Biting Bit me!

[coojoe135]

My guinea pig Lola was meeting my newext piggy for some floor time. Some time to get to know each other. Well, when he went into his pigloo, she cattered her teeth, I figured a sign of dominence. Well, I picked her up and she turned around and took 3 chunks out of my left index finger. It was red and very swollen. We had to call the doctor, just in case, and she gave me some anti bacteria pills. No shot for me. I love her to death and I didnt want to tell my grandma cause she would take her away. I was very scared. I ran and put her in her cage and by the time I got to the bathroom, it was worse and i was washing it off. I am young and I cant stand a cut so you have to think about a bite. Scared Me. Peppy will probally get a new friend so he doesnt have to be with the girls after his 21 day quarentine. I learned not to mess with piggies when they chatter there teeth. It hurts really bad, but I am cleaning and disenfecting it constantly. It is healing so I will be ok. Sorry it is so long, but I figured if you heard your pig chatter his/hers teeth to not pick them up or pet them.

 

[zebraXqueen]

When they do chatter their teeth you just have to be extra careful so that things like that don't happen. You also should know your guinea pig and know if they would bite you or would just chatter at you some more.

 

[lissie]

I'm glad you're ok. I know someone who had to go to ER twice to get stitches. Both time they were doing intros.

By the way, is your male neutered or the female spayed?
And what do you mean so he doesn't have to be with the girls after quarantine? Did you let them play together before quarantine is over?

 

[TwilightStar]

My guinea pig Lola was meeting my newext piggy for some floor time. Some time to get to know each other. Well, when he went into his pigloo, she cattered her teeth, I figured a sign of dominence. Well, I picked her up and she turned around and took 3 chunks out of my left index finger. It was red and very swollen. We had to call the doctor, just in case, and she gave me some anti bacteria pills. No shot for me. I love her to death and I didnt want to tell my grandma cause she would take her away. I was very scared. I ran and put her in her cage and by the time I got to the bathroom, it was worse and i was washing it off. I am young and I cant stand a cut so you have to think about a bite. Scared Me. Peppy will probally get a new friend so he doesnt have to be with the girls after his 21 day quarentine. I learned not to mess with piggies when they chatter there teeth. It hurts really bad, but I am cleaning and disenfecting it constantly. It is healing so I will be ok. Sorry it is so long, but I figured if you heard your pig chatter his/hers teeth to not pick them up or pet them.

I would say you probably shouldn't have picked her up. She wasn't mad at you, just agitated. The only reason you should separate is if they start biting to draw blood (And go into full combat), which then you should never use your hand to separate them. Rather, use a dust pan to get in between them or throw a blanket on them to confuse them, so you can separate them so they don't hurt each other.
So, just make sure you don't pick up a angry piggie, they will misdirect the agitation towards you. (Not on purpose, of course.)

 

[pinky]

A towel or pigloo also works well to separate angry guinea pigs.

 

[coojoe135]

They were so close to each other that I couldnt put anything on them. I figured she was showing a sign of dominance and I was going to let her, but she bit him so when I picked her up to take her back to the cage, she bit me in 3 spots. The swelling and redness has went away and it is healing.

 

[Lil Fella's Mom]

I'm so sorry you got bit. Please in the future, always use a towel to separate because as you know, cavy bites are serious.

I'm a little confused though. Are you saying you put the newest pig with one of your females? I have multiple questions for you.

Are your females spayed or your male neutered?

Was this an introduction for the female to be a permanent cage mate? If not, you are stressing your pigs unnecessarily by introducing and separating again.

If this was an actual intro, why was the other female in the cage not introduced as well? (you stated you put the one female back in the cage with the other)

Most importantly, is this the new pig with the URI? If so, it makes me very angry to think that you unnecessarily broke quarantine and have now exposed the two females to sickness.

Please answer these questions truthfully. I am not accusing you of anything, but if I am right, you have acted very irresponsibly.

 

[coojoe135]

I'm so sorry you got bit. Please in the future, always use a towel to separate because as you know, cavy bites are serious.

