Hello! This is my first post so sorry if it’s a bit confusing. I have a boar who had a fairly big abcess for a while so he was on antibiotics for around 2 months. Following surgery he acted fine, he still runs around enjoys other piggie’s presences eats all of his food and all of his veggies. However, he is not gaining much weight. He isn’t a “big” piggie but he only weighs about 900 grams on a good day and feels very boney. I can feel his hips and his spine easily. As I said he eats all of his food, and poops and pees normal he just doesnt gain weight. The vet recommended oats so I tried it for around a week but he only got bloated so I stopped. He is now on critical care and has around 2.7 tablespoons of it a day. He also has probiotics mixed into his veggies daily. I’d love if anyone has any tips for this thank you so much!
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Boar not gaining weight
- Thread starter emiso
- Start date
I should also mention that him and his partner (also a boar) experienced issues for a bit so they are currently seperated. Their cages are directly beside eachother and both still have a 2x4 cage so not worried about space. I take both of them out for over an hour daily to play together and am going to try rebonding them soon. I’m aware they are meant to be in pairs but they just keep fighting recently and blood has been drawn so I don’t feel comfortable keeping them together. However, they seem to be fine apart the guinea pig is not depressed at all.
Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the abscess.
How old is he?
How long has he been recovered?
How much weight did he lose?
Was his weight stable at 900g without the critical care?
I assume you’ve giving the critical care as a way to boost his weight.
Regaining lost weight takes a long time after they have recovered, and it is done through plenty of independent hay intake.
He sounds to have been ill for a long time but without knowing how long he had been feeling better and eating normally it’s hard to know whether you would be expecting to see weight gain; or indeed whether it is weight he will even be able to regain.
Sometimes they simply don’t go back to pre-illness weight and instead just maintain at a new lower level. That’s fine if that happens and you won’t actually need to do anything to make him gain weight (he will naturally maintain just with a good hay based diet).
Age will have a factor in it also - an older piggy is much less likely to go back to their previous
normal.
The other thing I need to pick up on is that they have had a blood drawing fight but you are still putting them together daily for playtime and are considering rebonding.
A blood drawing fight is immediately and permanently bond breaking and means those two piggies must never have physical contact again - no playtime (which isn’t something recognised by piggies anyway), no rebonding.
While putting them together for playtime sounds, to us, a nice way to keep them interacting, to them it really isn’t. To them each time you put them together you are putting them into full on bonding mode but due to the fight(s) it has no chance of success - fights only occur when they don’t like each other. It isn’t seen as a nice playtime as that is not how piggy hierarchies, relationships and society work.
A fight means they can’t have a functioning hierarchy and don’t actually want to be together, so it is stressful to be put into a futile bonding situation every day.
It’s best that they are kept in their separate cages at all times and have separate playtimes out of the cage.
Their interaction between the bars is absolutely enough to stop them from being lonely and is the normal course of action for a failed pair.
I’ve added our Fall outs and society guides below
How old is he?
How long has he been recovered?
How much weight did he lose?
Was his weight stable at 900g without the critical care?
I assume you’ve giving the critical care as a way to boost his weight.
Regaining lost weight takes a long time after they have recovered, and it is done through plenty of independent hay intake.
He sounds to have been ill for a long time but without knowing how long he had been feeling better and eating normally it’s hard to know whether you would be expecting to see weight gain; or indeed whether it is weight he will even be able to regain.
Sometimes they simply don’t go back to pre-illness weight and instead just maintain at a new lower level. That’s fine if that happens and you won’t actually need to do anything to make him gain weight (he will naturally maintain just with a good hay based diet).
Age will have a factor in it also - an older piggy is much less likely to go back to their previous
normal.
The other thing I need to pick up on is that they have had a blood drawing fight but you are still putting them together daily for playtime and are considering rebonding.
A blood drawing fight is immediately and permanently bond breaking and means those two piggies must never have physical contact again - no playtime (which isn’t something recognised by piggies anyway), no rebonding.
While putting them together for playtime sounds, to us, a nice way to keep them interacting, to them it really isn’t. To them each time you put them together you are putting them into full on bonding mode but due to the fight(s) it has no chance of success - fights only occur when they don’t like each other. It isn’t seen as a nice playtime as that is not how piggy hierarchies, relationships and society work.
A fight means they can’t have a functioning hierarchy and don’t actually want to be together, so it is stressful to be put into a futile bonding situation every day.
