Quarantining new bereaved piggy?

[Fluffbabies]

Hello everyone,

So we have found ourselves unexpectedly with a new arrival. By chance I found a six month old sow being offered for free online after her cage mate unexpectedly passed away. I was worried she would end up in the wrong hands so I messaged the owner and collected her.

According to her owner, her cage mate was a 1 year old sow who was fine the night before during cuddles and they found her passed the next morning. This was 11 days ago. They haven't done health checks before and they didn't look into why she passed. They have rabbits too but they're outside.

I checked this one is a sow. She came from Pets at Home and had been with the older one for 4 months. I gave her a health check all over including her lymph nodes and skin, and can't find any signs of her being ill. She's bright eyed, active and eating and I'm going to weigh her this morning. Her heft seems about right as in she doesn't seem underweight.

Our herd is downstairs in an open plan lounge diner. I was going to make her a little cage in the other part of the room for quarantine so they would be a few meters apart but she could hear my girls because she's been alone for 11 days. But that's not behind closed doors and because of how her cage mate passed, I made her a 2x4 C&C cage upstairs in our spare bedroom to quarantine her last night until I could ask for your advice.

I believe the owners when they say they handled her every day and she was inside in their kitchen so she has had human interaction but not guinea pig interaction. We could provide interaction but at the same time she is a bit scared with the new surroundings and new people so we don't want to stress her.

My question is... in this situation do we continue to quarantine her and for how long? I would have thought signs of something infectious would be visible by now but I'm well aware you can't always see any symptoms and piggies can pass within days of each other without seeming ill. I suppose I better get her checked out at a vet as well but I can't do that til tomorrow because of work.

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s lovely you’ve taken her in.

So technically quarantine is two weeks in a separate room (for piggies over four months of age) but you also have to take it on a case by case basis and do what feels right in the situation. If she struggles being in a room on her own then you should at least put her in the same room as the others.

(Of course a sudden death like that can be due to a heart attack or stroke etc and not necessarily anything contagious.)

 

[Fluffbabies]

It’s lovely you’ve taken her in.

So technically quarantine is two weeks in a separate room (for piggies over four months of age) but you also have to take it on a case by case basis and do what feels right in the situation. If she struggles being in a room on her own then you should at least put her in the same room as the others.

(Of course a sudden death like that can be due to a heart attack or stroke etc and not necessarily anything contagious.)

That was my line of thinking, although the other sow was only 1 year, it happens, and in my experience contagious illnesses would have some sign by now.

Bearing in mind the sudden death and no health checks, and that I can only go on what the owner told me being the truth, maybe I will see how she gets on over the next day or so and weigh her daily check she's eating. Then move her down into the same room.

She doesn't seem to be pining. She seems a happy, well-handled piggy which is great to see. Her family were lovely and you could tell they loved her, they just didn't want to continue with a getting another one and didn't want her to be alone. I put her in the carrier and when I went to add her little blanket in so she has familiar smells with her, she was already laid there eating the hay and cucumber! Ours don't even chill like that being put in there.

Could the 11 days she's had since her cage mate count towards quarantining or is it more quarantining in our environment in case there were infectious agents in her environment that haven't made themselves known yet?

It's tricky with her being alone and in a new place I'm sure hearing other pigs would help her. It'd be different if she was in a pair quarantining. We want to do right by her and keep our herd safe. It's weighing up the risks.

Although to be honest I'm surprised if she can't hear our four loud mouths from down here! And when she is added I'm sure the volume of their demands will soon be even more deafening as she picks up their bad habits!

 

[fluffysal]

Well done for rehoming her. I have no advice just wanted to say she is a gorgeous little lady

 

[weepweeps]

She’s gorgeous.

 

[Bill & Ted]

How lovely she is Good on you for taking her in