Rivervixen’s piggies

I got my boys back, on my way home with them. The vet was very happy with their health and said they came around perfectly. They’ve shown me the incisions they’ve made and given me some metacam. My boys are very quiet but I think that’s to be expected after today, they were eating and drinking and pooping at the vets so they’re confident they’re doing well. Will keep updating x
 
Two things if that’s ok!
1. Is this kind of hay on the fleece ok for their wound? I don’t want anything to like irritate the area
And 2. Ozzy keeps trying to lick at his surgery area, is that ok for him to do? I’ve told him noooo a few times but maybe I’m being overly cautious
 

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Aw glad they are both home and doing well, I can’t advise on either count, I don’t remember seeing Ted licking although I’m sure they all do. he’s probably just cleaning himself up.
Soft hay should be fine
 
Not sure where the incisions are for neutering but with BBs bladder stone, I kept the hay contained to the edges of the cage just in case. Glad they’re both okay, I hope they recover well :)
 
I’ve always been advised post surgery to keep them on plain fleece with just one pile of hay to try to keep the surgical area clean.
A gentle lick clean occasionally may be seen but if he’s at it constantly there’s a risk he may start nibbling at it so best to keep an eye on it. Has he got plenty of pain relief?
 
VickiA said:
I’ve always been advised post surgery to keep them on plain fleece with just one pile of hay to try to keep the surgical area clean.
A gentle lick clean occasionally may be seen but if he’s at it constantly there’s a risk he may start nibbling at it so best to keep an eye on it. Has he got plenty of pain relief?
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Moved the hay to the side so we’re looking a lot cleaner hay wise :) he keeps trying to have a little go at it and I keep stopping him when he does. He has plenty of pain relief and they said to start the metacam tomorrow for 5 days. Looking at the pricing list I got they’ve had some today
 
Oh bless them, at least they’re doing well in themselves! I wouldn’t be too worried, just give them a checkover morning and night to see how the wounds look. It’d be impossible to keep all the hay off them entirely! I don’t see it doing much harm overall, especially if they’ve been stitched up nicely
 
Little Ones said:
Oh bless them, at least they’re doing well in themselves! I wouldn’t be too worried, just give them a checkover morning and night to see how the wounds look. It’d be impossible to keep all the hay off them entirely! I don’t see it doing much harm overall, especially if they’ve been stitched up nicely
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I will do! The first time going through this is definitely more nerve wracking than I thought :yikes: It is all lovely and neat on both piggies, and a check up appointment in 2 days as well
 
Checked their things for the first time, Bruno’s look really good.. I’m not too sure about ozzys? Do these look ok? He is the pig that kept trying to mess with them. There is a check up appointment tomorrow, just making sure there’s nothing here that needs immediate attention. Sorry for all the questions!
 

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Bill & Ted said:
It looks clean and pink, no redness, you’ll feel more relieved once they’ve had there check ups tomorrow
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ahhh thank you! I think I will as well, I'm just overly anxious because this is my first big thing for them. Really sorry if my posts are annoying, driving myself mad to be honest
 
I'm at my wits end with my two right now :( I made a post previously about them "bickering" and it's only getting worse. I keep having to put the divider in and any time they're together whether it be floor time or anything outside of being in the vet carrier it's just screaming and chasing. Tonight it's been full on chasing and just a hair short of being a full on rolling ball of fluff fight between them. I think now I have to accept that their bond is broken and nothing I can do is going to fix that, they seem okay living side by side but they both do yank at the divider to try and get to the other one, mainly Ozzy who is the underpig which is confusing to me still. Now having to try and find an alternative to getting them to the vets that won't have them in the same carrier, after what I saw just now I absolutely won't put them into the same one and I don't have a spare one. I am stressed :(
 
Sorry they’re causing you stress. What silly boys. Hopefully the divider yanking will eventually stop. You could, if needs be, cover the divider with cardboard that you can slowly remove.
 
Siikibam said:
Sorry they’re causing you stress. What silly boys. Hopefully the divider yanking will eventually stop. You could, if needs be, cover the divider with cardboard that you can slowly remove.
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One thing I forgot to mention is the other night Ozzy was so determined he was going through it... I heard him wheeeing really loud and the silly piggy had gotten himself stuck halfway under it with it ontop of him. This was with connectors and cable ties on it :( will have a look to see if we have cardboard somewhere. it all comes at once with pigs! 😖
 
😮 wow that is determined! Could you cut small slots in the correx so you can cable tie the divider grid to the base? Or even cable tie it to the correx.

They do like to make it difficult don’t they!
 
