to side.

That's low key and they usually sort this out, one or both will walk away.

I was watching the P@H GP babies. There were 2 water bottles. One little pig was drinking. Another came up behing him/her.Didn't walk to the side to share. Oh No. Climbed on the other one's back, paw on it's head. But the first one didn't move .!
I know my baby guineas used to sit on each other,sometimes they just get in the way. I just shout "Oi" at them.

Your little girl might just be less huggy, some GPs are like that.Others practically Scotchtape themselves to you. Just make sure you give them all cuddle time.

Our GP1 always appears first when we go to the pighouse , first for food. GP2 appears when it's safe. GP1 goes in the haybox first (in case I've put a snake in their ) and pees at the entrance. GP2 doesn't mark with pee.

Pocorning is happy, not dominance BTW.

Ours were in our dining room over the winter nights. We've got a backroom/kitchen/dining room open plan.
Just keep an eye on the temperature and humidity.
They love kitchens. The fridge lives there.You'll get the Guinea-Pig Chorus.

Wheek Wheek, we like strawberries too, you know

Just realised the sores aren't down to fighting :( Another patch has appeared under her eye and she was doing a lot of scratching, so I think it's mites. They were treated with invermectin about a week before they came home with me though, but they had gone all subdued and quiet this morning and were really squaeling when I stroked them. When I looked at lilacgirl, she had the begginnings of a sore on her back as well and some fur loss and they all seemed to be scratching a lot, and hadn't eaten their greens today, which is already VERY out of character :o

I googled and went and got some drops from P@H containing invermectin. Treated them earlier (weighing them was fun), and aside from the odd shake, hop and scratch (I guess the mites are putting up a last bit of biting), they seem much much happier, and are coming out from under their boxes and talking to each other (and me) again. If things haven't improved skinwise over the weekend, I'll take them to the vet on Monday.

Is wheek a good noise or bad?

Also if I go tut-tut-tut-tut I get a low, but definite, pr-rr-rr-rr back. I thought they were talking to me, but they did the same when the magpies were being noisy outside earlier, so I think it's a warning noise, sort of "duck, here comes that annoying giant thing again" :( And it always seems to be little poppy pig that makes it. As alpha, would she be on lookout duties?

It's a whole new world of behaviours that I just don't get ...cats though; I understands cats :o

Mites can appear as a sort of dusty powdery skin

Hormone problems can cause hair loss
One of ours lost hair and got sore patches (like a dry eczema) when she didn't have hay.

As it's more than one pig it might be worth a visit to the vet, they can do a scraping of the skin and examin under the microscope.
Remember all those "Animal Hospital" programme - sometimes they showed mange mites under the microscope.

I've never found Over the Counter stuff any good for our cat, so if I had to get anything like that for our pigs I'd see a vet then get the next lot oneline (if I could find it).

You might need a shampoo to treat them with (that will be ,erm, interesting, bathing 3 tiny, skitty, needle clawed baby guinea-pigs)

And if they have got mange/mites or anything like that let the breeder know. You've only had them a matter of days. It came from somewhere.

Wheek Wheek is usually a food call "Oh I hear the fridge opening"

GP1 went into a high pitched, stressed wheek when we put his brother in the shed and came back for him. He didn't know where brother was, and he was freaked out.(This was when they were new to us) It was actually pitiful to hear

GP2 does a 'laughing' purr when we rub his rump.
A short brisk purr is a response to noise (like when GP2 hears neighbours dog bark) It's not like his 'laugh' purr.

A low, purrrrr can be a mating stylee noise or a stalking, domain surveying sound. Males and females do it. Our GP1 does it to GP2, but I'm hoping he's not got designs on him

GP1 squeak 'every' time he's picked up.
And he makes a quizzical, dove/pidgeon noise when he's curious.

Ah, just read, your breeder knoew and was treating it.

Must Read properly.