Pink urin and agression problem

[Justin]

Thank you so much for all the insightful helps that I get from you guys!

I now have four male piggies in 30 sqft cage. Lofts provide additional 20 sqft. There are 10+ hiding places, three pallet dishes, three water bottles. Floor is covered with hay.

Problem 1.

New adult male with unknown age has pinkish urine. The color is disappearing day by day. But still somewhat remains after 3 days he came to us. He looks pretty old. I presume his age to be 4-5.


Problem 2.

One of the young ones, 9 weeks, is bothering the new adult male. The young one spend too much time guarding entrance of hiding place that the old male occupies. I moved the old male to different hiding places. But the young one eventually finds him and does the same thing. Except a grrrr in few hours, there is no other sign of hostility. It has been three days.

The old male doesn't care it and push through when fresh vegetable is served. But in other times, I think it discourages the old male to do exercise or eat more. This morning, I locked the young male in a divided corner to give the old male a break.


Suggestions?

[fourboys4now]

A buddy bath may help them get along a little better. It makes them smell the same. During this bathing time, you may want to wash the cage down and use white vinegar mixed with water to clean bottom of cage and their hidies and anything else that can be washed so it smells like neither of the boys. I'm sorry I don't have any advice to give about the pink urine.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

It may have been caused by previous poor diet. Certain foods can turn their pee pink or red but keep an eye on him. Blood in urine is often a sign of UTI or stones.

[JarBax]

I'd want to get your new male to the vet to have him checked out. Pink urine usually indicates the presence of blood, and that is not something to ignore.

I recently lost a piggy to kidney failure, but managed to get that diagnosed through a urine sample, which I got thorough sitting iher in the bath, and syringe feeding her water, and giving her wet veg (cucumber and rinsed lettuce etc with the water left on) until she peed. I sooked up the sample in a syringe, and took it to the vet. They confirmed my dip-sticking, and looked at it under the microscope. Both confirmed the presence of blood (and other nasties) - though her urine was perfectly clear to the naked eye.

I suggest you make a vet appointment (always a good idea to have a new piggy checked over anyway), and see if you can get a sample in the meantime - it'll save time at the vets.

Hope all is well, do let us know how you get on.

The younger male sounds like he is checking out the older guy by being a bit of a pest! So long as he isn't stopping him getting to the food etc I wouldn't be too worried, If they've only been together 3 days, you're lucky that this has been the only 'intro agro'. Make sure you keep moving things around to keep life interesting for him, as he is so yong, he will need more 'entertainment' than an older pig! I wouldn't seperate him, as that will only prolong the settling in period - or even put things back to square one. Your older guy does sound very patient, and I'm sure would let the boy know if he really stepped over the line. Hope things settle down - but give it a bit longer yet before thinking of plan B. Again, keep us posted on progress!

[Justin]

Thanks for the advise. Although the old one comes from a rescue center with well written checkup docs, I will get him to a vet and see what they say.

For aggression problem, it got better. As you said, the young one got tired of guarding old guy and now chasing other younger ones. Occasionally he checks up the old guy, but the old guy is now really relaxed and doesn't care it at all! He weighs more than five times anyway.

Young ones are now practicing a new move other than mounting. Its like they lower their hip to the ground, slowly shakes hip from side to side, and moves forward in slow motion. 5 weeks old ones do that sometimes when they approach the 9 weeks one. He doesn't tolerate that rude behaver and chase them away immediately because he is the only one who should do it. But they comes back after a while to do it again. *sigh*

And guess what my 5 year daughter told her mom last night. "Mommy, their p**** become long and short"

[JarBax]

The new move is rumblestrutting, which both sexes do as a kind of a dominance dance. it's all about checking out pecking order, females often rumble during heat too.

Glad the aggression otherwise is better, and that the older guy isn't bothered by the new boy on the block!

Hope vet's visit is positive, keep us posted!