Rumble-strutting sow and neutered boar pair

[dessertpigs]

Misu (4 year old sow) and Parkin (2 year old neutered boar) were bonded 3 months ago through a rescue. They seem to have a lovely but odd bond.
Normal things like- Parkin chases after Misu, Misu nose-punching to tell him back off, they happily explore, eat and sleep near each other. The odd bit about their relationship is that they have frequent rumble-strut offs and nose-offs. From observation, they seem to be evenly matched, with equal success-rates of who backs down for the rumbling sessions.

Misu had ovarian cysts on a scan in October as a coincental finding (scan for urinary sludge). As she has chronic anaemia and liver disease (monitoring with an exotic vet), we wouldn't get her spayed unless she was clinically affected. Misu was also the under-pig in her previous bond, and seemed very fed up when she was bossed out of her favourite hide. Parkin never bosses her out of a hide, other than butt sniffing and humping when she's in heat, he's only even nose-punched recently when they are eating grass indoors and they are down to the last few bits. She doesn't boss Parkin out of hides, just rumbles at him. He rumbles back. They rumble at each other and then settle down to sleep.

Parkin is currently zooming running laps around the sofa, and Misu is happy exploring during free-roam time. They are very happy piggies.

I'm not worried about their bond- it clearly works for them- but has anyone else had a sow and boar pair with no obvious boss, and frequent rumbling?

 

[Wiebke]

Misu (4 year old sow) and Parkin (2 year old neutered boar) were bonded 3 months ago through a rescue. They seem to have a lovely but odd bond.
Normal things like- Parkin chases after Misu, Misu nose-punching to tell him back off, they happily explore, eat and sleep near each other. The odd bit about their relationship is that they have frequent rumble-strut offs and nose-offs. From observation, they seem to be evenly matched, with equal success-rates of who backs down for the rumbling sessions.

Misu had ovarian cysts on a scan in October as a coincental finding (scan for urinary sludge). As she has chronic anaemia and liver disease (monitoring with an exotic vet), we wouldn't get her spayed unless she was clinically affected. Misu was also the under-pig in her previous bond, and seemed very fed up when she was bossed out of her favourite hide. Parkin never bosses her out of a hide, other than butt sniffing and humping when she's in heat, he's only even nose-punched recently when they are eating grass indoors and they are down to the last few bits. She doesn't boss Parkin out of hides, just rumbles at him. He rumbles back. They rumble at each other and then settle down to sleep.

Parkin is currently zooming running laps around the sofa, and Misu is happy exploring during free-roam time. They are very happy piggies.

I'm not worried about their bond- it clearly works for them- but has anyone else had a sow and boar pair with no obvious boss, and frequent rumbling?

Hi

My Tegeirian pretty much nonstop dominance rumbled for the first year with her aging hubby Gethin; I adopted her as companion for his much younger wife Carys. She did however become very close friends with Carys and didn't repeat the rumbling with either of her next two husboars but by then she was a lot more settled in herself I guess.

But the key are most likel the ovarian cysts.

 

[dessertpigs]

Thank you. We'll have to key and eye on it. She doesn't have any hair loss or crustly nipples, etc. Our exotic vet said they were about the size she would normally find in a then 3 1/2 year old sow. I don't think a spay will be benefical at this stage, and they are both happy and the bond is stable, but we'll discuss with her exotic vet if she is showing increasing dominance or clinical signs. She's due for repeat bloods for her liver function in 2 months, so we will discuss options then.