Siikibam said:
😮 wow that is determined! Could you cut small slots in the correx so you can cable tie the divider grid to the base? Or even cable tie it to the correx.

They do like to make it difficult don’t they!
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This is a great idea and something I'm definitely going to do tonight, it needs to hold a lot tighter than I thought apparently! they're such strong little guys, and when the divider is up they do genuinely both seem calmer and happier. Just hoping they don't feel lonely now it'll be a permanent thing. They do rumble and sniff through the bars so I'm hoping it will be enough
 
Rivervixen said:
I'm at my wits end with my two right now :( I made a post previously about them "bickering" and it's only getting worse. I keep having to put the divider in and any time they're together whether it be floor time or anything outside of being in the vet carrier it's just screaming and chasing. Tonight it's been full on chasing and just a hair short of being a full on rolling ball of fluff fight between them. I think now I have to accept that their bond is broken and nothing I can do is going to fix that, they seem okay living side by side but they both do yank at the divider to try and get to the other one, mainly Ozzy who is the underpig which is confusing to me still. Now having to try and find an alternative to getting them to the vets that won't have them in the same carrier, after what I saw just now I absolutely won't put them into the same one and I don't have a spare one. I am stressed :(
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Everything happens at once, doesn’t it? They could be feeling particularly vulnerable because of the surgery which could’ve caused the big blow up. I’ve found that when I’ve had pigs that have had to be separated after a failed bonding, they tend to be quite aggressive towards each other between the bars for a few hours, just quite adamant to get to each other. Once they’ve cooled down, they tend to get on right as rain through the bars. It might be worth trying to block them from each other by maybe putting a blanket over the divider. By tomorrow, I would assume all would be fine through the bars. My three lived side by side for the last two years or so and they managed fine socially, too. With the vet carrier situation, they might be fine together in one if they’re the type of pigs that freeze in unfamiliar situations. I understand your hesitation though. I have a spare one you could have, but we might be quite far from each other and I don’t drive :/
 
Little Ones said:
Everything happens at once, doesn’t it? They could be feeling particularly vulnerable because of the surgery which could’ve caused the big blow up. I’ve found that when I’ve had pigs that have had to be separated after a failed bonding, they tend to be quite aggressive towards each other between the bars for a few hours, just quite adamant to get to each other. Once they’ve cooled down, they tend to get on right as rain through the bars. It might be worth trying to block them from each other by maybe putting a blanket over the divider. By tomorrow, I would assume all would be fine through the bars. My three lived side by side for the last two years or so and they managed fine socially, too. With the vet carrier situation, they might be fine together in one if they’re the type of pigs that freeze in unfamiliar situations. I understand your hesitation though. I have a spare one you could have, but we might be quite far from each other and I don’t drive :/
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It really all does happen at once! I think you’re right that they could be feeling very vulnerable right now, they’ve done the screaming at each other for a while but they’ve never both ended up in what was pretty much a rolling ball of fur. I think the divider is the right thing to do, it’s upset me a lot that it’s come to this, I feel like I should have accepted this sooner but I kept trying to make it work :( I really appreciate the offer for the carrier, we might be a bit far and I don’t drive either currently. Thank you for offering ❤️ they were completely fine in the same carrier before and it’s the only place they’ve never squabbled because they do freeze up completely when they’re in it. Going to have to brave it and hope on the 40 mins ish drive there that they’ll be ok
 
Rivervixen said:
It really all does happen at once! I think you’re right that they could be feeling very vulnerable right now, they’ve done the screaming at each other for a while but they’ve never both ended up in what was pretty much a rolling ball of fur. I think the divider is the right thing to do, it’s upset me a lot that it’s come to this, I feel like I should have accepted this sooner but I kept trying to make it work :( I really appreciate the offer for the carrier, we might be a bit far and I don’t drive either currently. Thank you for offering ❤️ they were completely fine in the same carrier before and it’s the only place they’ve never squabbled because they do freeze up completely when they’re in it. Going to have to brave it and hope on the 40 mins ish drive there that they’ll be ok
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We had two carriers between three of them, and in an emergency where we’ve had to get them in a carrier asap, two of them who don’t get along have been fine together so fingers crossed! They might just be a little dominant with each other once they’re returned to the cages after coming home.
It’s hard to accept when bonds don’t work, I think we put too much of our human feelings on it and keep trying, but as long as they’re side by side their piggy brains don’t see it as a great loss. I do miss having a good boar bond, the last I had was Little and Peanut back in 2020, I think they’re just so lovely to see. But you have to go by their needs, and as long as they can have that bar interaction, they benefit a lot more than when they’re in a constant state of stress and dominance. This way, they get to relax and enjoy each others company a lot more. Sprout and Digby were always with each other when Dig was still with us. Dig adored Sprout and would spend a lot of his time at the bars, waiting for Sprout to come chat to him. They still would manage to clean each others faces and things, too. So don’t be too disheartened! Whilst the ideal is to have them together, they will be very happy as neighbours. For us, ours boys each had a 2x3 and that was a good amount of space for them, we didn’t have room for anything bigger anyway.
I hope tomorrow goes well and you get proper confirmation that Ozzy is healing okay!
 
