Still biting, still hating, 4months later

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Lucy&Anton

Lucy&Anton

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Gus still hates us.

He's a wriggler, a runner, a biter (and boy can he bite) and shows no sign of ever stopping.

He also uses his mouth to move his pigloos, and toys, he chews everything and is always at the water bottle. And, he seems a little bit 'stupid' - drops food and can't find it again, can never find his way out of a cavy cosy and seems to 'forget' where the pigloo entrance is as soon as he's left it. mallethead

Darwin, his cagemate is docile, happy to be picked up, never bites.

We have tried cosy cups, soft bags, treats, kind voices and strokes but Gus still really, really hates us. He took a chunk out of my arm today moments after I sat him on my knee.

Any and all suggestions are welcome - we are really at a loss.
 
sometimes you have to just accept thats the way they are! David will nip at me and will not sit still on me for longer than 1 second., thats just the way he is.

Sometimes though some of them just take longer to settle.
 
Just read this and the first thing that came into my mind is that maybe he is partially sighted or blind, as he has trouble finding his food once dropped and cant find his way out of the cosy or the pigloo

He bites because he gets frustrated that he can't see as well or he gets frightened when he is out of his normal surrounding

Just a thought :)
 
Lucy&Anton said:
Gus still hates us.

He's a wriggler, a runner, a biter (and boy can he bite) and shows no sign of ever stopping.

He also uses his mouth to move his pigloos, and toys, he chews everything and is always at the water bottle. And, he seems a little bit 'stupid' - drops food and can't find it again, can never find his way out of a cavy cosy and seems to 'forget' where the pigloo entrance is as soon as he's left it. mallethead

Darwin, his cagemate is docile, happy to be picked up, never bites.

We have tried cosy cups, soft bags, treats, kind voices and strokes but Gus still really, really hates us. He took a chunk out of my arm today moments after I sat him on my knee.

Any and all suggestions are welcome - we are really at a loss.
Click to expand...

Could he have some sort of neurological problem? Sorry I know that sounds extreme but I have heard/seen rats with similar attitudes caused by putuiry (cannot spell it!) tumours, it could also be his sight? What does the vet say?

It is very hard to have an animal that doesn't like you, Honey still legs it every time I go near the cage, she hates being picked up. she is ok once you have her, just looks terrified all the time. I am sorry he bites tho, that is pretty grim.

Sophieandhoney
 
Yes, could be blind.

I agree, he could be blind. If it's a recent blindness and not something that's happened gradually he may be upset about it. Get a vet to check his eyes. Meanwhile don't rearrange the living quarters just in case he does have eye problems because he'll get very frustrated if he can't find things!
I felt terrible when we found out one of our piggies ( r.i.p Mr M ) was completely blind and I'd been changing their stuff around on a regular basis to keep things interesting for them! Poor boy! Anyway - I kept everything in exactly the same place after finding out about his blindness and he got along fine.

Andrea x
 
and also...

I'm so forgetful! Also give him verbal cues ( use the same ones so he knows what they mean ) when you're about to do stuff and he won't get such a shock if he can't see you.

x
 
Don't get me wrong - we still love him to pieces and will always try and help his out.

It has crossed our minds that he has sight problems - he has a 'funny' left eye (with a white like a human, instead of an all-dark eye) and seems to put him head to one side to glare at us.

Gus and Darwin were both bred to be snake food before they were rescued so it is highly likely Gus may have a neurological problem, possibly caused by tumours.

One other thing - he is extremely agile. He can run up the stairs like lightening, jump out of the bath (and a C&C cage if he chooses to) and popcorns like crazy if there's something for him to jump or climb on in the cage. The fact he can see to climb and jump makes me doubt the 'sight problem' hypothesis!

The vet seemed to think it was a sight problm but couldn't agree for sure why he is so agressive. He never seems in pain or discomfort.

Oh Gus, you are a mystery.
 
The white on his eye could be a cateract which would explain partial or complete loss of vision. The tilting of the head when he is looking at you could also be indicative of a sight problem. It may be that he just doesnt like human interaction. One of my piggies is six now and she hates being handled. She squeals and runs around when I try to get her out of the cage so I now put in a cosy and she goes into that. Your piggie is still young, so it may be he relaxes over time....Good luck with it...
 
Hi Kotov, they are in a 3x2 grid C&C cage.

Gus is about seven months old, gizmo01.



DSC_0906 by InspiredCupcake, on Flickr
This is the best picture I have of his eye. It does not cover his eye like a cateract, it just surrounds it. I've tested him today and I really don't think his problem is sight - he knows when fingers dangle silently over the grids, can leap through a tube first time and hid when I stood up.

He also chewed the end clean off a new woodlands wooden ramp and tried to bite me on the chest when I put him in the run to be cleaned out. Some things never change!
 
I think my all sows have such white round around eyes.
My sows uses their teeth when they don't like something.
According my observation every pig should have your private area in living space and that area really need to be around 1m2 per pig.
 
I think my all sows have such white border around around the eyes.
They use their teeth when they don't like something, for example when they want to go home while being handled.
According to my observations every pig should have its private living space and that area really need to be around 1m2 per pig.
May be he doesn't like the bedding?

Also, when pigs have parasites they tend to bite a lot as when you pick them up the parasites on their skin bite them. My wife gives them Xeno 450 to prevent common internal and external parasites (should only be used on pigs over 800g).

When we take our sows normally we give them parsley or coriander or other snacks like blueberry to "bribe" them and always put them back after 5-10min to give them the possibility to use the toilet: we put them back to their cage or use mobile toilet - a cat litter tray with a piece of vet bed.
 
Thank you for your advice. We keep our pigs on wood shavings as Gus gets diahrrea on fleece, every time. It also keeps their smell down.

We have found that giving him a treat makes him more bitey!

He doesn't have parasites, he was at the vet last week for a check up and they are both bathed in Johnson's insecticidal shampoo.

They seem to have enough room to themselves, they only bicker over food and hay even though they have their own stuff! We are going to fit a second level to their cage this summer.

I think we will just have to keep on loving Gus as he is!
 
Lucy&Anton said:
Hi Kotov, they are in a 3x2 grid C&C cage.

Gus is about seven months old, gizmo01.



DSC_0906 by InspiredCupcake, on Flickr
This is the best picture I have of his eye. It does not cover his eye like a cateract, it just surrounds it. I've tested him today and I really don't think his problem is sight - he knows when fingers dangle silently over the grids, can leap through a tube first time and hid when I stood up.

He also chewed the end clean off a new woodlands wooden ramp and tried to bite me on the chest when I put him in the run to be cleaned out. Some things never change!
Click to expand...

7 months he's well into his hormones then could be a teenage thing humphrey is a biter
 
Lucy&Anton said:
Thank you for your advice. We keep our pigs on wood shavings as Gus gets diahrrea on fleece, every time. It also keeps their smell down.

We have found that giving him a treat makes him more bitey!

He doesn't have parasites, he was at the vet last week for a check up and they are both bathed in Johnson's insecticidal shampoo.

They seem to have enough room to themselves, they only bicker over food and hay even though they have their own stuff! We are going to fit a second level to their cage this summer.

I think we will just have to keep on loving Gus as he is!
Click to expand...

Good on you for doing that, I am not honestly sure I could, I am disappointed enough that Sophie and Honey are not all that struck on me and leg it as soon as I try to pick them up. They are ok once I "get" them and come for food and will be brushed so it is all good really, I just think I am used to animals liking me - the rats would throw themselves at me and even my hamsters loved running round on me. I sometimes feel I failed the girls some how.

any how good luck, wear gardening gloves!?

x
 
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