Constant rumble strutting! :(

[Shaye Mandy]

Hello everyone,

I’m wondering if anybody else might have experience this but my sow had pups almost 3 months ago (I didn’t know she was pregnant when I purchased her. 3 healthy pigs 1 boy and 2 girls, the boy has been seperated and it’s her and her 2 girl babies now) anyways, she’s been constantly rumblesrutting since she gave birth almost 3 months and I’m starting to wonder if it’s ever going to stop lol! Or is this something I should be more concerned about? She was a sweet girl before she had pups now literally all she does is eat, ocassionally sleep and rumble the other 80% of the time..

 

[sport_billy]

@Wiebke Would this be hormones?

Welcome to the forum have tagged a behaviour expert in for you

 

[Wiebke]

Hello everyone,

I’m wondering if anybody else might have experience this but my sow had pups almost 3 months ago (I didn’t know she was pregnant when I purchased her. 3 healthy pigs 1 boy and 2 girls, the boy has been seperated and it’s her and her 2 girl babies now) anyways, she’s been constantly rumblesrutting since she gave birth almost 3 months and I’m starting to wonder if it’s ever going to stop lol! Or is this something I should be more concerned about? She was a sweet girl before she had pups now literally all she does is eat, ocassionally sleep and rumble the other 80% of the time..

Hi and welcome!


How old is you mum? Is she the dominant sow in her group or not? If not, then she may not be happy with her diminished status after having enjoyed a protected status as a nursing mum and an enhancement through the birth of her babies.

You may want to have her vet checked by a piggy savvy vet for a hormonal imbalance or ovarian cysts.
Please discuss with your vet whether the behaviour is too disruptive for the group and needs addressing. Also monitor any gradual weight loss due to her behaving like she was constantly in season.
Hormone injections or implants can be an alternative to a full spaying operation although no option is unfortunately cheap.

 

[sport_billy]

Hi and welcome!


How old is you mum? You may want to have her vet checked by a piggy savvy vet for a hormonal imbalance or ovarian cysts.

Good call. I wondered if pregnancy often throws sow's out.

 

[Shaye Mandy]

Hi and welcome!


How old is you mum? Is she the dominant sow in her group or not? If not, then she may not be happy with her diminished status after having enjoyed a protected status as a nursing mum and an enhancement through the birth of her babies.

You may want to have her vet checked by a piggy savvy vet for a hormonal imbalance or ovarian cysts.
Please discuss with your vet whether the behaviour is too disruptive for the group and needs addressing. Also monitor any gradual weight loss due to her behaving like she was constantly in season.
Hormone injections or implants can be an alternative to a full spaying operation although no option is unfortunately cheap.

She’d be about 6 months old now, when I got her I had her in a seperate cage from my other 2 females for quarantine to make sure she wasn’t sick before I introduced them properly for living together but she was able to communicate and see them/smell them etc so she hasn’t had to find a place in the herd just yet however I do intend on having all 5 girls together in the coming weeks, at this point I’m thinking a vet is going to be necessary and I’m hoping this behaviour isn’t forever because her two baby girls that stayed with her since giving birth are quite obviously now getting over her antics haha. She was very loving towards us and fairly quiet when I first got her (no excessive rumbling) but within a week she was growing rapidly and squealing for food and the vet confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Are hormonal imbalances quite normal in guinea pigs after giving birth? I just guessed the rumblestrutting would stop after a week or two and that she’d return to her normal self but it’s looking less and less likely. I’m a bit sad it seems like this pregnancy has thrown her attitude off completely and I definitely don’t have the happy guinea pig right now that I first knew haha.

She seems SUPER hormonal tonight and her girls (3 months old now) are starting to look quite worn out like they just want her to leave them alone. Starting to get a bit sad for them having to listen to her moods lol!

 

[Shaye Mandy]

@Wiebke Would this be hormones?

Welcome to the forum have tagged a behaviour expert in for you

Thank you

 

[Shaye Mandy]

Hi and welcome!


How old is you mum? Is she the dominant sow in her group or not? If not, then she may not be happy with her diminished status after having enjoyed a protected status as a nursing mum and an enhancement through the birth of her babies.

You may want to have her vet checked by a piggy savvy vet for a hormonal imbalance or ovarian cysts.
Please discuss with your vet whether the behaviour is too disruptive for the group and needs addressing. Also monitor any gradual weight loss due to her behaving like she was constantly in season.
Hormone injections or implants can be an alternative to a full spaying operation although no option is unfortunately cheap.

Also, Would desexing her help if it is hormones? I’ve managed to find a good guinea pig vet that does desexing for 140$ which conpared to less recommended vets charging 200$ I would consider it if it would help, the last thing I wanted to do was have to rehome a guinea pig because of something out of my control (her being pregnant when I got her) I’d rather help her especially if it is something like hormones making her uncomfortable.

 

[Merab]

If you can find a piggy savvy vet then take her for a check up.
It is much better to be reassured that nothing is wrong than risk ignoring a possible problem.

 

[Wiebke]

Also, Would desexing her help if it is hormones? I’ve managed to find a good guinea pig vet that does desexing for 140$ which conpared to less recommended vets charging 200$ I would consider it if it would help, the last thing I wanted to do was have to rehome a guinea pig because of something out of my control (her being pregnant when I got her) I’d rather help her especially if it is something like hormones making her uncomfortable.

If it is ovarian cysts and your vet is experienced in spaying operations, then it is worth considering an operation.
It is however a major invasive operation in sows, so you want to make sure that you can trust your vet because of the risk of complications or even fatality.
I have a personal record of 2 successful spaying operations for large ovarian cysts and womb gone wrong with an experienced piggy savvy vet to one fatal emergency op for fast growing large cysts with a local general vet.
Tips For Post-operative Care

If the problem is dominance based, then spaying will not cure it.