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Saecula and co.

Saecula

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Posts
7
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
7
I've decided to make an account here as it seems I've got some questions randomly popping up.
Almost 2 years ago I got a black short haired pig from my mom for my birthday 'cause I had been begging for a pet (in particular dog) since my husky died (horrid story I'm not willing to share right now). I'd not been into cavies before but decided to make the best of it and called him Doodle, which is a very appropriate name I figure now and he's well trained, will be quiet when I say "good night" , not shout even when he's hungry, he'll rather nose my hand and nose the empty food bowl to indicate my hand has to take it to refill. He's got those cuddly days even though he's no longer potty proof. After studying art and looking into pig health I thought a second cavy would be wonderful company. My mom didn't approve "Boars will always fight, and it's the only option you have with a boar if not intending to breed, you're simply not getting another one under this roof! " So I've been living alone for a little more than half a year now, changed part time job into a full time and in particular living alone without cats or mommy to keep the pig company he'd start being loud, touchy and stuff. No pets allowed was said in the apartment contract but the landlord was alright with a small piggy as far as he'd not cause any smell or sound to fellow neighbors. Landlord has been inside the apartment a few times and when working on the central heating Doodle was getting noisy for attention, I picked him up on my arm and he'd be squeeking happily even making the landlord melt in his cuteness.
That's when I drew the line and made my mom drive me to the pet store (I have no car nor license and no shelters are near). Not under her roof she said - thought I'd been waiting long enough and found that my precious Doodle was suffering from loneliness not moving around much and not being up for cuddling anymore.
My second pig. A lot to choose from. Long haired, short haired of which plenty black ones that time (already having a black one I wanted something different) , a few adult looking and some teddy cavies (the curly haired ones), all in glass cages with wooden pellets as bedding, too little space and very nervous. I wanted to search a good company for Doodle, no matter what the looks were. A bit further both my mom and I spotted this ugly pig of light brown tan with an almost bright orange color patch on it's flank and red eyes looking like he'd be albino. Downright ugly but he'd be curious, come to the side to smell us, run away and come back a bit later. That's the one I thought! Got him checked up so that I was sure he's male as well, bought him and got him home. Instantly prepared a completely new "cage" with iron bars and the usual cloth bedding. A bit later from the idea of keeping them seperate for a while I thought "what the hell" and put them together in there, they got along wonderfully. A bit of rumbling, nothing more, nothing less. So I prepared a new even larger "cage" for them both covering almost half my living room. Some hiding spaces like tents, cardboard boxes, pigloo.
When picking up the new guy randomly I notice he tries to bite. Hard. The first week he had a wound on his flank which healed nicely and appeared to be nothing serious. Yet even after the wound he still bites when I'm getting him comfy on my lap. Also now after some weeks I notice him almost constantly rumbling at Doodle (the older one), however they eat nicely together , let each other drink, do not fight. At least I've not witnessed a fight. Today I picked up Doodle as when daily spot cleaning the cage he'd walk on my fleece socks wanting to be petted and noticed a nasty looking patch of skin in between of his left eye and ear. It looks swollen, crusty but also bloody underneath. I do wonder now if I should worry, would it be caused by fights or not? Doodle's never before had any skin issue aside from lice the first few weeks I had him. May just the little guy be so dominant that he's terrorizing Doodle? Without my knowledge that is for I'm not home much at the moment. I don't seem to be able to catch the new guy popcorning in their "cage", relaxing on my arm/lap and certainly he does not intend or even want to sniff new food when he's on my arm. I'd like to know if it's dominance or underlaying depression/stress. Doodle almost instantly took any food and popcorn on the bed when I just got him. Easy to encourage into good behavior and punish easily when he'd behave badly.

Sorry for the huge wall of text,
but well that's my story on pigs so far
Surely some ideas would be nice :)
 

RufflesandBiggy

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Posts
3
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
3
I'd worry. I don't know what to do. If you are worried about your Doodle I think you should split the cage right down the middle with equal amount of space for both of them. Separate with grids so they can at least interact with each other. Also I think you should maybe bring little Doodle to vet to check out the cut just in case it gets infected.
 

Saecula

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Posts
7
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
7
To that note I did get them separated for the moment to monitor the wound, I'm not stepping to the vet for every little wee bit of thing unless it appears to get worse.

I'm mostly asking a more experienced pig handler as I do find it strange to pop up as when either of them are not together they seem to shout for one another, really want to be together. And aside from rumblestrutting I don't notice anything troublesome. Which is why I simply wonder if it's possible in that note that they'd still fight when I'm not around, occasionally, or not.
 

Saecula

Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Posts
7
Joined
Oct 15, 2011
Messages
7
Today the wound looks painful without crust, not sure if the crust has fallen off or has been scratched off, but for now it looks less swollen which I think is good? Less bloody but up to his ear naked skin. He makes a sound of pain and hides when I want to make sure it's clean so all I can do is keep the cage very clean to avoid infection, bring him additional vitamins in form of his fave fresh greens and go to the vet anyway if it doesn't get better in a day. I wonder if that's the way a fighting wound heals, I just have no clue but am surely keeping the newcomer separated and will be looking into a better way of separating while giving both enough space and perhaps only let them together when I'm around the house to supervise.
 
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