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Injury Suddenly my boars are not getting along

PatchesIsPatchy

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Sorry if this is in the wrong place, please direct me elswhere if needed.

I have 5 guinea pigs in my house, but 2 are my sister's (bo and doug) so they are in a separate cage. Everything was fine and dandy until we noticed bo would full speed chase doug around the cage and doug was afraid to leave his hidey because of it. and suddleny out of my pigs (patches, Mako, jamie), mako has started to nip and chase jamie (not as harshly as bo does, so i wasnt too worries about it)

So we tried switching bo to my cage and my quiet pig, patches to the other. and now Mako is bitting the heck out of bo to where he has little scabs all over his butt. I've tried washing the three together, resetting their cage, making it bigger. I really don't know what to do and it's freaking me out because they were perfectly fine before. Maybe I have to make the cages even bigger? I also put two of food/water in the cage with the fighting pigs. Since i have to work I gave up and put Bo in a smaller petstore "playpen" because I don't want him to feel terrorized.

side note: Doug and Mako hate each other and I'm not sure if they'll ever get along. last time we tried to introduce them, it ended in a nasty bite to Mako's foot. Their cages are also in the same room? which might have something to do with it. idk I'm just stressin out.

I'll give you details no problem if you ask, sorry about the lack of
 

bpatters

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What sizes are the cages? Lack of space is a major reason for guinea pig aggression.

If you're putting them together and then separating them, don't. Guinea pigs are wired to establish dominance, and they start from scratch every time they meet another pig. See the bible on guinea pig introductions: https://guinea-pigs.livejournal.com/3002707.html.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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I believe the cage with the two is 3X4 grids and the other is 4X4 or 4X5. I can make sure after work today. If you think those are too small I can stop and look for another set of grids to make them both bigger. And the only time we moved them was when i washed them all and put Bo in with Mako. We also had moved patches because he literally is everyone's friend. But if yiu think i'm putting them all back when i get home and i don't plan on anymore moving.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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I'm also buying a new cage after I get off, or at least a new box of panels so i can make them both bigger. and I'm moving one cage to a different room in case they're getting upset smelling each other.
 

lissie

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Are there any hidey with one door? Remove them and cut out extra door or replace with hideys with multiple doors.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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okie doke. i think theres only one hidey with one door, ill fix it. when i did a full scrub/clean i took them all out though since they were cardboard. there is a snuggle sack and a curtian type bit though.
 

lissie

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Some pigs will fight over the snuggle sack too. If you notice them blocking each other from getting in and out, you might have to turn the sack into a tunnel.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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okay cool thanks! ill check to make sure and i also bought another box of grids to make the cage bigger
 

CavyTV

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You said you have a pair of pigs and then you have a trio of pigs? Is the trio all boars? The trio is the one that fell out, right? That could be the problem. If they are all boars, keeping them in a trio won't work, no matter how big their cage is. How old are they? Maybe they are entering puberty and that's why they are falling out all of a sudden. Having a trio of boars isn't encouraged on this site by most people. Many people have tried and very very few have succeeded. There's always dominance issues with a trio of males. You may get very lucky if they are all laid-back, but based on your case it doesn't seem like they are.

I would suggest separating the trio and putting them and the other 2 into 2 pairs (with one by himself...so maybe leave Mako out, put Doug and Jamie together and Bo and Patches together.) based on who gets along with who. Then, if all goes well and the pairs get along then try to get another pig, if you can, to go with the lone one. I think putting Mako in his own cage would be the best as he seems to be the one causing the problems.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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Alright. At the moment, Patches is really sick. we had to take him to the emergency center because his temp got really low and he was draining frothy fluid from his nose. He's doing a lot better now though, he's even eating now! We're picking up antibiotics from our home doctor now so hopefully he'll be okay (she also recommended vitamin C drops so were getting that too).

So right now the cages are: Jamie/Mako and the other three have cages for themselves. Mako seems to be fine with Jamie again. He grew up woth patches and they're about 3 years so i think he was just getting really stressed out? if that's a thing. when i put them back together he was laying next to patches literally everywhere he went, so maybe he knew he was sick before I did? I'd also say Jamie is 3-4 months and bo is just a bit younger. oh, and Doug is about a year and a half.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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How is Patches doing?
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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Patches is doing better, he's been a good temp and he's a poopin machine! lol he also seems to have a lot more evergy because he was trying to yank open his carrier on the way home today. I'm going to my home vet wed for a checkup. the sheet the emergency room gave us said he might have bordetella or strep pneumoniae. He doesn't drink a ton but he never really liked too much water, and I always give him plenty of veggies like cucumbers and romaine so maybe he gets most of his water there. He also has those oxbow vitamin C biscuits because I wasn't sure if giving him an orange slice every day would be too much sugar. Oh yeah, and he's taking baytril every 12 hours which he doesn't seem to hate as much this time around.
also, the vett at the emergency center ((which was an hour and a half away) seemed a lot more cavy savy than my normal vet, and she told us she also works in a hospital only like 40 minutes from us, so I'm gonna do some research and maybe start taking him there instead.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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I'm glad to hear he's doing better. Watch him very carefully on the Baytril and make sure you monitor his weight, and food and water intake. Baytril is a VERY strong antibiotic.
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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Alright, we are. He's about 2lbs now which is more than before (it was 1.8 i think?) and I take his temp every day, or if his ears feel chilly, because I don't think he's ill enough to have to take his temp every hour. And our living room is a bit colder than the pig room so he has a heater by his cage, it's not right next to his cage so it would cook him. It's a foot or so away and just pointed toward the cage. And he's been on baytril before, so I think I have a good enough grasp on how it works, but like I'll still make sure to monitor him close!
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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And it seems like I'm just having issue after issue, because Mako has broken out of his cage and gone into doug's and about two days later Doug did the same thing but to Mako. Now after I got home today I noticed Mako has cuts all over his mouth and Doug has a cut on the bottom of his foot. Doug is housed by himself and Jamie has no wounds whatsoever on him so I doubt he attacked Mako. I could've sworn I reinforced the cages after the first incident and I'm freaking out. I use C&C grids but I haven't been able to get my hands on coroplast. do you think that'd keep them from getting out? I don't know where to get it that's not already pre cut for like a set amount of grids if that makes sense?
Or do you have any suggestions to strengthen their cage walls? i was thinking of using zip ties since Patches' incident has made my wallet pretty hollow. (also, I use a plastic table cloth under my fleece so I do have something to keep from ruining the floor)
 

PatchesIsPatchy

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update: I fastened all the panels together with packing tape so hopefully it'll hold until I come home with zip ties. Also I'm moving in less than a month and the rival pig's cages will be in completely different rooms, so hopefully that'll at least keep them from getting into each other's cages if they did happen to escape.
 

bpatters

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Be sure the pigs can't get to the tape. They LOVE that stuff, and it can kill them.
 
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