Guinea Pigs No Longer Friends

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GuineaGal

GuineaGal

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Hi

I have two guinea pigs, both female, 4 years old. They really liked each other for the 3 years that I have had them but now the dominant one is constantly chasing the other and terrorizing her until she wheets and cowers so much that I have to separate them. Any ideas why this would happen now? After all this time? She was always dominant but this is ridiculous!

Please help!
 
How long has this behaviour been going on for?
 
(sorry, i asked because if a sow has an abnormally strong heat, it could set off this kind of behaviour, but that would only last 1-2 days. :/ Have you tried a bonding bath?

I'm sorry, i dont have sows, so I'm not up on their behaviour, hopefully someone who is will be along shortly! :)
 
Yes, i would firstly try bathing them both in the same shampoo and cleaning out their home completely. I would then re-bond them on neutral ground and see how this goes.

Sows at this age are suseptable to cystic ovaries, which i believe (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) can cause some hormal tantrums from them. Might be worth thinking about. Symptoms include a larger bloated abdomen and thinning hair on the flanks.

Try putting two of everything out, food bowls, hides, beds etc so that both can eat. Does the dominant one let the other to the food bowl/hay rack etc? If she is letting her then i really would not have seperated just yet, they need to work through their differences. No matter now, they are seperate so you will have to start over.

When re introducing just keep a close eye on them, providing they dont break out into a fight which draws blood i would leave them supervised for some time.

Occationally though sows that have been friends for life, simple do not get on anymore. its much rarer than with boars, but not impossible.

Good luck.

x
 
I would have your sow checked for hormonal problems/ovarian cysts as a cuase of her changed behaviour. http://www.guinealynx.info/ovarian_cysts.html

Sow fall outs are rare but they can happen. Unfortunately, your chances of a successful reunion are not very great once a girl has taken it it into her head that her mate (even if it is a sister!) is no longer part of "us". Piggies rarely go back on that. :(
 
I'm not a sow person but often when animals are ill things go wrong with pairings so a vet check is a good idea.
My previous pigs were always fine until Pip got ill then suddenly the dynamics changed a lot....
 
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