I have three guinea pigs. Caramel, a neutered boy, and his sister Apple, and then PB, whom I adopted in February. Caramel and Apple are 2 years old while PB is an estamated one year old. Caramel is the gentleman alfa, he never squabbles and doesn't blink an eye when he's mounted. However, PB and Apple have always argued about being second in the hierarchy. They've rumblestrutted, mounted, whined, etc. Nothing serious until this last Saturday.
I had just got home from being out all day Christmas shopping and was sitting by their cage on my phone. I heard a a loud noise, looked up, and they were lunging at eachother. Me standing up scared them but they continued to teeth chatter at each other so I took them out and looked them over. There was nothing wrong.
I kept them separated while I cleaned their cage and afterwards put them all back in there and kept an eye out. They seemed fine except for some rumble strutting.
Fast forward to today, I noticed Apple seems a bit down. She's just laying there, staring, which seems like normal guinea pigs behavior but it was odd and something didn't seem right. She let my hand get close enough to her head to pet it, which isn't normal (she usually runs unless food is involved). I noticed her eye looked off, as well. Not noticeably bad but just off.
I made a vet appointment for tomorrow but I'm not sure what to do now. I have not seen any fights but that does not mean that it didn't happen while I was sleeping or while I was out for lunch today. I don't know if her eye is from a fight or something else? I have separated them and put PB at the top and Apple and Caramel at the bottom. I'm not sure if that's a good move or not.... they have plenty of room, they don't bully each other while drinking or eating, and this hasn't been an issue in almost the year since I've added PB. I read that they bully each other when one sick so maybe Apple is not feeling well? Or maybe PB is finally showing her true self and is butting heads with Apple.
I had just got home from being out all day Christmas shopping and was sitting by their cage on my phone. I heard a a loud noise, looked up, and they were lunging at eachother. Me standing up scared them but they continued to teeth chatter at each other so I took them out and looked them over. There was nothing wrong.
I kept them separated while I cleaned their cage and afterwards put them all back in there and kept an eye out. They seemed fine except for some rumble strutting.
Fast forward to today, I noticed Apple seems a bit down. She's just laying there, staring, which seems like normal guinea pigs behavior but it was odd and something didn't seem right. She let my hand get close enough to her head to pet it, which isn't normal (she usually runs unless food is involved). I noticed her eye looked off, as well. Not noticeably bad but just off.
I made a vet appointment for tomorrow but I'm not sure what to do now. I have not seen any fights but that does not mean that it didn't happen while I was sleeping or while I was out for lunch today. I don't know if her eye is from a fight or something else? I have separated them and put PB at the top and Apple and Caramel at the bottom. I'm not sure if that's a good move or not.... they have plenty of room, they don't bully each other while drinking or eating, and this hasn't been an issue in almost the year since I've added PB. I read that they bully each other when one sick so maybe Apple is not feeling well? Or maybe PB is finally showing her true self and is butting heads with Apple.