Skunky!

landhermie said:

I got a new guinea pig today so Pretzel had a friend. His name is Skunky. My mom named him because of his color. He is black with a white crest going down his face. Pretzel is already starting to get along with him. I have them in separate cages just in case they fight, because they don't know each other well yet. Maybe in 2 weeks or so I'll put Skunky in the C&C cage with Pretzel. He is quite friendly. Also, he has an entirely black front leg. Even the nails are black on it! It'll be hard to cut that! His nails kind of sharp compared to Pretzel's.

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Where did you get the new piggie?

It might be good to keep them completely apart, even during floor time until you know for sure he's healthy with no mites or anything.

Just a suggestion.

Ditto to Guinealover. You should have quarantined the new pig for three weeks to make sure that it doesn't have any health problems that it could spread to your other pig. And, although you didn't say where you got the new pig, if you bought it from a pet store, there very very well be something wrong with it. I certainly hope you didn't, however.

In addition, when you introduce them, they need to be on neutral territory. Introductions are serious business, and if you just plop the new pig in the cage with the other one one or both could be seriously injured.

Anyways, I hope you do your research. Check out these links. I think it would also be a good idea to get them both checked out by a vet. If the new pig has mites or something, and you've been keeping them together, or even in the vicinity of one another, he's probably spread it to the other pig. And, if you bought the new pig at the petstore, you need to be positive that they are the same sex. A cavy savvy vet can also do this for you.

Guinea Lynx :: Quarantine
https://www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm#Introductions

Good luck.

I would take them both to the vet then as your old pig probably has a disease now. please read Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig entirely it has all the info you need on the care for guinea pigs. Don't rely on what the petstore told you.

Fay said:

I would take them both to the vet then as your old pig probably has a disease now. please read Guinea Lynx :: A Medical and Care Guide for Your Guinea Pig entirely it has all the info you need on the care for guinea pigs. Don't rely on what the petstore told you.

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They actually didn't provide me any information. I probably wouldn't listen anyways. They always get hermit crab care information wrong.

I've read a lot of stuff on guinealynx. I'll keep on reading, though, in case I missed anything.

I tried to get my mom to take both to the vet before, but she doesn't have enough money and has to wait for her income taxes to come.

The introduction actually went great. They were both on the floor. Pretzel started cleaning the new one's fur, and now gets along with him. I really hope the new one isn't sick. He is really cute .

You better hope you get a stroke of luck. If you don't have money now, you better hope that pet store pig was miraculously healthy. There's an extremely high chance that he had a contagious illness that was passed on to your existing pig, and both pigs will need to see the vet.

I'm having an extremely hard time believing you couldn't find any for adoption. I live in NJ and know how overpopulated this area is. There are MANY rescues in PA, as well as Have A Heart who serves this area and many rescues in New England. You could have VERY easily gotten a rescue pig. I'm litterally astonished how someone from this area could not find one up for adoption. What was the reasoning? You didn't want to drive that far? There's always ways to transport a pig to you from a rescue, there are so many people in this area on the forum that could have very easily done a piggy train. I'm literally shocked that you're saying this.

The Humane Society near me didn't have any, and I checked a few places on-line that I knew about. I wish I knew about Have a Heart sooner. The Humane Society said that they barely get them. i'm in Northeast PA.

My mom probably wouldn't drive far.

Well I just spoke to you in chat. If you get another in the future, please contact one of the 10 guinea pig rescues in your area that I gave you.

fourbwabbys said:

Well I just spoke to you in chat. If you get another in the future, please contact one of the 10 guinea pig rescues in your area that I gave you.

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I will if I ever get another. I don't know if another would fit in my house because they'd need a bigger cage.


Skunky is a really sweet piggy . There are some pigtures of him at:

Angela_loves_hermit_crabs/Skunky - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

I'm confused. You introduced them and they got along fine, yet now you have them in seperate cages? If the introductions went fine, they should be in the same cage. Seperating them will just make everything more stressful for you and the pigs. Unless blood is drawn, you shouldn't seperate them again.

They both need to go to the vet as soon as possible, the pet store pig is VERY likely sick (especially since he was from PetCo) and the first pig you got from your neighbor lived outside and in chat you said he was sneezing alot.
Find an exotic vet and see if you can work out a payment plan.

TheQueen said:

I'm confused. You introduced them and they got along fine, yet now you have them in seperate cages? If the introductions went fine, they should be in the same cage. Seperating them will just make everything more stressful for you and the pigs. Unless blood is drawn, you shouldn't seperate them again.

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I put them in the same cage this morning.

standuprookie said:

They both need to go to the vet as soon as possible, the pet store pig is VERY likely sick (especially since he was from PetCo) and the first pig you got from your neighbor lived outside and in chat you said he was sneezing alot.
Find an exotic vet and see if you can work out a payment plan.

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My mom said that the new bedding in Pretzel's cage is dusty, and that is why he is sneezing. If he still sneezes after the bedding is changed, she said she would take them to the vet earlier than she plans to. If she doesn't, though, I'll offer to pay her as much as I can for the vet visit.

Well change the bedding right now. Don't wait. Coming from Petco there's an extremely high chance he has a URI. He will die within days if not treated right away.

fourbwabbys said:

Well change the bedding right now. Don't wait. Coming from Petco there's an extremely high chance he has a URI. He will die within days if not treated right away.

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Pretzel is the one who sneezes. My mom said she'd change iot when she got to it.

Why can't you change the bedding?

I think you should try to take more initiative and not let your mom do all the things for the piggies.

Especially with her not having the knowledge of a lot of things on this website.

Skunky could have a URI but not showing early symptoms. URI's are extremely contaigious. Most likely, Pretzel caught it from Skunky and is showing syptoms earlier, or you're not experienced enough to catch Skunky's symptoms. If you're mom doesn't get to it within the next 24-48 hours, you'll most likely have zero piggies.

Tsk, tsk.

And to think fourwabbys (I think) found TEN rescue centers near you.

Ugh.

fourbwabbys said:

Skunky could have a URI but not showing early symptoms. URI's are extremely contaigious. Most likely, Pretzel caught it from Skunky and is showing syptoms earlier, or you're not experienced enough to catch Skunky's symptoms. If you're mom doesn't get to it within the next 24-48 hours, you'll most likely have zero piggies.

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Pretzel was sneezing before I even got Skunky. My mom said it was because of the bedding.

GuineaLover12 said:

Tsk, tsk.

And to think fourwabbys (I think) found TEN rescue centers near you.

Ugh.

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They weren't near me, actually.

landhermie said:

Pretzel was sneezing before I even got Skunky. My mom said it was because of the bedding.

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It could be from the bedding, but your mom does not know. She isn't a vet.

I'm just saying, hermie...you cannot be too careful.


You really should take this piggy to a vet. Take BOTH to the vet.


Pronto.