Hi, I am having a sow dominance problem!

[Lunamione14]

Hi, I am having a dominance problem with my two 1 and 3/4 year old sows. I just rescued them from a home that couldn't take care of them (daughter went off to college). I am reposting what i posted before in the wrong column.Hi, I'm wondering if you could help me- I just adopted 2 1 1/2 year old sows from my vets office b/c the nurse who had them couldn't take care of them. (They were her daughter's guinea pigs). She gave us one cage, about 24 by 18, and a long one probably about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. When I got them they were originally in the smaller cage.
WHen I took them home, I noticed that one sow, Dakota, a short hair, was bothering Nestle, who has cowlicks all over her. She won't let her eat food except off of the floor. When Nestle goes into the plastic igloo she pushes her out, and I found her this morning (the day after I got them) next to the poopy - covered corner of the cage that has an air conditioning vent around a foot away from it. She was very cold, so I picked her up and cuddled her.
I honestly don't know what is wrong, and Nestle seems to be absolutely terrified whenever dakota comes near her. She won't eat lettuce unless there is enough for both her and dakota, and she won't eat smaller things like carrots until dakota has eaten her fill. I am really worried sick about the two of them.
So far that I have had them it has gotten a little better. At first I got another igloo for nestle and they got along for a little while, but then I noticed that Dakota always got the hut farthest away from the air vent and forced nestle out into the cold.
I decided to separate them, so I put nestle into the smaller, other cage that the people i had adopted the piggies from had given me. Nestle likes it, but she is still must thinner than dakota. It wasn't really an issue when I got them, but I feel she is growing thinner and thinner. I feed her a lot, but nothing happens. Luckily, the bully ing stopped.
Also, one more thing. I think the cause of nestles strange behavior is she could be visually impaired. I am totally unsure, but who knows? They're guinea pigs and they have their own private lives. She could be pining away for a lover!
Could anyone help me find what is wrong with nestle?

 

[Belinda Shute]

Hi. If it was me I would weigh the guineas regularly (and at the same time) to check to see how things are going. You could use some digital scales and get yourself a plastic bowl or one of the igloos to weigh them in.

Re the weight loss, it might be worth getting them checked at a guinea savvy vets to make sure that there is nothing else going on. It's worth making sure that you are giving them the right things to eat. If you search on the forum for Guinea Pig Shopping List (thanks to Squeakypigs) it will let you know of what things to give guineas regarding nutrition.

Nestle could well be suffering from the effects of bullying, illness or just taking time to settle in. If you are going to try to put them back together at some point it would be wise to wash the cage out really well (and dry it well) to remove any smells, as the dominant guinea will now feel that this is her domain. You could also try putting them out together somewhere neutral for some run around time, while keeping a close eye on them. for now you could just ensure that they are housed next to each other so that they can at least see, smell and hear each other

I would suggest that the main thing is to check the health of Nestle by taking her to a vet to check her sight and that there is nothing else underlying. Make sure that she has lots of hay, a good quality nugget (it must be guinea pig nuggets not rabbit food), some fresh veg each day such as parsley, chicory, tomato (I always take the seeds out), a little cabbage (darker leaf ones are best), cucumber is good for water, Bell peppers etc.

Sorry for the rambling reply. Hope you find this helpful. Good luck. Let us know how you get on. There is lots of help on this forum for you.

xx

 

[Freela]

I would recommend weighing them weekly to determine if the smaller pig is indeed losing weight. Simply being smaller than the other pig doesn't necessarily indicate a problem- like people, there is a wide range of normal. Out of my original pair of pigs, there was almost a pound of weight difference between them... both were healthy, but one was on the small side of average and one was on the large side of average. Small stature itself isn't necessarily a problem, but weight loss is.

As for bullying, I hope someone else has some better suggestions for this. There is always going to be a dominant pig- it's just how things get organized in guinea pig society! Some pigs just don't get along well, but I personally don't have enough experience with that to give you any advice. We've had two pairings of pigs- Linney and Frenzy, and then Linney and Sundae after Frenzy passed away. Linney has been the boss in both pairings... she and Frenzy had more spats but always seemed to reconcile afterwards. Linney and Sundae get along well because Sundae has no urge to be the dominant pig... and yes, Linney will take food from Sundae, or will kick her away from the water bottle so Linney can have a turn first, etc. But that's par for the course... someone's got to be top of the heap!

 

[Lunamione14]

Thanks

I will definetly do that! - weigh them.

By the way I used to have a guinea pig named Sundae. He died about a month ago and I got these to help heal. I didn't think the name Sundae was that popular. What does your sundae look like?

 

[Freela]

I will definetly do that! - weigh them.

By the way I used to have a guinea pig named Sundae. He died about a month ago and I got these to help heal. I didn't think the name Sundae was that popular. What does your sundae look like?

You know what's crazy? There is ANOTHER guinea pig named Sundae on this board as well! I also didn't think it was that popular but I've run into two others!

My Sundae is is a tricolour (lilac, white, and buff with red eyes.) When we got her, one of my daughters said she looked like an ice cream cone because her lilac pointy nose was the cone and the buff and white on her body was butterscotch ice cream and the red eyes were the cherries on top- so we named her Sundae as in 'ice cream sundae.' How did yours get his name?

 

[Lunamione14]

Sundae-

My Sundae was almost like your user picture- he was more white though, and he had a caramel color around his nose and down to his chin and behind his ears. Then, his back left foot was brown.
I miss him so much! What a coincidence!