Teatimelois
New Born Pup
Hi,
Here is my situation ...
I have a 6 year old piggle named Silver. I aquired her and her sister Aura when she was 2 months old. Aura had a daughter named Nox and the three lived perfectly together up until I lost Aura in 2023. Devastated, I got a baby pig named Moony who right from the get go had a huge personnality. She would eat Silver's fur and was very dominant, but she respected Silver as if she was her mom so they got along fine. Two months later I lost Nox to a kidney stone, the opperation was a success but Nox didn't handle the anaesthesia well at all and she passed three days later. Thinking that Silver thrived better in a herd of three i got another little baby pig called Maple who seemed quite sweet.
So for context, now we have Silver (6), Moony (2) and Maple (1 1/2).
To make a long story short, I moved in with my boyfriend and his three pigs 6 months ago, one of his pigs was special needs and needed a very calm pig to live with, Silver ended up being the perfect solution. Even though she lived separate with special needs pig Wheeky, I tried to maintain her bond with the herd ( moony & maple who at this point now lived my BF's two pigs so a herd of 4 ) during floortime but obviously them being separated for longer lengths ended in Silver falling out of bonding with my two pigs. I stoped putting them together for floortime.
In the herd of 4, Moony is top dog. The bonding with the two new pigs was difficult since Moony is a pretty vicious female and she is quite violent when making sure you know she is the leader. Maple, having now grown up, is a real little sh*t. She is also very dominant and her and Moony can get quite standoff-ish from time to time but all in all the herd now works together.
Here is the problem:
Wheeky passed away this week after a 6 month battle with multiple issues, leaving my poor Silver on her own. Yesterday I took all day to reintroduce her into the herd. Floor time (whole room) on washed neutral bedding, two sets of bowls, food and I had Silver separated from the others for an hour just so they could see each other and sniff each other.
Once I opened up the whole floor and they all mingled, Moony and Maple had a right dominance squeak contest, teeth chattereing and the whole spectacle. Silvy got chased and nipped a bit but no blood, just fur pulled out (Silver is a long angora type pig).
Since there was no crazy violence I put the whole herd back in the cage that evening, but obviously, she is still getting chased around by Moony, Maple and one of the other two pigs if they walk by her. When someone approaches, she kind of just stops and doesn't move, she tries to become invisible and just waits. But because she seems so worried and just hides, she is not getting out to eat.
If i put her infront of the hay she will eat, but as soon as a pig walks by, or comes to eat too ( even if she gets on with that pig) she just freezes.
Her being 6 and my absolute life-line, I can not bear her loosing weight or being stressed, but I physically cannot handle having two cages again nor can I take having poor Silvs live on her own.
What can I do to make this easier on her ?
( They live in a cavy-cage about 4m long with a second story, so they have alot of space with multiple hay and food hubs)
Here is my situation ...
I have a 6 year old piggle named Silver. I aquired her and her sister Aura when she was 2 months old. Aura had a daughter named Nox and the three lived perfectly together up until I lost Aura in 2023. Devastated, I got a baby pig named Moony who right from the get go had a huge personnality. She would eat Silver's fur and was very dominant, but she respected Silver as if she was her mom so they got along fine. Two months later I lost Nox to a kidney stone, the opperation was a success but Nox didn't handle the anaesthesia well at all and she passed three days later. Thinking that Silver thrived better in a herd of three i got another little baby pig called Maple who seemed quite sweet.
So for context, now we have Silver (6), Moony (2) and Maple (1 1/2).
To make a long story short, I moved in with my boyfriend and his three pigs 6 months ago, one of his pigs was special needs and needed a very calm pig to live with, Silver ended up being the perfect solution. Even though she lived separate with special needs pig Wheeky, I tried to maintain her bond with the herd ( moony & maple who at this point now lived my BF's two pigs so a herd of 4 ) during floortime but obviously them being separated for longer lengths ended in Silver falling out of bonding with my two pigs. I stoped putting them together for floortime.
In the herd of 4, Moony is top dog. The bonding with the two new pigs was difficult since Moony is a pretty vicious female and she is quite violent when making sure you know she is the leader. Maple, having now grown up, is a real little sh*t. She is also very dominant and her and Moony can get quite standoff-ish from time to time but all in all the herd now works together.
Here is the problem:
Wheeky passed away this week after a 6 month battle with multiple issues, leaving my poor Silver on her own. Yesterday I took all day to reintroduce her into the herd. Floor time (whole room) on washed neutral bedding, two sets of bowls, food and I had Silver separated from the others for an hour just so they could see each other and sniff each other.
Once I opened up the whole floor and they all mingled, Moony and Maple had a right dominance squeak contest, teeth chattereing and the whole spectacle. Silvy got chased and nipped a bit but no blood, just fur pulled out (Silver is a long angora type pig).
Since there was no crazy violence I put the whole herd back in the cage that evening, but obviously, she is still getting chased around by Moony, Maple and one of the other two pigs if they walk by her. When someone approaches, she kind of just stops and doesn't move, she tries to become invisible and just waits. But because she seems so worried and just hides, she is not getting out to eat.
If i put her infront of the hay she will eat, but as soon as a pig walks by, or comes to eat too ( even if she gets on with that pig) she just freezes.
Her being 6 and my absolute life-line, I can not bear her loosing weight or being stressed, but I physically cannot handle having two cages again nor can I take having poor Silvs live on her own.
What can I do to make this easier on her ?
( They live in a cavy-cage about 4m long with a second story, so they have alot of space with multiple hay and food hubs)