Hormonal or something else?

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Claire W

Claire W

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So, my hierarchy of pigs has always gone like this: Eliza, Eleanor, Ena and then Erin at the bottom (even though Erin is my biggest pig). Eleanor has always been quite bossy to Erin and Ena in particular and not Eliza. Before Erin and Ena came along just over 2 years ago, Ellie always seemed happy being second.

I have noticed that for the last few months, Ellie has became rather hormonal and seems to be in season quite often. She will rumblestrut, puff up and show her teeth at Erin ad Ena. Again, hardly ever to Eliza.

Is Ellie just showing her dominance to Erin and Ena? I often wonder if she is scared of losing her second place to Ena in particular. Ellie is in fact now my smallest pig as Erin and Ena are rather chunky girls.

Eliza hardly ever shows dominant behaviour and often steps back from handbag incidents.

There is never any 'nasty ness' and Erin and Ena do not challenge Ellie when she has her handbag out but like I say, she does it quite regular.

Is this a dominance issue or something else as these handbag incidents with Ellie are very common.
 
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Hmmm, hopefully they are just trying to sort out their pecking order, although i know this behaviour can be linked to many things, my Minnie, top pig is sometimes like this and it is realted to the fact she has ovarian cysts......

xx
 
To me it sounds like she's threatened of losing her position in the rank. However, if the behaviour is unusual for her it may be something more, ovarian cysts or something (not sure if this affects behaviour in pigs or not though) or a hormonal imbalance (do gp's go through the menopause :))).
 
I'm not sure. I'm not too worried about it as she has always been bossy. When Erin and Ena came, they were babies but over the last 2 years, they have obviously grown and overtook Ellie in size.

It's just strange that she doesn't rumblestrut much to Eliza but only to Erin and Ena mallethead

If it is a medical problem, what else should I watch out for?
 
Minnie only does this to Scrummy mostly, the newest addition (the baby) and sometimes Toffee, but never to Lilly our nuetered boar, but she has always been with him (he is her dad, pet shop up mallethead ) xx
 
When I introduced Archie to my girls Lexi (dominant sow)was immediately putting him in his place, but once that was established it was Freya that caused more trouble with him as she didn't want to lose her position as second in command. They were both happy with Lexi as the leader and didn't threaten her position it was just a battle between the bottom two.

It sounds like Eleanor is happy with Eliza being the leader and that is firmly established, but she feels more threatened by the bottom two as they are the ones that would threaten her position, as such. She doesn't want to become leader, but she wants to stay as second in command if you get what I mean.
 
That's what I thought as she leaves Eliza well alone.

If it carries on, I will have her checked out I think. Will a vet be able to tell without an x ray being given? Obviously I know they will have to x ray to confirm.
 
A good vet should be able to feel them, and confirm maybe with an ultra sounds, though its not always necessary, even you yourself might be able to, i can feel minnies easily.

Does she have any hair thinning on her sides atall? Minnie had a spot where it looked like she had been barbered, it wasn't bald or completely short, also inflamed nipples is another symptom, though as wiebke said, not all of these symptoms may be visable xx
 
An expereinced vet should be able to feel them. Sow-to-sow humping generally involves lower ranked sows in my own observation.

Some sows just have a hormonal surge for some reason; still it is always good to work out whether there are cysts involved or not, especially if it carries on.
 
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Toffeewoffee said:
A good vet should be able to feel them, and confirm maybe with an ultra sounds, though its not always necessary, even you yourself might be able to, i can feel minnies easily.

Does she have any hair thinning on her sides atall? Minnie had a spot where it looked like she had been barbered, it wasn't bald or completely short, also inflamed nipples is another symptom, though as wiebke said, not all of these symptoms may be visable xx
Click to expand...

No, she hasn't got any thinning hair. I have felt around and can't feel any unusual bumps or lumps but I don't really know what I'm looking for. Stupid question but where a outs would they be if there were any? Just so I know I'm looking in the right place?

Apart from her rumble strutting to Erin and Ena, there aren't any other symptoms listed in the link.
 
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Wiebke said:
An expereinced vet should be able to feel them. Sow-to-sow humping generally involves lower ranked sows in my own observation.

Some sows just have a hormonal surge for some reason; still it is always good to work out whether there are cysts involved or not, especially if it carries on.
Click to expand...

She isn't humping, just rumble strutting. I'll keep an eye in her over the next few days in case she's in season which I think is the case today as Ena is at it too and will have her checked out if it carries on in to next week. Thank you for the link. Very useful.
 
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