Need a second opinion. Major sexual aggression.

HannibalLecter · Sep 22, 2011

Long story short, I have a very sexually aggressive sow. Have written about this before a few months ago.
She has always had a rough time when she's in heat, but it was normal every 16 days, lasting 2-3 days at a time & she would then go back to normal.

Her behavour has continously escalated, & she's now acting like she's in heat every day, non stop day & night. Nothing is more important to her anymore then the constant rumblestrutting, humping, chasing & guarding. Unfortunately, this means she's taking it out on her cage mate. Both have now lost weight from all the running, and the poor female cage mate has started to actually chirp in desperation a few days ago.

It still gets even worse on the regular "in heat" days, but if this doesn't stop, I will have to separate them & they are really close otherwise.

She's not showing any other sign of ovarian cysts other than the sexual aggression, it's purely hormonal. No hairloss & more importantly no enlarged abdominal area or lumps. I've been told that even small cysts are quite easy to feel. I will take her to the vet for an ultrasound regardless I should add.

I contacted the only large, proper known guinea pig shelter in my country with good knowlege in medical & behavioural issues. And got the advice to adopt a neutered male. As this supposedly will calm down these hormonally overactive girls & female groups.

I've never found such information here, and therefore I need advice on whether I sould bring another pig into my home, with the risk of ending up with a third pig in a dysfunctonal herd.

pinky · Sep 22, 2011

Have you have her vet checked to rule out any other possible causes? Occasionally, there are guinea pigs that won't tolerate any others but I would rule out other possible causes by having a well check before resorting to separating her from the others. Also, how many guinea pigs are housed in your cage and what size is it? There are a lot of different factors to consider.

HannibalLecter · Sep 22, 2011

I've had a general checkup at the vet, and there are no other symptoms or signs. She lives in a 2x5 cage with a female pig she's been living with all her life before I got them. They got along fine for the first 6 months with me, except when she was in heat. That's why I'm worried about this change in behaviour that just get's worse over time.

Although she's always been the dominant pig & quite full of herself. What I'm really interested in is if a nice guy could calm her down like the shelter & shelter vet suggested?

pinky · Sep 22, 2011

I've had four guinea pigs housed together in a 2 x 6. Three females lived together and I introduced a young, neutered male a little more than a year ago. One of the females was always pretty aggressive, not when in heat, but just due to her disposition. She had always been nippy but it never resorted to fighting since the others would back off. I had to separate her from a different female prior to living with these two because she wouldn't allow the other one to eat or sleep. She dominated over the male, too. He acted like he was afraid of her for a long time. Finally, he just seemed to assert himself when she got nippy with him. By that time, he was a full grown male and I think his size made the difference. He seemed to be more intolerant of her than the other two after that. I wondered if he remembered how she nipped at him before. She passed away last weekend. She had been losing weight and I had her checked by my vet who felt her symptoms were age related. I'm not sure that a male would make a difference. Anytime I added or had one less, the dynamics would change but I never knew for sure what the outcome would be.

bpatters · Sep 22, 2011

This is a new one on me. I've never heard that a neutered male will "calm down" a hormonal sow. I tend to seriously doubt that it's so.

The received wisdom is that the behavior you describe is hormonal, which strongly suggests ovarian cysts. I'd get the ultrasound done first. I know you're not running over with cavy-savvy vets there, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that yours knows what he/she is doing.

HannibalLecter · Sep 22, 2011

Yeah I'm doubting that myself. But is it possible to have ovarian cysts that can't be felt & seen at all, for more than 6 months?
She's very muscular from all the running & rumbestrutting, so I imagine any lumps would be easily felt.

I'm bringing her cage mate with her to the vet to compare, just dreading the cost. Knowing animals always get ill on holidays or when you dip into the vet savings.

SurfingPigs · Sep 22, 2011

Are her sides bulging? Any hair loss? This sounds hormonal, and introducing a male may only exacerbate the issue, as the female will have less space and thus more frequent interaction with other pigs when she apparently is interested in none. A vet visit sounds like a good idea, best of luck to you!

I have heard around the rescue community of a neutered male calming minor spats between two sows. In my recently (couple of months ago) united trio, the neutered male did help to bring peace to everyone, despite being the lowest on the dominance totem pole. I do believe that this can work in some cases, but is highly unlikely in a hormone-related case. And in all honesty, for all we know, it could just be chalked up to a roll of the attitude dice.

foggycreekcavy · Sep 22, 2011

There is another possibility--she could have a uterine problem going on. My Queen Amidala was increasingly hormonal over time and it turned out that she had pyometra. Not all guinea pigs have frank bleeding with pyometra. After her spay she lived many more years, and wasn't acting hormonal any more.

HannibalLecter · Sep 23, 2011

Thank you foggycreekcavy!
How did you go about it with the vets, is there a way to find this before surgery?
My dog had pyometra, and as it's such a serious condition that requires immediate care, I would think that over half a year untreated would make her very ill & ultimately showing other symptoms?

foggycreekcavy · Sep 23, 2011

I am not sure. I had decided to have her spayed because I suspected cysts-- she was slowly losing weight and acting hormonal. It was during the spay that they discovered the infected uterus. Perhaps it was just in the early stages with Amidala.

And yes, pyometra is an emergency type situation. Usually the animal is very sick and most often blood, and often a bad smell. If your girl has been acting this way for some time, it's doubtful it's an infected uterus.

Perhaps a tumor?

Is there anything at all going on with her nipples? Crust, or enlarged?

HannibalLecter · Sep 23, 2011

I think her nipples are a bit enlarged, or at least longer. But I never closely inspected them before except for crust so I can't be sure. I'm really scared of having her spayed without being sure something really is wrong in that area with the risk of losing her.

How long did it go between the first changes in behaviour with Amidala, and the surgery? Did she have an x-ray or ultrasound before?

foggycreekcavy · Sep 24, 2011

No, I did not have an xray or ultrasound. The vet I was using at the time felt that the density of the fluid filled organs is pretty much the same and wouldn't show on an xray if the uterus was infected. The cost of the ultrasound was prohibitive for me at the time, so since we were going to have her spayed anyway decided not to do it. However, an xray or ultrasound would show a tumor.

Her weight loss was very gradual, and her hormonal behavior increasing. She didn't show significant bulges (cysts) but they were actually quite large (I looked over my old records). She did have crust and enlarged nipples.

How old is your pig? There is an alternative to spaying for cysts--hormone injections. It's usually used for pigs too old or to infirm to go through surgery. It works in varying degrees in different pigs. You could try the injections and see if there's a change in her behavior.

HannibalLecter · Sep 24, 2011

Thank you for replying & giving me advice.
She's only 2 years old. I just really hope it's something that can be fixed.

She has lost more weight over these past six days, at first I thought it was from all the running & slightly less eating like with her cage mate, but now I'm not sure & increasingly worried as she has calmed down a bit, but continues losing weight.

foggycreekcavy · Sep 24, 2011

Some cysts show up at 2 years or so.

I think it's time for a vet visit, since she's losing weight. If you can swing it, I'd have an ultrasound done. That way if she doesn't have cysts, you won't need the spay.

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Need a second opinion. Major sexual aggression.

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