I'm a little confused though. Are you saying you put the newest pig with one of your females? I have multiple questions for you.

Are your females spayed or your male neutered?

Was this an introduction for the female to be a permanent cage mate? If not, you are stressing your pigs unnecessarily by introducing and separating again.

If this was an actual intro, why was the other female in the cage not introduced as well? (you stated you put the one female back in the cage with the other)

Most importantly, is this the new pig with the URI? If so, it makes me very angry to think that you unnecessarily broke quarantine and have now exposed the two females to sickness.

Please answer these questions truthfully. I am not accusing you of anything, but if I am right, you have acted very irresponsibly.

1: No URI Anymore! Doctor found no signs of it when I took him back. He was very healthy. He Also Did a Many X-Rays. There was No Signs of A URI.
2: Both Females was out at the time: Lilly was hiding under a blanket, But she just plays with Peppy
3: He was quarentined at the shelter for numerous numerous days. He was there for a full month. All By Himself.
4: Neither Females Are Cage Mates and Never Will Be. Sorry To Say That
5: My Male is Neutered
6: Lola was trying to protect me. It was some dominence issues.
7: Everything is Good Now. Im not letting them meet for a while. Maybe Never. I dont want a fight to break out. He is very little.
Sorry if its confusing, i was trying to be a little specific.

 

[Lil Fella's Mom]

Hmmmm, I'm still on sure why you speak about quarantine then. If he was sick, you should have never let him meet the females. I don't know what kind of vet would tell you he is healthy after just a few days?

Again, if none of your pigs are together, why do they play together? This is very stressful for your piggies. Either they live together r they don't.

It seems to me that yo are being purposely vague in your answers and I feel like you are bending the rules to suit your needs.

 

[SFailed186]

I don't know what kind of vet would tell you he is healthy after just a few days?

This is fishy to me too. After Freya started improving from her illness, she still had to be in her hospital cage away from the other girls. Even after the illness appeared to be long gone, out vet suggested that she remain in quarantine for another week, at least, to be certain that the antibiotics did their full job and she truly was back to good health. She was in her hospital cages for about two and a half weeks until we got the "OK" from the vet to put them back together.

 

[TwilightStar]

1: No URI Anymore! Doctor found no signs of it when I took him back. He was very healthy. He Also Did a Many X-Rays. There was No Signs of A URI.
2: Both Females was out at the time: Lilly was hiding under a blanket, But she just plays with Peppy
3: He was quarentined at the shelter for numerous numerous days. He was there for a full month. All By Himself.
4: Neither Females Are Cage Mates and Never Will Be. Sorry To Say That
5: My Male is Neutered
6: Lola was trying to protect me. It was some dominence issues.
7: Everything is Good Now. Im not letting them meet for a while. Maybe Never. I dont want a fight to break out. He is very little.
Sorry if its confusing, i was trying to be a little specific.

It's normal for guinea pigs to fight, it's how they sort out who's in charge. You should not separate for a little nip, only if blood is drawn.
Your mistake is not letting them be and sort out their dominance, and it you keep separating them early they will never get along.
How long has the male been neutered?
So, you keep all your guinea pigs alone? What's the point? It's not fair to keep tearing them apart, unless they have some sort of violent history.(Not nipping, that's harmless, guinea pigs communicate to tell each other when they are annoyed.)
And if you break quarantine, you can't really say he's in it.
Once again,unless blood is drawn (Or one pig can't eat/drink, which you should have multiples of everything anyways) you should not separate, or they will never make progress.

 

[coojoe135]

For the last time, He wasnt sick. His test come out normal and negative. My piggies only meet during floor time and The girls live together. The male doesnt live with the girls. If I hear another thing about bending quarentine then Im just going to leave this site. I didnt break quarentine. He wasnt sick. They all dont live together

 

[dmppiggies]

I think what is going on is that people are just trying to understand your situation. You really didn't come with a clear question (maybe just trying to share your experience?), and gave a lot of unrelated details in one paragraph so people just had to interpret them the best they could so they could help you out!

