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Loss Advice for helping solo pig

wigglemish

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Now Artemis is gone Luna is on her own. I don't want to try and introduce her to Freyja and Frigga again. It is clearly too dangerous.

She seems down today. Wary of me, reluctant to come out from her hidey. Quiet. She's eating at least. She's also chewing her cage a lot. Like it's a stress thing. I've given her lots of hay and some wooden boredrom breakers etc to try and give her options and distractions, but she's just gnawing at the plastic and the grids. I showed her Artemis' body and let her have a little time with her, so she has some concept of where she's gone.

I work full time, so I cannot be there to fuss over her through the day. But I truly believe I cannot introduce another pig into the mix with her. I can make sure she gets cuddles before I go to work and as soon as I get in, but I know that isn't enough.

I've never had a solo pig. How can I help her?

I'm considering expanding my main cage then putting a divider across it, so half is for her and half is for Freyja and Frigga, so they could then interact through the bars. Is this a good idea or something that would stress them out?

Please guys, any advice would be so gratefully received. I am in bits.
 

Soecara

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I completely understand why you think she may not be able to be housed with other guinea pigs after what has happened, particularly with it being so recently since it has happened.

It may help her if you go for the split cage, but you will need to watch them to see if they chew at the bars or just how they all react in general.

If the split cage doesn't work. After the situation has cooled off, Lunas wounds have healed, and you have had some time to come to terms with what happened, you may also need to take the time and think about the situation that happened with Artemis in detail. Who approached who, what action triggered who to attack, who fought back, etc. (as I understand both of the girls were injured, Luna just got off with the lesser wounds) Luna may truly be too aggressive to house with other guinea pigs, or she may have just been responding to defend herself and just hit the wrong place with devastating consequences, if it is the latter she may not be truly unable to live with another guinea pigs and if a split cage doesn't work you may need to consider the options. However that is not something that needs to be thought about yet as you both need time to heal from emotional and physical wounds.
 

wigglemish

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I completely understand why you think she may not be able to be housed with other guinea pigs after what has happened, particularly with it being so recently since it has happened.

It may help her if you go for the split cage, but you will need to watch them to see if they chew at the bars or just how they all react in general.

If the split cage doesn't work. After the situation has cooled off, Lunas wounds have healed, and you have had some time to come to terms with what happened, you may also need to take the time and think about the situation that happened with Artemis in detail. Who approached who, what action triggered who to attack, who fought back, etc. (as I understand both of the girls were injured, Luna just got off with the lesser wounds) Luna may truly be too aggressive to house with other guinea pigs, or she may have just been responding to defend herself and just hit the wrong place with devastating consequences, if it is the latter she may not be truly unable to live with another guinea pigs and if a split cage doesn't work you may need to consider the options. However that is not something that needs to be thought about yet as you both need time to heal from emotional and physical wounds.

Honestly, I think Artemis incited it. Luna was being aggressive to everyone, but not lashing out as much. She went for Freyja once, Freyja ran and she didn't clamp down or anything. Artie I think was the one who instigated. They were both rumbling very loud. Luna and the others mostly hid. Artie was running around like she owned the place. Then Luna came out of her hidey and it was a sudden ball of a fight...
 

Soecara

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I think I know exactly what you mean, I myself have had several failed intros which have resulted in a flying biting ball on several different occasions. Often in my cases where they went into a ball either the instigator came off worse or they both had relatively equal wounds.

I can vividly recall several introductions and even one out of the blue falling out that resulted in bad injuries (I was even injured badly myself once, I didn't have a towel on hand so I got a deep bite wound when I intervened, still have the scar to this day), fortunately for me all guinea pigs involved in all cases were able to recover from their wounds with proper care and were then either successfully introduced to other guinea pigs who were not involved with the fight in question, or successfully reintroduced to each other.
 

wigglemish

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This is a first for me. It's enough to put me off ever trying again, which i know is not good. I know no piggy should be alone. But I have never had this before. I am so angry with myself that I wasn't faster.
 

