Curtis Cavies
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi. Have always had between 4 and 8 sows living in harmony together in large outdoor shed bought and made over completely for their living space and food/bedding storage.
Have had quite a run of bad luck recently, in last five weeks have had 5 illnesses, all unlinked and have lost 3 pigs, 2 of them were sows from my "clan".
I have one tiny, TINY little 5/6month old girlie left in the house who is recovering from being very ill with many things since purchasing her in March. I am finally getting her to gain weight and she has a lovely character and loves pop corning all over the place. Se is still so small, 575g and has a long way to catch up to her sister which I purchased at the same time along with two beautiful Abyssinian's, sadly one of which I lost Sunday night /Monday morning. (they all came badly infested with mites and two then got particularly ill with recurring pneumonia /heart/mystery illnesses). Have had my vet baffled and he's an exotics expert and certainly knows his stuff but each time medication reduced, both would slide back down. Any way, my little fighter is still surviving and trying to get strong. Eats like a horse so I hope she will gain weight soon and start to thrive. But she is SO tiny, I want to reintroduce her back into her 'family clan ' again as soon as possible because I don't want her rejected and she seems so lonely in the house. All teds/soft toys tried for cuddle companionship have either been ignored or she's run away from them and won't go to that area until offending object has been removed!
Have read your introductions of pairs and threes, but with 5 to accept her, that could be quite a lot of bullying her into the right place in the pecking order and I don't want her too stressed out running away and losing weight and becoming ill again.
Am asking this well in advance, as I think she needs more weight gain just yet anyway. Want to be prepared so I get it right!
Looks like I have previously got the more common sense stuff right, neutral areas for intro's, cleaned and rearranged cage. Have done this many times over the years. Watched, then left to do their own sorting out of pecking orders! One thing it looks like I have done wrong is I thought It would be nice for Sasha to have a small graze time together with the others, me watching all the time and to remove her again afterwards to her hospital quarters to continue to fatten her up!. This resulted in her sister especially being very vicious toward her, teeth chattering and chasing her away and then to make it worse, I brought her back indoors and they went into their home, so the intros, I have read here, will have to start again! Der! thought I was doing a kind thing. She did have a good hour with them first and even made it into the bedroom/snuggle area with 3 of them where they all snoozed very happily for a while. This was on a fresh piece of garden, a large pen with summer hutch attached for sun/Rain/wind shelter.
Sorry its a long question! Thank you In advance. Helene, for Sasha.
Have had quite a run of bad luck recently, in last five weeks have had 5 illnesses, all unlinked and have lost 3 pigs, 2 of them were sows from my "clan".
I have one tiny, TINY little 5/6month old girlie left in the house who is recovering from being very ill with many things since purchasing her in March. I am finally getting her to gain weight and she has a lovely character and loves pop corning all over the place. Se is still so small, 575g and has a long way to catch up to her sister which I purchased at the same time along with two beautiful Abyssinian's, sadly one of which I lost Sunday night /Monday morning. (they all came badly infested with mites and two then got particularly ill with recurring pneumonia /heart/mystery illnesses). Have had my vet baffled and he's an exotics expert and certainly knows his stuff but each time medication reduced, both would slide back down. Any way, my little fighter is still surviving and trying to get strong. Eats like a horse so I hope she will gain weight soon and start to thrive. But she is SO tiny, I want to reintroduce her back into her 'family clan ' again as soon as possible because I don't want her rejected and she seems so lonely in the house. All teds/soft toys tried for cuddle companionship have either been ignored or she's run away from them and won't go to that area until offending object has been removed!
Have read your introductions of pairs and threes, but with 5 to accept her, that could be quite a lot of bullying her into the right place in the pecking order and I don't want her too stressed out running away and losing weight and becoming ill again.
Am asking this well in advance, as I think she needs more weight gain just yet anyway. Want to be prepared so I get it right!
Looks like I have previously got the more common sense stuff right, neutral areas for intro's, cleaned and rearranged cage. Have done this many times over the years. Watched, then left to do their own sorting out of pecking orders! One thing it looks like I have done wrong is I thought It would be nice for Sasha to have a small graze time together with the others, me watching all the time and to remove her again afterwards to her hospital quarters to continue to fatten her up!. This resulted in her sister especially being very vicious toward her, teeth chattering and chasing her away and then to make it worse, I brought her back indoors and they went into their home, so the intros, I have read here, will have to start again! Der! thought I was doing a kind thing. She did have a good hour with them first and even made it into the bedroom/snuggle area with 3 of them where they all snoozed very happily for a while. This was on a fresh piece of garden, a large pen with summer hutch attached for sun/Rain/wind shelter.
Sorry its a long question! Thank you In advance. Helene, for Sasha.