It’s best that they are kept in their separate cages at all times and have separate playtimes out of the cage.
Their interaction between the bars is absolutely enough to stop them from being lonely and is the normal course of action for a failed pair.
I’ve added our Fall outs and society guides below
t
He is around 2 years old, he has been with me since birth.
Thank you for the response!Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the abscess.
How old is he?
How long has he been recovered?
How much weight did he lose?
Was his weight stable at 900g without the critical care?
I assume you’ve giving the critical care as a way to boost his weight.
Regaining lost weight takes a long time after they have recovered, and it is done through plenty of independent hay intake. He sounds to have been ill for a long time but without knowing how long he had been feeling better and eating normally it’s hard to know whether you would be expecting to see weight gain; or indeed whether it is weight he will even be able to regain.
Sometimes they simply don’t go back to pre-illness weight and instead just maintain at a new lower level. That’s fine if that happens and you won’t actually need to do anything to make him gain weight (he will naturally maintain just with a good hay based diet).
Age will have a factor in it also - an older piggy is much less likely to go back to their previous
normal.
The other thing I need to pick up on is that they have had a blood drawing fight but you are still putting them together daily for playtime and are considering rebonding.
A blood drawing fight is immediately and permanently bond breaking and means those two piggies must never have physical contact again - no playtime (which isn’t something recognised by piggies anyway), no rebonding.
While putting them together for playtime sounds, to us, a nice way to keep them interacting, to them it really isn’t. To them each time you put them together you are putting them into full on bonding mode but due to the fight it has no chance of success. It isn’t seen as a nice playtime as that is not how piggy hierarchies, relationships and society work.
A fight means they can’t have a functioning hierarchy and don’t actually want to be together, so it is stressful to be put into a futile bonding situation every day.
It’s best that they are kept in their separate cages and only ever have separate playtimes out of the cage.
Their interaction between the bars is absolutely enough to stop them from being lonely.
Please definitely don’t consider rebonding two piggies who have had a blood drawing fight.
I’ve added our Fall outs and society guides below
He is around 2 years old, he has been with me since birth.
Ok. He is young enough then that he may regain weight, but whether it’s too soon to be expecting weight gain depends on the answers to the other questions in my post, we would need more information to advise further.
Do read all the guides I added as they expand on information much more than we can write in every post
(Sorry i didn’t mean to post the first reply here is it finished):Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the abscess.
How old is he?
How long has he been recovered?
How much weight did he lose?
Was his weight stable at 900g without the critical care?
I assume you’ve giving the critical care as a way to boost his weight.
Regaining lost weight takes a long time after they have recovered, and it is done through plenty of independent hay intake.
He sounds to have been ill for a long time but without knowing how long he had been feeling better and eating normally it’s hard to know whether you would be expecting to see weight gain; or indeed whether it is weight he will even be able to regain.
Sometimes they simply don’t go back to pre-illness weight and instead just maintain at a new lower level. That’s fine if that happens and you won’t actually need to do anything to make him gain weight (he will naturally maintain just with a good hay based diet).
Age will have a factor in it also - an older piggy is much less likely to go back to their previous
normal.
The other thing I need to pick up on is that they have had a blood drawing fight but you are still putting them together daily for playtime and are considering rebonding.
A blood drawing fight is immediately and permanently bond breaking and means those two piggies must never have physical contact again - no playtime (which isn’t something recognised by piggies anyway), no rebonding.
While putting them together for playtime sounds, to us, a nice way to keep them interacting, to them it really isn’t. To them each time you put them together you are putting them into full on bonding mode but due to the fight(s) it has no chance of success - fights only occur when they don’t like each other. It isn’t seen as a nice playtime as that is not how piggy hierarchies, relationships and society work.
A fight means they can’t have a functioning hierarchy and don’t actually want to be together, so it is stressful to be put into a futile bonding situation every day.
It’s best that they are kept in their separate cages at all times and have separate playtimes out of the cage.
Their interaction between the bars is absolutely enough to stop them from being lonely and is the normal course of action for a failed pair.
I’ve added our Fall outs and society guides below
t
Thank you for the response!Welcome to the forum and sorry to hear of the abscess.
How old is he?
How long has he been recovered?
How much weight did he lose?
Was his weight stable at 900g without the critical care?
I assume you’ve giving the critical care as a way to boost his weight.
