Fiona H
New Born Pup
Hello
A little background on the situation first: Early this year we lost one of our older boars leaving another by himself. He seemed very unhappy alone so I spoke to a local rescue I have used before and we agreed that the best option was a baby boar to keep him company. As the remaining boar is quite old now we agreed that 2 baby boars might be a better option to avoid having the same issue in a year or two. The 2 boars we took had been together pretty much from birth and were approximately 7 weeks old at the time (now approximately 6 months old). As they have got older there have been a few dominance displays but nothing seeming too concerning and we put it down to hormones and got a larger 2 storey hutch to ensure that there is plenty of room (food and water available upstairs and downstairs). The older boar does not seem at all bothered about the dominance displays which come pretty much exclusively from the smallest boar, Fred. We have noticed that the rumbling, strutting etc .seemed to have calmed down a bit and that the other young boar, Claude, has been spending a lot of time upstairs seemingly keeping out of the way. He didn't seem to be up there exclusively so we weren't too worried about him being alone but we have been keeping an eye on the situation. We brought them in 2 nights ago for some indoor exercise time and some handling time. I had given them all a good checking over and noticed a scratch on Claude but nothing too serious and we could not be certain where it had come from. I put them back down to run about and sat down, all of a sudden we heard some awful teeth clattering and looked over to see Fred attacking Claude, he had him by the front paw and drew quite a lot of blood. We of course separated them immediately and cleaning Claude up as best we could. As I'm sure you can understand this was very distressing for all involved. Luckily their current hutch allows for the 2 levels to be shut off so when we put them back in the hutch we put Fred upstairs and Claude and the older boar downstairs. Claude has been to the vets for a check up and is currently on antibiotics as a precaution to prevent infections and is having his wounds washed twice a day. We have noticed that Fred is seeming to be quite distressed being by himself and is clearly missing the other boars however I do not feel it safe to put them back together as he has already attacked Claude and I am concerned now that he may try to attack our older boar plus that would mean leaving Claude by himself when he seems to be well bonded with the older boy.
My issue now is deciding what to do next and what is best for all of our guinea pigs. We keep them all outdoors in summer but have to bring them indoors in winter. We currently have 8 pigs which were spread over 3 hutches: 3 sows in one, 2 boars in another and then the 3 boars discussed above. I would struggle to fit a fourth cage indoors over winter but I really don't want to have to rehome Fred. I have considered the prospect of having Fred neutered by an experienced vet and trying to bond him with the females. If I switched the older boar and Claude into the hutch the girls have been using and put them in the larger hutch with Fred there should be plenty of room for them (it is a 2 storey rabbit hutch so pretty large). However I'm unsure as to how well this is likely to work and how the sows would react to it. Has anybody else had a similar problem before and if so how have you worked around it? I'm really attached to all of my guinea pigs so rehoming really is the very last resort option for us.
Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.
A little background on the situation first: Early this year we lost one of our older boars leaving another by himself. He seemed very unhappy alone so I spoke to a local rescue I have used before and we agreed that the best option was a baby boar to keep him company. As the remaining boar is quite old now we agreed that 2 baby boars might be a better option to avoid having the same issue in a year or two. The 2 boars we took had been together pretty much from birth and were approximately 7 weeks old at the time (now approximately 6 months old). As they have got older there have been a few dominance displays but nothing seeming too concerning and we put it down to hormones and got a larger 2 storey hutch to ensure that there is plenty of room (food and water available upstairs and downstairs). The older boar does not seem at all bothered about the dominance displays which come pretty much exclusively from the smallest boar, Fred. We have noticed that the rumbling, strutting etc .seemed to have calmed down a bit and that the other young boar, Claude, has been spending a lot of time upstairs seemingly keeping out of the way. He didn't seem to be up there exclusively so we weren't too worried about him being alone but we have been keeping an eye on the situation. We brought them in 2 nights ago for some indoor exercise time and some handling time. I had given them all a good checking over and noticed a scratch on Claude but nothing too serious and we could not be certain where it had come from. I put them back down to run about and sat down, all of a sudden we heard some awful teeth clattering and looked over to see Fred attacking Claude, he had him by the front paw and drew quite a lot of blood. We of course separated them immediately and cleaning Claude up as best we could. As I'm sure you can understand this was very distressing for all involved. Luckily their current hutch allows for the 2 levels to be shut off so when we put them back in the hutch we put Fred upstairs and Claude and the older boar downstairs. Claude has been to the vets for a check up and is currently on antibiotics as a precaution to prevent infections and is having his wounds washed twice a day. We have noticed that Fred is seeming to be quite distressed being by himself and is clearly missing the other boars however I do not feel it safe to put them back together as he has already attacked Claude and I am concerned now that he may try to attack our older boar plus that would mean leaving Claude by himself when he seems to be well bonded with the older boy.
My issue now is deciding what to do next and what is best for all of our guinea pigs. We keep them all outdoors in summer but have to bring them indoors in winter. We currently have 8 pigs which were spread over 3 hutches: 3 sows in one, 2 boars in another and then the 3 boars discussed above. I would struggle to fit a fourth cage indoors over winter but I really don't want to have to rehome Fred. I have considered the prospect of having Fred neutered by an experienced vet and trying to bond him with the females. If I switched the older boar and Claude into the hutch the girls have been using and put them in the larger hutch with Fred there should be plenty of room for them (it is a 2 storey rabbit hutch so pretty large). However I'm unsure as to how well this is likely to work and how the sows would react to it. Has anybody else had a similar problem before and if so how have you worked around it? I'm really attached to all of my guinea pigs so rehoming really is the very last resort option for us.
Any help and advice would be very much appreciated.