Soecara

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Even if you were faster, in my experience, it likely would have made very little or no difference.

Once during an introduction attempt that failed for me, the introduction in question was between two boars who made it very clear that that they were likely going to go into a ball about a minute before they actually went into the ball. They started circling, and lunging at each other while furiously teeth chattering at each other, as soon as I saw this I jumped up towel in hand and was ready to react. they didn't go into a ball right away so I wanted to see if one would back off, all the while I was standing within the intro area ready to react at any second to dive in with the towel to react.

Within seconds of them going into a biting ball I had them separated, still their injuries were quite bad, they couldn't have gotten many bites off on each other but still the one I was holding in the towel had about 1/3 of his bottom lip half hanging off and starting to drip blood, the other had a gash on his nose also bleeding but not as badly. Honestly given this experience I do truly believe that when they fight like that the worst of the damage is done within the first two or three bites.

As for the outcome for those two boars after that particular introduction the one with the lip injury couldn't be patched up by the vet (they felt it would heal okay without intervention as the partially detached section was already naturally adhering itself back into place and they wouldn't be able to properly glue it without putting him under as he wasn't cooperative, but he was given some meds to help relieve the inflammation and the wound was cleaned), he had to be completely hand fed for the first day as he couldn't move his bottom lip, but after 24 hours he was able to pick up hay on his own, he still needed his veggies cut up into matchsticks and put into his mouth for a further two days, after about two weeks his mouth looked as good as new. The other boars nose healed fine after I stopped the bleeding and cleaned the cut. Both boars were then later successfully introduced to other boars.
 

wigglemish

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Sounds like your boars were in a very similar state to Artemis. She had a very deep gash down the side of her nose. It'd missed her eye and her nostril, but speaking to their usual vet the morning after her stitches, when she'd died, she suspected it'd caught her airway. She didn't think there was anything we could have done differently in terms of treating the injury... It was about an inch. Her poor face was shaved and held together by blue sutures, she was a mess...

I'm glad your boys came out okay. I guess we just had the worst possible luck. I don't think I could have gotten them apart any fast tbh, I was straight in with the towel.
 

sallyvh

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I would definitely give a divided cage a try. For me it has been a lifesaver.

I have one pig who is down right nasty to other pigs. She has never worked out with others and I couldn't keep getting pigs to try with her. I also have a 7 year old sow who lost her cagemate a little over a year ago. Intros between these 2 obviously failed, but they are super happy with a divider in their cage. It's easier to keep my senior alone as she has a special diet and is mobility issues now.

These two will happily spend time with each other, munching on hay through the grids. I'm happy with the situation. They both seem in good spirits and it's the best outcome for both of them.
 

wigglemish

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I would definitely give a divided cage a try. For me it has been a lifesaver.

I have one pig who is down right nasty to other pigs. She has never worked out with others and I couldn't keep getting pigs to try with her. I also have a 7 year old sow who lost her cagemate a little over a year ago. Intros between these 2 obviously failed, but they are super happy with a divider in their cage. It's easier to keep my senior alone as she has a special diet and is mobility issues now.

These two will happily spend time with each other, munching on hay through the grids. I'm happy with the situation. They both seem in good spirits and it's the best outcome for both of them.

Thank you for weighing in, Sally. Luna definitely seems to be feeling the absence of Artemis. She keeps checking hideys, jsut wandering between them and looking inside. I do't know if she's searching for her, but it feels like she is.

She can hear Freyja and Frigga too, and that's setting her on point. She knows there are other pigs here.

I think Sunday I will try the separated cage, jsut see what happens. If it doesn't work I can put her back in the 2x4 again...
 

sallyvh

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The worst you will have to deal with is bar chewing and you can alwayd get some plexiglass to block places if any of them are determined to chew.

For the first day or 2 Mavis would bite the bars a bit to get to Margaret but it quickly subsided.

Just hang in there! This situation will work out and you will find a solution that works for you and your girls going forward. I know it's unimaginable anf overwhelming now, but things will fall into place.
 
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