new guinea pigs from shelter

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jessilea1

Post   » Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:21 pm


Hi,

We just adopted two sows from an animal shelter. The only history that they shelter had been able to provide was that they had been surrendered together because the owner couldn't take care of them and they are about a year old. Since bringing them home on Wednesday afternoon, they have been nipping, rumbling towards each other, and avoiding each other. Besides the rumbling, they are almost silent and spend most of their time in their own separate hideys or eating hay. Not much drinking (from what we can tell) but they have been eating lots of lettuce and cucumbers. Is this normal behavior-the two sows nipping and rumbling at each other? We have a C & C cage and two waters, food dishes, etc....We have never had guinea pigs before so not sure if this is a reaction to the transition or something else. We have had them for about two days now.
Thanks for any help!

WICharlie

Post   » Fri Aug 18, 2017 4:50 pm


Most of the guinea pigs that came into our rescue (when it was running) were from animal shelters. Here's some things that you need to know.

Double and triple check to make sure both are really sows! Many animal shelter workers know nothing about guinea pigs and especially do not know how to determine gender. We have seen male and female animals surrendered together and the original owner either lies about their gender or doesn't know their gender.

Just because two pigs came in together to the animal shelter does not mean that they were living together previously. So these pigs may not know each other.

They also may have lived in a very confined space previously (an aquarium, a small, pet store cage, etc.). Even if these pigs were together before, sometimes going from a small living space to one that provides plenty of space can actually make the pigs suddenly be aggressive towards each other. It's almost like before they didn't dare rock the boat because there was just not enough room to work out a pecking order, but NOW they have the room and they feel safe playing out their frustrations on each other.

A healthy diet is very important right now. Who knows what they were eating at the former home or at the shelter. Go easy on the veggies at first, but provide unlimited amounts of good quality hay and a decent pellet. And do weigh the pigs weekly on a digital scale to determine that they are gaining or remaining at a good weight.

They should be treated for mites. In fact, I encourage you to take them in to a cavy knowledgeable vet for a well check to make sure they do not have any signs of upper respiratory infections, mites or lice.

If they are females, they could have been part of a backyard breeder's herd. So one or both could be pregnant (another reason to get weekly weights on them). Gestation is approximately 70 days, so start counting from the date the pigs came into the animal shelter if you know it. If other pigs got surrendered to the shelter at the same time as these pigs, start counting from the date you adopted the pigs. We've had shelter workers put male and female pigs together IN THE SHELTER before we have taken them!

It takes from two weeks to a month for pigs from an animal shelter to settle in and be comfortable with a new environment. So be patient. They're scared and freaked out from being moved around so much. Shelter's are generally noisy and busy places and pigs don't usually do well in them for that reason. Also these pigs may not have been handled a lot in their previous home and may be really scared to be touched and picked up. So take it really slow.

Once these pigs settle in and get used to you, they will provide you with a guinea pig's lifetime of love and companionship and it will be completely worth everything you do for them. Bless you!

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JaneDoe

Post   » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:41 pm


Congratulations!

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