What's the matter with Gracie today?

[pig-in-paradise]

Gracie had a very strange day today. She spent it eating...drinking...eating...drinking. It seems like the ball on her water bottle clanked all day. I'm at a point right now where I litterally cringe at the sound.

She had a great wet veggie breakfast and dinner and she still goes to the bottle to drink water. I don't get it.

During the day she alternated eating hay and pellets, always followed by water.

Usually she is not very active during the day, today it seems she never rested. She's fine though, popcorning and running laps with Token. But I am still worried. Should I be?

Hmmm, I guess I should add that the amount of water she had is not that troubling, it probably wasn't more than 2oz. But every 10 minutes or so, and it was 2 oz more than usual.

I hope someone can shed some light on Gracie's strange behaviour.

[pigsforlife]

Could it be that she was playing?

[Ly&Pigs]

I don't find anything abnormal or strange about her behavior. Pellets are often dry and pigs will eat a pellet or two then take a drink. Cavies are constant foragers so going back and forth between hay and pellets is quite normal.

[pig-in-paradise]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I don't find anything abnormal or strange about her behavior. Pellets are often dry and pigs will eat a pellet or two then take a drink. Cavies are constant foragers so going back and forth between hay and pellets is quite normal.

But it was abnormal for her. She practically cycled from hay to water to pellets to water to hay and so forth for 8 hours without resting more than a couple of minutes.

Usually she snoozes a lot more and for longer periods. My 5 week old baby seemed to be the sleeepyhead compared to Gracie.


Pigsforlife: I hope she was just in a happy mood, she certainly looked happy, but it was weird as if she'd been drinking red bull instead of water.

[pig-in-paradise]

Update:

Since this day of OCD-like behaviour Gracie has gone back to her more normal self. So I really don't know what got into her that day.

One thing that has changed since then though is the size of her poop. It looks more like a dark brown tictac (yuck!). 6 week old Token's are much longer. I don't know what to make of this since I read that it might be a sign of not eating enough and she is a tiny piggie. However she eats a LOT.

*sigh*

[zoe-gee]

I think it might be because she is bored. I am not sure though. Does she have many toys or things like that to do. I find that my piggies drink and eat when they are bored.

[Rattie Mom]

Well, I'm certainly not an expert (I've only had my piggies for a couple months now). But I might wonder if she was a bit dehydrated. Especially when you mentioned the difference/size of her poo. Has that gone back to normal as well?

My Harmony will spend similar periods at her water bottle. Boy they sure are loud drinkers, aren't they? It's like she doesn't drink until she's done. She'll drink a little.....them come back.....then come back again. This is pretty normal for her though. Especially at about 4am in the morning.

[pigsforlife]

Actually you make a good point.

Buttercups poops were very small after surgery but once I got some CC and fluids down her they got much bigger. Perhaps she wasnt getting any water out of the drink bottle? Was it a hot day?

[pig-in-paradise]

Thank you all for your replies.

Pigsforlife makes a good point, it was warmer that day. Outside it was well into the 80s but indoors it was far less than that. Could be that it was very dry though.

I just don't know, maybe she never figured out how the bottle works all those times I saw her there before. That day I paid attention and saw bubbles go up. Again, she did not drink an outrageous amount, what was unusual was this restless cycling between hay, water and pellets. I always leave the veggies dripping wet, and she gets lots, so she should be getting enough moisture from that. Maybe she was simply very hungry that day (she's rather skinny since she had babies at a very young age).

After that one day her eating/drinking habits went back to normal but her poop has been small for a week now. It is nice and shiny and dark, if that matters.