I never thought to get a second carrier to be honest, I was saying to my OH that I'd prepared for literally everything but this! I think when you see them getting along you just assume or hope (at least I did) that it'll remain that way and that you're out of the woods with that potential complication. You're right with the human feelings for sure. I think I've tried for way too long thinking because they don't always scream at each other maybe it'd stop.. and also that they hadn't had a full on fight so maybe there was hope but there just really isn't. Sprout and digby sound like they were a lovely pair of piggies once they had the divider, really hoping my boys can get to this stage too. My two did have a lovely boar bond for 4 and a halfish years (can't remember just how long), it is so lovely to see when it works out lovely like that, I'm surprised they made it through their teenage years instead of their older boar years! They have a 2x6 so that's 2x3 each as well so it should be enough.. for floor time did you just do that for each piggie seperately then? they used to tolerate floor time together and even do the piggie bum sniffing train thing they do but even floor time turned into squabbling and screaming. I feel like I'm taking this way harder than I should be, I think I'm feeling like its my fault because I tried for so long to fix it. Thank you! I'm really glad I got the recommendation for Ark from you, they even came home with an aftercare plan in full detail with little certificates that they'd been brave. I put them on the fridge lol :)
 
Rivervixen said:
I never thought to get a second carrier to be honest, I was saying to my OH that I'd prepared for literally everything but this! I think when you see them getting along you just assume or hope (at least I did) that it'll remain that way and that you're out of the woods with that potential complication. You're right with the human feelings for sure. I think I've tried for way too long thinking because they don't always scream at each other maybe it'd stop.. and also that they hadn't had a full on fight so maybe there was hope but there just really isn't. Sprout and digby sound like they were a lovely pair of piggies once they had the divider, really hoping my boys can get to this stage too. My two did have a lovely boar bond for 4 and a halfish years (can't remember just how long), it is so lovely to see when it works out lovely like that, I'm surprised they made it through their teenage years instead of their older boar years! They have a 2x6 so that's 2x3 each as well so it should be enough.. for floor time did you just do that for each piggie seperately then? they used to tolerate floor time together and even do the piggie bum sniffing train thing they do but even floor time turned into squabbling and screaming. I feel like I'm taking this way harder than I should be, I think I'm feeling like its my fault because I tried for so long to fix it. Thank you! I'm really glad I got the recommendation for Ark from you, they even came home with an aftercare plan in full detail with little certificates that they'd been brave. I put them on the fridge lol :)
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It is quite surprising that they’re so old and having a fall out, you’d think they’d have mellowed out with age. I think some time apart will do them good, though!
For floor time, Sprout and BB were never keen, they both have nervous dispositions so it would just get them a bit freaked out. Dig used to come out for floortime though. When we did attempt it with the other two as well, we’d do it individually one after the other and use all the same blankets and things (after transferring any poops to the proper cage). I found that the scent of the other piggy on everything made things more interesting for the other, almost added a more social element to a solitary thing - if that makes sense? And don’t worry, I felt the exact same way too, I felt like a bit of a failure, but once you adjust to the new normal you don’t feel so disheartened by it all.
I’m glad everything with Ark went well! I feel like we’re in such a poor area for good vets, everything is so far away and with both of us not driving, it makes things a lot harder. We got a little bravery certificate from them with BB too, I thought it was so sweet!
 
Lavinia said:
Ooh I wondered if it was Ark vets you were using. It’s good to hear they were good. It’s local-ish to me so one for me to keep in mind in the future if needed!

Love that you got certificates for being brave! That’s cute.
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Yes, it’s the one at killamarsh! They’re quite expensive, and they are only exotics rather than Guinea pig specialists but they’re where I go for first opinions with the piggies. Lara used to be quite good but I believe she’s since moved. I do like Mauro there too and out of all the vets there, he’s the one I try to get an appointment with. I don’t reckon much to their lead exotic vet, I’ve seen him a few times and felt I’ve known more about piggies than he does
 
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