Hi all!
I have one of my boars (Wynn) on antibiotics recovering from an upper respiratory infection. He's doing great - eating and drinking, holding a steady weight, and his breathing isn't raspy anymore. We have about 4 more days left of the antibiotics before he's ready to go back in the big space.
I separated him from my other boar (Cisco) as soon as I noticed there was a problem. They've been together their whole lives, but they are not best buds. Cisco is a bit of a bully and about 50% bigger than Wynn.
I have a Guinea Habitat cage attached to a larger playpen that together give them 32 square feet of living space. I've been keeping Wynn in the Guinea Habitat portion of it with the door closed (it's easier to handle him because I can reach him better this way) and Cisco has had the run of the bigger part. They've both been doing great with the separation, but I want to eventually get them back in the same space.
So I have two questions:
1) When is it safe to put them back together from an infection standpoint? Would it be as soon as Wynn is done with his antibiotics?
2) I think maybe it would be best to reintroduce them on neutral territory and make sure they aren't going to tear each other up instead of just opening the door and letting them do what they will. I had a little curtain up on the shared wall of the smaller cage to prevent all contact between the two of them. Do guinea pigs remember each other? I just don;t want Wynn to get too stressed out after recovering from being ill because Cisco decides he doesn't want to share his space anymore.
Any advice would be welcome! Thanks!
Reintroducing after a sickness?
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bpatters
- And got the T-shirt
You have to do full reintroductions again in a neutral area, and put them back in a thoroughly cleaned cage that has nothing that smells like either pig.
And FYI, there's really no need to separate them during treatment unless the sick one is being bullied by the other. By the time you realize one is sick, the other has already been thoroughly exposed to the organism. And once you start them on antibiotics, the likelihood of transmission decreases significantly.
The only exception to that I can immediately think of is if one is being treated for a contagious skin infection.
And FYI, there's really no need to separate them during treatment unless the sick one is being bullied by the other. By the time you realize one is sick, the other has already been thoroughly exposed to the organism. And once you start them on antibiotics, the likelihood of transmission decreases significantly.
The only exception to that I can immediately think of is if one is being treated for a contagious skin infection.
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