Regaining lost weight takes a long time after they have recovered, and it is done through plenty of independent hay intake. He sounds to have been ill for a long time but without knowing how long he had been feeling better and eating normally it’s hard to know whether you would be expecting to see weight gain; or indeed whether it is weight he will even be able to regain.
Sometimes they simply don’t go back to pre-illness weight and instead just maintain at a new lower level. That’s fine if that happens and you won’t actually need to do anything to make him gain weight (he will naturally maintain just with a good hay based diet).
Age will have a factor in it also - an older piggy is much less likely to go back to their previous
normal.
The other thing I need to pick up on is that they have had a blood drawing fight but you are still putting them together daily for playtime and are considering rebonding.
A blood drawing fight is immediately and permanently bond breaking and means those two piggies must never have physical contact again - no playtime (which isn’t something recognised by piggies anyway), no rebonding.
While putting them together for playtime sounds, to us, a nice way to keep them interacting, to them it really isn’t. To them each time you put them together you are putting them into full on bonding mode but due to the fight it has no chance of success. It isn’t seen as a nice playtime as that is not how piggy hierarchies, relationships and society work.
A fight means they can’t have a functioning hierarchy and don’t actually want to be together, so it is stressful to be put into a futile bonding situation every day.
It’s best that they are kept in their separate cages and only ever have separate playtimes out of the cage.
Their interaction between the bars is absolutely enough to stop them from being lonely.
Please definitely don’t consider rebonding two piggies who have had a blood drawing fight.
I’ve added our Fall outs and society guides below
He is around 2 years old, he has been with me since birth.
He has been recovered from the surgery around 2 months now and had no issues besides the weight.
I’m not sure how much weight he lost as he got the abcess early in his life so he was not fully grown when he got it. However, I know he is underweight because of how easily I feel his spine and other bones & I don’t feel my other guinea pigs bones this easily.
When he was with his partner he stayed at around 940 and following seperation he was between 800-900 but usually a 800.
Yes i was giving him critical care to boost his weight but he didnt like it so we had to force feed him through syringe before yesterday. As of yesterday he takes it by himself so now he has started taking it by himself and I am hoping that he begins to gain weight following this.
I appreciate your mentioning of their rebonding, and i appreciate the advice because honestly it does mean a lot. They were together since my boar was born and I will admit I was uneducated of bonding them at the time because the boar was born from a female guinea pig I was told was a male. I bonded them without any precautions and they were fine for months until recently. They aren’t bad together during floortime but I appreciate your advice because I am planning on making them a cage where they can stay right next to eachother but be seperated still.
I am wondering if its okay to rebond them properly in a few weeks? Also if them being apart can cause my boar losing weight. Thank you!
I’ll address the bond issue first.
If they have had an actual fight with blood drawn then no it is not ok to bond them in a few weeks. They will need to stay in separate cages for the rest of their lives. A fight occurs when a bond fails - they will never change their minds about each other.
It’s one thing being ok during the ‘playtime’ but if they can’t have a functioning hierarchy then it’ll never be ok for them to be in the same cage again.
Repeated putting them together and separating them every day is stressful and can work to fully destabilise them.
Being apart will not cause him to lose weight. In fact it’s the opposite - being put together if they don’t get on will cause weight loss.
How long ago did you separate them?
Why did the separate them? Was it because they had a fight?
Regarding the abscess and weight.
Can you clarify when he had the abscess and how long he has been recovered.
I’ve just seen a couple of discrepancies in what I thought was the timeline which makes a difference to the advice we give.
You say he was ill for two months but got the abscess early in his life so wasn’t fully grown. If he wasn’t fully grown when he got the abscess, then the abscess must have been a long time so won’t have any relevance to his weight loss now. I had assumed the abscess was very recent and was the cause of his weight loss.
If they have had an actual fight with blood drawn then no it is not ok to bond them in a few weeks. They will need to stay in separate cages for the rest of their lives. A fight occurs when a bond fails - they will never change their minds about each other.
It’s one thing being ok during the ‘playtime’ but if they can’t have a functioning hierarchy then it’ll never be ok for them to be in the same cage again.
Repeated putting them together and separating them every day is stressful and can work to fully destabilise them.
Being apart will not cause him to lose weight. In fact it’s the opposite - being put together if they don’t get on will cause weight loss.
How long ago did you separate them?
Why did the separate them? Was it because they had a fight?
Regarding the abscess and weight.
