OldManNibbs
New Born Pup
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.
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.