Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register

Rescues Rescue story/scared pig (this is long, sorry)

graycurse

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Posts
69
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
69
Hello All,

My foster piggy finally went to a good forever home! His story can be found here: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/about-guinea-pigs/40819-disappointed-people-but-have-new-addition.html

His rescue/rehabilitation was such a success that I now strongly feel the need to save more piggies; unfortunately, this urge led me to get one from a local feed store.

I know what everyone's going to say, and I know it's morally wrong to get a pig from a store (I've adopted my 3 other lovely ladies) but this pig was in such bad shape that I convinced the store owner to let me take her for free, as she'd just die in the store soon anyways. Apparently she'd just given birth to a litter, all of which died. She was soooooooo skinny that I couldn't believe she was still alive. She obviously had scurvy, and worst of all (in my opinion) she was kept in a pen with a VERY large rabbit. I swear, his foot was longer than her whole body. Her nails were so overgrown they curled into her feet.

I took her straight to the vet (which was right next door) the minute I walked out of the store. After almost a month of treatments, nail cuttings, and lots and lots of good food, she's finally healthy again. I introduced her to my other 3 pigs, and they accepted her willingly; however, she's terrified of them.

She's always just hid in her pigloo, but now if another pig even thinks about joining her in there (they're all snugglers) she starts screaming. That's right, screaming. I've never heard anything like it in my life. It's a high pitched "help-me-I'm-being-murdered" scream. Sometimes she'll come out of the pigloo for a quick munch or a quick drink, and if another pig walks past her she freezes and screams.

My question is, does anyone else have a pig like this? Is she just terrified because she's never really been with another guinea pig in her entire life? She's such a cute little angel, I'd love to see her running around and popcorning constantly like my others do. Could she just need some more time for adjustment? This has already gone on for 2 weeks.
 

Noodles

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Posts
56
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
56
Your story makes me so sad, but I'm glad you were able to rescue her from such a terrible situation. As you can probably imagine, she is most likely traumatized by her previous living situation and will take much longer than any other healthy pig to get used to her new life. The best advice I can give you is to be patient with her. Two weeks may seem like a long time and you may feel like she should be settled by now, but it will take a substantial amount of time before she can trust anyone and be comfortable with her surroundings. Keep showing her love and giving her the excellent care you have so far, and hopefully she start to open up to you and her cagemates.
 

Clarion

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Posts
136
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
136
That poor, poor baby. :weepy: I'm so glad you were able to get her out of that terrible situation and most likely save her life. I can't see how there is anything wrong with what you did since, as you said, she would have soon died and you didn't pay for her. I have no experience with pigs who are seriously traumatized but, just as a thought, have you considering moving her back by herself again? Maybe if she lived alone but next to the same cage as the other pigs and was slowly reintroduced to them via floor time, etc. she would feel more comfortable with them.
 

graycurse

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Posts
69
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
69
When she was alone, she didn't eat unless I put the food right inside the pigloo. She wouldn't drink either, so I had to give her great big lettuce leaves with tons of water droplets on them. Since I moved her in with the other pigs, I think she sees that they're happy out running around and she's been bold enough to sneak out of the pigloo on occassion. I actually saw her go snatch a piece of hay earlier. It's just that the piggies are so curious about her, and she's so afraid of them :(
 

Clarion

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Posts
136
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
136
That's good to hear that your other pigs are rubbing off on her. Hopefully with time things will get better. Unfortunately, it seems like the best option is to wait and see.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

H
Replies
7
Views
813
htavares
H
helpmeporfavor
Replies
2
Views
336
helpmeporfavor
helpmeporfavor
CerealGurl4
Replies
4
Views
565
gpihgos
gpihgos
CerealGurl4
Replies
1
Views
288
gpihgos
gpihgos
Top