Can you clarify when he had the abscess and how long he has been recovered.
I’ve just seen a couple of discrepancies in what I thought was the timeline which makes a difference to the advice we give.
You say he was ill for two months but got the abscess early in his life so wasn’t fully grown. If he wasn’t fully grown when he got the abscess, then the abscess must have been a long time so won’t have any relevance to his weight loss now. I had assumed the abscess was very recent and was the cause of his weight loss.
I separated them around a month ago, after his surgery they were back together once he was ready and they were fine for a while then i woke up to them fighting again, leading to their now separation. I usually let them fight it out when initially trying to bond them but it went too far when I noticed marks underneath the underweight piggie’s ear from bites and a scab on his rear.
Regarding the abscess and weight:
He had the abscess around a little over 2ish months ago and has been recovered for over a month.
Sorry for issues in the timeline I do have genuine dates that I can tell you it just blurs together for me because he was dealing with the abscess for so long, please tell me if you need the true dates and i will look back at photos to tell you. I told you he had the abscess since when he was young since it took him so long to have the surgery to remove it, so it was there for a while and only fully gone since around 2 months ago.
I mentioned the abscess because he was on antibiotics for it for over 2 months straight, so the vet mentioned trying probiotics. This is why he his currently on probiotics and also receiving critical care.
I was wondering if you thought the oats the vet recommended were a good idea or not, because I didn’t notice true weight gain on them and only bloating while he was on them.
Also, the only reason I’m worried about him is because I can feel his bones so much more than my 3 other piggies. He acts perfectly fine I’m just not sure how to help him get a little chubby, at least 1000 grams and holding that steadily.
Thank you so much for the reply I truly appreciate this!
Regarding the abscess and weight:
He had the abscess around a little over 2ish months ago and has been recovered for over a month.
Sorry for issues in the timeline I do have genuine dates that I can tell you it just blurs together for me because he was dealing with the abscess for so long, please tell me if you need the true dates and i will look back at photos to tell you. I told you he had the abscess since when he was young since it took him so long to have the surgery to remove it, so it was there for a while and only fully gone since around 2 months ago.
I mentioned the abscess because he was on antibiotics for it for over 2 months straight, so the vet mentioned trying probiotics. This is why he his currently on probiotics and also receiving critical care.
I was wondering if you thought the oats the vet recommended were a good idea or not, because I didn’t notice true weight gain on them and only bloating while he was on them.
Also, the only reason I’m worried about him is because I can feel his bones so much more than my 3 other piggies. He acts perfectly fine I’m just not sure how to help him get a little chubby, at least 1000 grams and holding that steadily.
Thank you so much for the reply I truly appreciate this!
It’s ok. We just need full information to piece everything together to be able to properly advise!
So he is 2 years old. Had an abscess for two months but has been recovered for just over a month. So it’s been a total of 3 months since the abscess appeared.
He would have been fully grown at the point he got the abscess a few months ago at around 21 months of age, as fully grown weight occurs at around 12 months of age
So that means his normal adult weight is around 940g. He is now weighing in around 800g post abscess.
Bond wise - You separated them when he had surgery. Sadly there is likely your problem. Medical separations are not recommended unless absolutely necessary because they have the potential, particularly in boars, to ruin their bond. They are best put back together the day of, or at the latest, the day after surgery.
Having been apart for a month and are now fighting when you try to put them together so it sounds like the medical separation has sadly ended their relationship.
I assume you tried the bonding properly on neutral territory?
(Never let them fight it out when bonding. There is a huge difference between dominance and a fight. Dominance is normal and to be expected. A fight is not normal and the bonding meeting should be immediately and permanently terminated).
Probiotics is a good idea when they are on antibiotics.
So you started giving the critical care to boost his weight and not because he was still losing weight. So I assume he has been stable at each daily weight check at 800g?
If it was then that means he was eating enough for his needs.
Does he get plenty of hay? That is how he is going to keep his weight stable and then hopefully put a bit of weight back on.
The critical care as a bowl in his cage is absolutely fine to do but regaining weight isn’t going to be a quick thing. They can literally lose a scary amount within a day but take absolutely weeks to months to put it back on.
A small amount of oats are recommended to help boost weight to a recovering or elderly piggy. However if they made your piggy bloat then they are not a good idea in your case and you should stick to a bowl or two a day or critical care in his cage for him to eat at.
