Advice Please! Really worried

[Lilyrose]

Hi

I have 2 sows, for the past week Lily is constantly hounding Rose, she follows her everywhere and then tries to lick her lady parts (sorry) or lick (I think) her ears! This is going on continually. Rose is squeaking like made most of the time, sometimes she puts up with her licking her ears but kicks her when she's behind. I've also noticed a decrease in poops and they are much smaller, I'm worried they aren't eating as much. When I put food in Rose tries to eat but Lily is pestering her and not eating herself (she's the bigger one of the two). I thought to begin with it could be that Rose is in season or something but it's been going on for too long now.

Has anyone got any advice please.

Julia

 

[Wiebke]

Please weigh both your girls at least weekly, daily if you suspect illness. Less poo means usually less food intake = health problem that needs to be addressed!
http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/anorexia.html

If Lily is suffering from a digestive problem, she can be hounding her companion for vitamin C poos and others to restart her own digestive system. Please have her checked by a vet. Make sure that he also checks the back teeth.

 

[Suzygpr]

Hi there

It sounds from your description of Lily's behaviour that there is a hormonal issue, given her age I would suspect ovarian cysts which can cause this type of continuous dominance/sexual displays.

A trip to a cavy savvy vet to scan for cysts and to discuss the appropriate treatment. If you need to find a recommended vet in your area please give your location and hopefully one can be found locally.

HTH

Suzy x

 

[Lilyrose]

Thanks for your responses.

I noticed a few months ago that Rose had some lumps, I took her to the vets and he said they could be ovarian cysts and to keep an eye on them, if they grew to bring her back. I've been checking them but they haven't grown and she's fine, eating well etc. I haven't noticed any lumps on Lily (she's the one that is pestering Rose).

Perhaps I should take them both to the vets. Not convinced that the last vets was particularly cavy savy, how do I find one that is in my area?

Julia

 

[Lilyrose]

I live in Gravesend, Kent!

 

[Suzygpr]

This link is from the Recommended Vets sticky thread, at the top of the Health & Illness board.

I used the 'Search this Thread' function button and searched on Kent - there may be others that are closer to you if you search by town names. Click in the post on the sentence highlighted in blue to read the whole post.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/search.php?searchid=2178673

HTH

Suzy x

 

[Freela]

The only time I've seen the 'bottom licking' behaviour was in one of my pigs who was being syringe fed due to severe dental issues and was on a heavy dose of antibiotics. My though is that she was trying to ingest the healthy pig's caecal pellets to help her own digestive system... sounds nasty, but to help to replenish her gut flora we were putting caecal pellets from the healthy pig into her syringe feed at the vet's suggestion. Is she eating well? Losing weight? I would be concerned that there is some nutritional or digestive issue behind this behaviour. Hope it all checks out okay!