World War 3 after introduction of new piggie :o(

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Catie

Hi all ... this is my first post on here and i'm looking for some urgent help with a problem I have with my 3 piggies.

I recently decided to get a friend for my 2 14 month old female piggies, Bumble and Flossie ... I went down the rescue centre route and adopted Ollie ... now I knew it wasn't going to be an easy task to integrate a 3rd piggy to the bonded pair but it's actually turned into a horrendous experience ... I have followed all the advice on introducing new friends but am now in a situation that i have no idea how to deal with.

Ollie is a very, very scared, nervous piggy who obviously hasn't been handled and is not used to being picked up and cuddled, this to me is something that comes with patience and time though, she is currently housed in a cage next to the other 2 and I have been giving all 3 piggies floor time together. The problem is that Flossie, who is the more dominant piggy not only doesn't like Ollie but is now ignoring Bumble ... Bumble isn't liking Ollie in the slightest and has become very stressed and has stopped popcorning etc and seems really sad ... on Friday, after the piggies had had their floor time, i put them back in their separate cages and went downstairs only for 5 minutes later to hear a load of noise coming from their room, so i ran upstairs to find Bumble and Flossie having a full blown flight ... i have now had to separate the 2 piggies ... i have tried to reintroduce Bumble to Flossie but they fly at each other as soon as they are placed together ... i feel totally gutted ... what i thought was a good deed has turned into a nightmare.

I had accepted that i may not be able to bond Ollie with the other 2 and had planned on getting her a friend of her own if this was the case, but i had no idea it would lead to the already bonded pair coming to blows ... i can't keep 3 separate cages as i haven't got the room in my house, but could cry at the thought of saying goodbye to Ollie ...

Help! :'(
 
Oh dear, I do feel sorry for you. I dont have sows, only boars so I'm not sure. It sounds like you did everything correctly but it seems to come down to personality in the end and looks like they will no way get on with the newcomer.

If it were me, I would contact the rescue and explain what has happened and let them advise you. They will almost definately take the new pig back.
The original two, I would try completely cleaning their cage and take Ollie away to a different room. Re introduce Flossie and Bumble. Some recomend giving them a gentle bath together before reintroducing. I hope things go ok and sorry I cant be much help :-\
 
Sorry to hear that this didn't go well - it's more common with boars but when sows fall out - well, it's not pretty.

I would have thought you should be able to reintroduce the original two sows but not while they're still rumbly from the fight. Separate all of them to calm down. It might be worth rubbing some of the sows bedding over each of them so they smell of each other again?

Was anyone hurt?

If this works you can then get a new friend from the rescue for your new pig.

Let us know how you get on

Sophie
x
 
perhaps try to half bumble and floss's cage and put them in the one cage so they can smell and see eachother and move ollie to another room. or you could introduce them together on neutral terrority, and clean cage out completely and perhaps bathe them too. have plenty of treats and try to keep them distracted. hoping you can keep ollie and your girls settle down. good luck, chin up and sending hugs and cuddles :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: girls send :-* :-* :-*
 
I had an introduction that didn't go very well (between 2 boars) and I was advised to bath them together. It worked really well. bathed them at the same time and used the gorgeous guineas shampoo (which has quite a strong scent) then when they were dry I put them back into the bath on dry towels for a couple of hours and rubbed a little dab of Vics on them both. Then I put them into a brand new hutch. I didn't have any problems after that.
I hope you can work something out.
 
I agree, move Ollie away into the next room so there is no smell of her around.

You need to reintroduce slowly, it sounds like Flossie and Bumble are both difficult sows - I have plenty of them ;D

You could hold both on your lap together for a few days, putting them back seperately each time. This prevents them from scrapping and gets them used to each others closeness again.
Bonding in a neutral area should never be underestimated, have you got somewhere the girls have never been before? Like a hallway or maybe you've got an outdoors run for them? Move the outdoors run to a part of the garden they haven't been in for a long time.
Put a mound of hay/veg in to distract.
Put in tunnels and things, but not igloos where one can become trapped by the other. Clean all the tunnels and toys beforehand. Watch them closely.
Putting them back together in the same cage will probably be a tester, which pig is in there now? Whichever one will have decided they 'own' that cage. I swap pigs around, so I would put Bumble in Flossies cage and Flossie in Bumbles so they get the 'smell' of the other. Then swap them back.
When you decide what cage they'll live in together, put them in the run again, ensure they're settled then give the cage a good clean. Move it around, so the water bottle and bowl are in different places, etc

As for Ollie I hope you can keep her, if it was me I would keep her without hesitation :) maybe the rescue could advise you on a friend for her?
 
I got a huge new cage and at the same time brought home the tiniest skin and bone piggy i've ever seen from the petshop because i couldn't bare to leave her there being bullied by the huge bouncy rabbit she was in with. I moved my two piggies into this new home and put the new baby in at the same time. I expected them to chase her around a bit but apart from the odd little chase about it amazed me that the two girls who have always lived happily together started attacking each other. There was a lot of teeth chattering that i've never heard either of them doing before and scuffles and i was a bit concerned for a while that i had done the wrong thing and even thought about splitting them all up for a bit but as they live inside i was able to keep an eye on them and as long as they wern't rolling around in a ball of fur and drawing blood i could bare to leave them and not interfere. I figured it was just them working out who was the boss. After the first few hours the real agressive behaviour calmed a bit with just the odd scuffle here and there but now a month later they are all living happily together and as my older two were never into snuggling up together anyway the little one has the best of both as she can choose who to go and snuggle up with or as i've brought 3 houses now theres more room they can all get away from each other.
I don't know if this helps but it shows there is hope they could get along if you can grit your teeth and bare to let them work it out between themselves. I know it's hard though :-\
 
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