Basically, they are trying to share that #1, if you are intending for your piggies to interact at all (even if they don't live together), the continual separation/re-meeting will only continue to aggravate them and they will fight. If you don't intend on them ever living together, then they probably shouldn't have floor time together--and like you said, you might get a friend for your boar, so that might be who he needs to have floor time with (and he also can have floor time with you and have a great time alone!). Each time they meet, they have to set up a pecking order--unlike humans or other pets who can just pick up where they left off!

They're only concerned about quarantine because they don't want your other pigs to get sick. If you boar got a clean bill of health, then you're good with your current plan.

 

[SFailed186]

For the last time, He wasnt sick.

Ok, but here you said;

1: No URI Anymore! Doctor found no signs of it when I took him back.

That implies that he WAS sick. Which is it?
I am getting mixed messages from you...

 

[coojoe135]

Whatever we had, we caught it before it got to bad period. If you get what Im saying. They actually see each other everyday. their cages are right by each other. They look in at all times at each other. He wasnt actually sick. 1 shot gave him energy and an appetite. He is healthy. I promise you!

 

[SFailed186]

Whatever we had, we caught it before it got to bad period. If you get what Im saying. They actually see each other everyday. their cages are right by each other. They look in at all times at each other. He wasnt actually sick. 1 shot gave him energy and an appetite. He is healthy. I promise you!

Ok, but this illness is still able to be spread. Not to mention that guinea pigs tend to hide their illnesses for a long time before you even notice a symptom, so he was still sick and contagious.

Also, how long has he been neutered? You do know that sperm continues to live after the surgery for a certain period of time, right?

He was never in quarantine if their cages were right next to each other.
It doesn't matter how bad the infection is, this has nothing to do with it being able to spread.

 

[dmppiggies]

Was he on any medication? Are you saying that you suspected a URI and then took him to the vet and was told he was fine?

Quarantine means separate cage, no floor time with other piggies, in another room. Hoping your little guy was/is in those conditions!

Also, if he's healthy--why mention the URI? I think that's what we're trying to figure out.

 

[fresian.m]

Ok I'm just going to accept your piggy isn't sick since you keep saying it.
But I have a question: If they aren't fighting seriously (they aren't right? correct me if I'm wrong.) is there a reason they can't live together? It is weird to just let them play together but no live together. I'm just wondering. Don't mean to sound rude or nosy.

 

[coojoe135]

He was nuetared for 6 weeks. I dont have alot of time to care for them (Not Trying To SOund Irresponsible) and they all get out for 1 hour a day. Well, I let them out together to talk and play. Lola bites them all. Lilly doesnt get bad bites though. Peppy (Male) got bit pretty bad. Thats why they dont live together. Plus, I think Lilly starts some fights, but I think the girls are playing cause they are usually happy.

 

[Lil Fella's Mom]

I honestly don't care if you get angry with me, but I am not stupid. I know what I read.

You said in your other post that your piggy's nose was running and he was sneezing. You took him to the vet and he got a shot.

He is at the same wieght. Not gain or loss. He is sneezing and he has a runny nose. is it possibe it is a URI?

I know. I am keeping him warm and still allowing him his veggies and hay, but he isnt touching them. I will keep you updated for the next 24 hours. I will soak him some food and try to get him into the vet asap. They couldnt take him today considering it is Sunday.:'(

He said it was an antibotic that should work until he gets in some of the antibiotics. He said I needed to come back in 2 days to get the antibiotics. He is feeling better. He is eating some carrots and some pellets. He is drinking from a bottle though. Hopefully The Anitbiotic Shot will help Him. He told me it was liquid Baytril. He said it is just in shot form. He had a tiny URI.

This means he was sick.
You should have quarantined him no matter if his condition has improved.

From reading on this forum, you should know that letting piggies play together is not a fun activity for them. If they don't live together, they will get stressed, aggressive, and they will fight.

I'm sorry if the truth hurts your feelings, but letting the pigs play together and adding a sick one to the mix during quarantine was a very irresponsible thing