Un-bondable sow?

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User avatar
Intalli

Post   » Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:29 pm


Hello! Long time lurker, first time signed up. I may talk about my own piggies eventually, but right now I have a serious conundrum with a piggy at the pet store I work at.

Tasha is a female, about 9 months old, and has come back to the store 4 times now. The first was at about 3m/o, and the reason was, she wasn't getting along with their current pig. The second, a few weeks later, was because their landlord didn't allow pets. Now with this one, she had been purchased/returned with an intact boar (yes, yes, boo hiss, but they bought two cages, so we couldn't refuse the sale), and may have been housed together, so she was put on maternity watch for three months (no pups).

The third, I took her home to foster (or potentially keep). Despite trying every trick in the book (other than a group bath), encounters would end in blood. At first I thought it was my residents (2yrs and 5yrs), but I later observed Tasha to be the aggravator. It was like she just couldn't stop herself. She'd be fine—she wanted to be with them, to the point of even scaling a 12 inch high playpen—then something would click and she'd start challenging, and even taking flying lunges, and at least one full on tussle. When the time I needed to foster her ended, she just couldn't stay. She's full of character and sweet with humans, and I love her, but we've no room for a permanent second cage. So she went back to the store.
The fourth return was just yesterday. It'd been about a month since I brought her back. They fit my criteria for adopting her—experienced guinea pig owners with no children (she can be nibbly when she doesn't want to be held). They had 2 neutered males and one female. They returned her the next day due to aggression towards all three, but mainly the female.

I am completely at a loss for what to do with her. All the threads I've read were for sows with ovarian cysts (which she's well below the average age, but I won't rule out entirely) or boars. Should she be the rare exception to the herd rule and be an only pig? Should we just keep trying until some pig works?

Advice is much appreciated. Tasha is so sweet with people and I really want her to go to a great home.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Aug 21, 2019 8:41 pm


I would not rule out hormonal issues/possible ovarian cysts. That said, she may just be one of those few guinea pigs that prefer to live alone.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:17 pm


It does sound like it could be hormonal. Has she ever been to an exotics veterinarian for a check-up and to look into the possibility of cysts, etc.?

Kensium

Post   » Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:12 am


My one sow Penelope (silver agouti rex) absolutely despises other guinea pigs and has since she was a baby. Tasha definitely sounds like she's a solo pig :) I'd take her to an exotic vet just to make sure she doesn't have anything going on, though.

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