H
hollive
I'm new here and having stumbled accross this forum I thought it looked ace so I joined!
I hope someone can help me out.
I have two male guinea pigs, Carl and Lenny. I got them around June time so they are I guess around 9 months old? They live together in a large cage indoors. Recently I've noticed that Lenny had some scabs on his back. They were from below the neck down, so I think that's a reachable area for him to do it himself.
They were living with me at my parents house for a week over christmas, and were outside in a shed for this short period of time. They were in the same cage as they have at my house, but with a better sheltered part for warmth. They seemed fine in there and were handled and played with for a long period of time each day. However, during this week there were quite a few cuts on Lenny's back, and towards the end of the week he started to get thinning hair on the middle of his back. The two pigs began to scratch quite frequently. This concerned me so as soon as I could I took him to the vets. They treated both pigs for mites with an injection, but also suggested we seperate them at least for a week to see if the problem solves.
I took them home and used a mite-repellent hutch cleaner on the current cage and used an old cage to separate the two. However I'm really unhappy about separating them. I can't help but feel they'd be much happier together.. however I'm afraid that Lenny is being bullied.
The unusual thing is, whenever we got them out to play over christmas, if they were running or walking around on the floor, Carl would follow Lenny. And Lenny would also try and hump Carl, as if it's Lenny who is the domineering one. However on occasion I witness Carl nibbling Lenny's ears. It's very hard to tell who is the more dominated pig, so therefore very difficult to tell if these bites and hair loss are down to mites or down to bullying from Carl.
I'm really concerned for them because I don't want them to be lonely or unhappy! I just want whats best for them because I love them so much..
Sorry for the long post.. I really hope someone can help!
Thank you
x
I hope someone can help me out.
I have two male guinea pigs, Carl and Lenny. I got them around June time so they are I guess around 9 months old? They live together in a large cage indoors. Recently I've noticed that Lenny had some scabs on his back. They were from below the neck down, so I think that's a reachable area for him to do it himself.
They were living with me at my parents house for a week over christmas, and were outside in a shed for this short period of time. They were in the same cage as they have at my house, but with a better sheltered part for warmth. They seemed fine in there and were handled and played with for a long period of time each day. However, during this week there were quite a few cuts on Lenny's back, and towards the end of the week he started to get thinning hair on the middle of his back. The two pigs began to scratch quite frequently. This concerned me so as soon as I could I took him to the vets. They treated both pigs for mites with an injection, but also suggested we seperate them at least for a week to see if the problem solves.
I took them home and used a mite-repellent hutch cleaner on the current cage and used an old cage to separate the two. However I'm really unhappy about separating them. I can't help but feel they'd be much happier together.. however I'm afraid that Lenny is being bullied.
The unusual thing is, whenever we got them out to play over christmas, if they were running or walking around on the floor, Carl would follow Lenny. And Lenny would also try and hump Carl, as if it's Lenny who is the domineering one. However on occasion I witness Carl nibbling Lenny's ears. It's very hard to tell who is the more dominated pig, so therefore very difficult to tell if these bites and hair loss are down to mites or down to bullying from Carl.
I'm really concerned for them because I don't want them to be lonely or unhappy! I just want whats best for them because I love them so much..
Sorry for the long post.. I really hope someone can help!
Thank you
x