Piggies 1st Fight

[OldManNibbs]

Hi everyone, I am hoping someone here can offer some help/advice on piggies fighting/wounds.

We adopted Gojeera from the shelter last month to be Owlie’s new cage mate as our senior pig passed away. We did the whole bonding process and believed it to be quite successful with no real fighting, Owlie reigning dominant, Gojeera not seeming to want to be dominant at all and being super chill. Perfect. It’s been a few weeks now and they’ve gotten along pretty well, with the exception of Owlie occasionally chasing Gojeera around. However, when I went to check in on them this morning I noticed their houses were both upside down and figured there was some chasing going on in the middle of the night. Both seemed to be behaving normally with excitement, both popcorning, and eating and drinking together. When I went in to give them their vitamin c tablets, they ran over to the gate and that’s when I noticed Owlie has a wound right by his nostril. Concerned, I picked up Gojeera knowing he’s the submissive and chill piggy and felt around. I found a bigger wound on Gojeera’s back side... ugh.

So now I’m concerned.

1. Does this mean they really didn’t bond/aren’t right for each other? I know that if blood is drawn during the bonding process that it would mean it was unsuccessful and that they shouldn’t be housed together, but it’s been a few weeks now and other than this they’ve been so great together. They’re still together right now as I’m typing this and they’re both chilling and eating beside each other. Owlie literally just went to Gojeera and popcorned! I do want to add that we may have went a little light with their last hay feeding last night as I didn’t realize we didn’t have much of their normal hay left and wanted to make sure we had enough to give this morning before we go out to buy more. My guess is they may have fought over hay.

2. Does this require a vet visit? I don’t know if this is something that should be left to heal on its own, or if we should apply some kind of ointment at home, or if the vet needs to prescribe medication? We are aware that wounds can get infected and of course that is something we don’t want to happen to the pigs, so I do need some help/advice on this.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and if you can offer some input, I really appreciate it sincerely.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Are they both boars?
How old are they both?
How big is their cage?
Do all hides have two exits?

It’s not just during bonding which a fight means it is unsuccessful - any fight at any time means there could be a problem...weeks, years down the line even. Generally any injury causing fight is hugely concerning and potentially bond breaking.
If they are still together seeming to be ok now, I would be keeping a very close eye on them as if it has happened once it might happen again. If they did have another fight, then it would need to result in permament separation.

The nostril injury doesn’t look to be bad. It is the kind of defensive injury we might see if hides only have one exit and a piggy has been cornered by the other,
However, I would be concerned by the other injury. It looks deep and I would want a vet to look at it.

Also, to add, piggies with a healthy hay based diet and a variety of veg and a small amount of pellets do not need to be supplemented additional vitamin c - they get all they need from their diet.
While excess vit c is excreted in the urine, long term unnecessary supplementation can cause their bodies to become used to abnormally high amounts and consequently if that level drops (even if the drop would still keep them within normal vit c levels for any other non supplemented piggy), it can cause scurvy symptoms.
Any piggy whom has been supplemented for longer than two weeks should be weaned off very slowly so as to not now cause scurvy.
Additional vit c can be given as a short course (a couple of weeks) to a poorly piggy to boost the immune system.

Boars: Teenage, Bullying, Fighting, Fall-outs And What Next?

 

[OldManNibbs]

Yes, they are both boars between the age of 2-3. They have a 4x2 set up now (considering going bigger) and all hides have multiple exits.

So far still good. No fights and hanging together.

I will talk to my husband about the vit c tabs. We started the vit c for our senior pig who recently passed and we’ve just continued to give it to Owlie and now Gojee. Thanks for the info on that, and for your input. All will be taken into consideration, thank you!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes, they are both boars between the age of 2-3. They have a 4x2 set up now (considering going bigger) and all hides have multiple exits.

So far still good. No fights and hanging together.

I will talk to my husband about the vit c tabs. We started the vit c for our senior pig who recently passed and we’ve just continued to give it to Owlie and now Gojee. Thanks for the info on that, and for your input. All will be taken into consideration, thank you!

Hopefully it was something and nothing and they will be ok but always best to be cautious now they have had a fight.

Best to go bigger on the cage if you can - a 2x4 is generally considered on the small side for boars and a 2x5 is the recommended size. If you do change the cage size then you need to be careful and ensure you use soiled bedding so the cage still smells of them so they still recognise it as their space. It’s important that boars territories remain as unchanged as possible

 

[OldManNibbs]

We ordered a larger CC (2x5) but think we are too late. There has been more and frequent jawing at each other over the last few days and new wounds have appeared on both. It looks like Owlie will rumblestrut and Gojeera will now mostly back away, or do a shifting in position as if he will attack, either way, it’s been going down and it’s never really been like this.

Owlie previously seemed to be engaging Goj without any intent (although nippy at times), but he would popcorn when near him and they would get along fine. Now it looks like Owlie is instigating and Goj may have had enough so he is fighting back. I don’t really think Owlie wants problems, as his gestures seem like empty threats, but maybe it’s gone too far.

Should I put the new 2x5 together and try one last time? Should I re-introductions them from scratch, with new liners, mats, etc.? I’m not sure if I should use the old bath mats in their cage now to keep some common scents in the new 2x5.

If we have to divide them, I bought a special divider cage that will split it 2.5 x 2.5. I don’t know if this will need to be permanent or if it’s temporary, but I’m desperate to try to get them to be okay together, even if not the best of mates.

 

[Piggies&buns]

If you are finding wounds then things don’t sound good I’m afraid.

If you want to then you can give them a few days separated to calm down and then try a neutral territory reintroduction and allow them to make the decision about whether they want to be together.

If they need to be permanently separated though then dividing a 2x5 c&c in half doesn’t give them enough space each - it doesn’t meet the 8 square feet minimum required for a single piggy. They need a minimum of a 2x3 each, so you’d need to make the cage a 2x6 at a minimum and then divide it.

Bonds In Trouble