So he is 2 years old. Had an abscess for two months but has been recovered for just over a month. So it’s been a total of 3 months since the abscess appeared.
He would have been fully grown at the point he got the abscess a few months ago at around 21 months of age, as fully grown weight occurs at around 12 months of age
So that means his normal adult weight is around 940g. He is now weighing in around 800g post abscess.
Bond wise - You separated them when he had surgery. Sadly there is likely your problem. Medical separations are not recommended unless absolutely necessary because they have the potential, particularly in boars, to ruin their bond. They are best put back together the day of, or at the latest, the day after surgery.
Having been apart for a month and are now fighting when you try to put them together so it sounds like the medical separation has sadly ended their relationship.
I assume you tried the bonding properly on neutral territory?
(Never let them fight it out when bonding. There is a huge difference between dominance and a fight. Dominance is normal and to be expected. A fight is not normal and the bonding meeting should be immediately and permanently terminated).
Probiotics is a good idea when they are on antibiotics.
So you started giving the critical care to boost his weight and not because he was still losing weight. So I assume he has been stable at each daily weight check at 800g?
If it was then that means he was eating enough for his needs.
Does he get plenty of hay? That is how he is going to keep his weight stable and then hopefully put a bit of weight back on.
The critical care as a bowl in his cage is absolutely fine to do but regaining weight isn’t going to be a quick thing. They can literally lose a scary amount within a day but take absolutely weeks to months to put it back on.
A small amount of oats are recommended to help boost weight to a recovering or elderly piggy. However if they made your piggy bloat then they are not a good idea in your case and you should stick to a bowl or two a day or critical care in his cage for him to eat at.
Yes, I separated them due to the abscess which I was wary of doing however it was a likely reason that it was caused by his partner (Venom). Beforethe abscess Venom was always the more domininant one and they would sometimes get into small fights but it seemed just the usual with having two boars, like how they fight over one bowl even though there are 2 of the same bowl then just retreat to their corners. The vet mentioned that it very likely was caused by Venom (his partner). The abscess was pretty big for Stripes size so the vet had him on medicine for a bit but it ended up bursting so we had to clean it out for a month until it was small enough for her to safely do the surgery and have enough skin to stitch it up with after. This is why they were separated, because Venom would have only made the abscess worse however they shared cage walls & daily floortime, however by now I’m sure that doesn’t matter much lol.
Bond wise: When i said I let them fight it out I didn’t mean big fights, I just meant how two boars always have issues sharing and will kick eachother over wanting the same carrot. I never saw genuine fights until I ended up separating them when I woke up to them fighting and noticed scratches on Stripes.
Weight: Yes, when in a cage with Venom Stripes was stable at 940g but was still boney. Now that he is separated from Venom but sharing cage walls he has been the lowest of around 860g but extremely boney compared to my other guinea pigs.
Food: He has consistent hay piles that I check daily and eats all of it. He has pellets that he eats consistently. I syringe feed all of my piggies 1ml of Childlife Vitamin c daily. He gets 1 cup of veggies daily which i mix his probiotics into. He eats all of this food willingly now. He only started willingly eating his critical care yesterday though. I should mention that before yesterday I had to syringe feed Stripes his CC daily, so he wasn’t getting barely even half of how much CC he needs. As of yesterday when he randomly decided he likes his critical care he is getting 2.7 tablespoons of the product daily (the recommended amount for his size).
Also, my guinea pigs eat timothy hay currently I’m not sure if that matters.
Oats: As for the oats, how much should I be giving him daily? I struggled with how much to give because it always seemed like too much or too little and I didn’t want to overfeed him. Do you think a tablespoon a day or half a tablespoon a day, for instance.
Thank you so much for the help! Also, I composed the actual dates of when everything happened if you still need that.
I see, this is all making more sense now!
Bond - So no you’re right it doesn’t matter now. It’s sadly over. Please don’t let them have floor time together and don’t consider rebonding. Leave them permanently separate and side by side at all times.
I would put his lower weight down to the abscess and surgery. Nothing to do with them being separated.
If he is definitely healthy then all you can do is give him time with additional critical care and monitor him daily.
In answer to your oats question, a tablespoon is fine but in your case if they caused him to bloat then you must not give him any oats. Stick with critical care.
Any grass hay is absolutely fine.
On a side note, it is not recommended that piggies are supplemented long term with vitamin c. There are no long term owners on here who do it, and it only tends to be something we still see owners in the US told to do.
They can have a two week course of additional vit c during a period of illness but it should never be supplemented as routine or longer than two weeks.
Piggies get all their vit c needs from a good balanced diet and because of we do not see scurvy in well kept piggies.
If we do get a scurvy case on the forum, once or twice a year, it tends to be in rescued neglected piggies or, actually in well cared for piggies who have been supplemented.
Long term supplementation can actually cause health issues. For one, excess vit c is simply excreted in the urine. So if they are getting a good diet, then what you are giving them is simply coming straight back out (thus wasting your money!)
More majorly, their body becomes used to unnecessary and abnormal amounts for their needs so if that level then drops, it can cause scurvy.
We recommend any piggy who has been routinely supplemented be very carefully weaned off over the course of many weeks so as to not make them ill.
Bond - So no you’re right it doesn’t matter now. It’s sadly over. Please don’t let them have floor time together and don’t consider rebonding. Leave them permanently separate and side by side at all times.
I would put his lower weight down to the abscess and surgery. Nothing to do with them being separated.
If he is definitely healthy then all you can do is give him time with additional critical care and monitor him daily.
In answer to your oats question, a tablespoon is fine but in your case if they caused him to bloat then you must not give him any oats. Stick with critical care.
Any grass hay is absolutely fine.
On a side note, it is not recommended that piggies are supplemented long term with vitamin c. There are no long term owners on here who do it, and it only tends to be something we still see owners in the US told to do.
They can have a two week course of additional vit c during a period of illness but it should never be supplemented as routine or longer than two weeks.
Piggies get all their vit c needs from a good balanced diet and because of we do not see scurvy in well kept piggies.
If we do get a scurvy case on the forum, once or twice a year, it tends to be in rescued neglected piggies or, actually in well cared for piggies who have been supplemented.
Long term supplementation can actually cause health issues. For one, excess vit c is simply excreted in the urine. So if they are getting a good diet, then what you are giving them is simply coming straight back out (thus wasting your money!)
More majorly, their body becomes used to unnecessary and abnormal amounts for their needs so if that level then drops, it can cause scurvy.
We recommend any piggy who has been routinely supplemented be very carefully weaned off over the course of many weeks so as to not make them ill.
Bond: Thank you for the advice on this. will they not get depressed not having a partner? I do not want sad piggies. Also is there no way to rebond them at any point even though they are so young, like if they are apart then properly bonded. If not, I should definitely keep them sharing a cage wall right? And no more floor time together even if they don’t fight during that full hour? Thank you!
Food: I will stop giving him oats then, I didn’t see much change in his weight besides bloating & I don’t want to cause him health issues from too many oats over a long period of time so I will stop.
Vitamins: I am actually in the US haha, so it makes sense that I saw a lot of people telling me to give my piggies vitamin C daily based on that. They do get 1 cup of veggies daily and bellpepper then, so should i not be giving them 1ml daily?
Food: I will stop giving him oats then, I didn’t see much change in his weight besides bloating & I don’t want to cause him health issues from too many oats over a long period of time so I will stop.
Vitamins: I am actually in the US haha, so it makes sense that I saw a lot of people telling me to give my piggies vitamin C daily based on that. They do get 1 cup of veggies daily and bellpepper then, so should i not be giving them 1ml daily?
No they won’t get depressed.
Definitely keep them sharing a cage wall. They can see each other through the bars and that is sufficient companionship and interaction.
I have separated boars myself and there are several others who also do.
No I’m afraid you can’t rebond them ever.
Once a bond is broken, it is broken permanently. Piggies who have had a fight will never accept each other back.
Putting them together for ‘playtime’ is not how their hierarchies function. They either get on and can live together in a cage, or they don’t get on and can’t ever have any time physically together.
No they don’t need the 1ml daily. You must be incredibly careful if you are going to stop giving it. You’ve got it cut it down tiny bits at a time over many weeks eg give 0.9ml for the next week, then 0.8ml for the following week, 0.7ml for the week after and so on and so forth.
If you were to suddenly stop giving it, then you would make them all ill.
I’ve added in another guide below which will help you
Definitely keep them sharing a cage wall. They can see each other through the bars and that is sufficient companionship and interaction.
I have separated boars myself and there are several others who also do.
No I’m afraid you can’t rebond them ever.
Once a bond is broken, it is broken permanently. Piggies who have had a fight will never accept each other back.
Putting them together for ‘playtime’ is not how their hierarchies function. They either get on and can live together in a cage, or they don’t get on and can’t ever have any time physically together.
No they don’t need the 1ml daily. You must be incredibly careful if you are going to stop giving it. You’ve got it cut it down tiny bits at a time over many weeks eg give 0.9ml for the next week, then 0.8ml for the following week, 0.7ml for the week after and so on and so forth.
If you were to suddenly stop giving it, then you would make them all ill.
I’ve added in another guide below which will help you
Thank you for the guides I will read each of these! They haven’t been on the vitamin C supplements for that long so it thankfully shouldn’t cause them any issues to be weaned off of it, but thank you.
I appreciate your advice so much genuinely, thank you & I wish you a good rest of your week!
I appreciate your advice so much genuinely, thank you & I wish you a good rest of your week!
Merab
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Welcome to the forum.
Hope things work out well for your boars.
Hope things work out well for your boars.
Thank you!
fluffysal
Forum Donator 2024/25
Welcome to the forum. I too have separated boars, they are happy and thriving.
AidaB
Forum Donator 2024/25
Welcome to the guinea pig forum.
Our two boar piggies live happily as neighbours, side by side too.
Our two boar piggies live happily as neighbours, side by side too.
Thank you I had no idea they’re okay being just neighbors! Do you not do floortime with them together at all?
Thank you!
Ramia
Adult Guinea Pig
No, you would not do floor time together.
AidaB
Forum Donator 2024/25
No- we do not allow our boys to interact without bars between them, it would not be fair on the piggies as @Piggies&buns has explained. It’s not in the boys best interests or how piggies relationships work. They do not understand brief play dates.
Here is a photo of our equivalent of floor time…. During the winter.
Basically another home in a different space, laid out differently. In the summer I give them more space, and they get more time to explore.
Thank you so much, I’ll stop doing their floor time together then. I know they’re social animals so I keep them as neighbors, but I was wondering how long I should be with them daily so they get interactions? I usually do a little over an hour of floor time with them daily and hold them numerous times throughout the day but do they need more time with me considering they are separated?
AidaB
Forum Donator 2024/25
We do exactly the same amount of hooman time with our boys(they are not keen, so never long) as we did when we had our Hamish & Hector who lived together.
Loki & Wally just have separate time with us while the other stays home. I am sure you will find what works best for you all, piggies & humans.
Would love to see a photo of your boys.
We all love pigtures!
You don’t need to do any more than you are already doing.
They may be separated but they still have 24/7 interaction between the bars with each other, therefore they are never alone. A lot of piggy interaction is with body language and scent - things which you as a human cannot pick up on - so they will be in constant communication with each other between the bars without you even realising!
I had a piggy with a tooth root abscess and he lost a lot of weight. Think it was 400g.
It took him 10 months to gain it all back! As said above they lose weight very quickly but it takes a long time to gain it.
I’m glad your piggy is doing well.
It took him 10 months to gain it all back! As said above they lose weight very quickly but it takes a long time to gain it.
Just had our weekly weigh in Wednesday and Pepper has reached the weight he was before he became unwell with his tooth root abscess last year. It’s taken 10 months. Bless him. He’s doing well. 
I’m glad your piggy is doing well.
Okay I will probably do around an hour with both daily, they love their floor time lol
Here are my 2 piggies I mention in the posts! The lighter one is Venom & darker one is Stripes.
Ignore the poopies in that first photo
Attachments
Thank you so much! I had no idea about that so its very reassuring to hear that they’re not lonely
That’s a lot more weight than mine has lost so its reassuring to know that yours ended up well! It is surprising how fast they lose and how slow they gain it back its terrifying. Hopefully mine can gain it back steadily in the next few months as well, I’m so glad your piggy is doing better now!I had a piggy with a tooth root abscess and he lost a lot of weight. Think it was 400g.
It took him 10 months to gain it all back! As said above they lose weight very quickly but it takes a long time to gain it.
Just had our weekly weigh in Wednesday and Pepper has reached the weight he was before he became unwell with his tooth root abscess last year. It’s taken 10 months. Bless him. He’s doing well.
I’m glad your piggy is doing well.
fluffysal
Forum Donator 2024/25
I don't do shared floortime, they still have a divider. Your boys are gorgeous, poops in the pigture are standard so don't worry.