How to Calm a Scared Guinea Pig Who May Have Separation Anxiety

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Leia417

Post   » Sun Mar 05, 2023 11:09 pm


I have a 4-year-old female named Leia who gets spooked very easily. I was away for 12 hours yesterday, and she was fine when I got home. When I was getting ready for bed, she acted like something scared her. She froze in place, showed zero interest in food, and either ran away or made scared "purring" sounds when touched. I held her for about 3 hours before she started acting normally (it usually takes an hour tops to calm her). I put her back in her cage, and she froze again. I held her again, and she was fine as long as I was holding her. By 2am I was exhausted, having been awake for 20 hours at this point. I thoroughly checked her for signs of injury or illness. I didn't find any, so I put her in her cage (she froze again) and went to sleep. I slept a few feet away from her, so she wasn't alone. I checked on her every 1-2 hours. She was always frozen in the same spot and refusing food. I gave her some critical care. Finally, ten hours later, she snapped out of it and has been acting fairly normally all day.

I'm wondering if she may be lonely or having separation anxiety. Due to a lot of bad luck, she is currently an only pig. Her cagemate died in August of 2021. My other guinea pig (separate cage) died in December. I didn't re-pair Leia because she's extremely aggressive with others, and I'm trying to ease out of having guinea pigs as they and my chosen academic/career path don't mesh well. I didn't make these career choices until after I got Leia, so I've been trying to make it work until she dies (guinea pigs are for life!), especially since she's extremely attached to me. I ended up taking in my sister's guinea pigs to be her new friends. However, one of them had a medical emergency that none of the vets in my state were willing/able to handle, so she and her cagemate had to go back to my family (8 hours away) to get appropriate vet care. It's been about a month now, and she is still recovering from losing most of her foot to a severe bone infection.

I was barely able to juggle my sister's guinea pigs during the emergency, so Leia stayed home with my partner while I travelled. I was also curious to see if she'd be okay by herself. I've been watching her like a hawk for signs of loneliness/depression, and I've been prepared to take her to stay with her friends at any sign of problems. She's been doing really well. She's just as active and vocal as usual. She gets lots of attention and playtime. She wouldn't get these things if she stayed with my family, which is another reason I kept her with me. I'll be dropping her off to stay with my family in a few days, as I will be travelling to conferences for most of this month (just one example of why my career isn't super compatible with piggies). We're hopeful that all 3 guinea pigs can stay with me once I'm back from the conferences, although it will likely be temporary, as I'm moving across the country to start a PhD program in the fall.

If anyone has any advice on calming scared guinea pigs, easing separation anxiety/loneliness, and/or how to deal with this mess of a situation I've gotten into, I'd greatly appreciate it. I know she'll only be in my care for a few more days, but I want to make sure she's happy and comfortable during that time. She also acts weird when I'm gone longer than usual during the day, even if there are other pigs around, so it may be a bigger issue. She often stays with my family for weeks or months at a time when I'm travelling or in the backcountry, so I'm not too concerned about her having separation anxiety while I'm gone for the rest of the month.

Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to make sure I had enough context for everyone to properly understand the situation I'm in. I've had to make some very difficult choices and will be facing more as I prepare for my move across the country.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:41 am


I don't know whether it's separation anxiety or not. But it's not at all unusual for a guinea pig to get weirded out by something, and either freeze in place or run around acting very disturbed.

Since you'll only have her a few more days, I'd just concentrate on making her cage a safe place for her to be. Hang some fleece forests, or put some upside-down shoe boxes with doors cut in them in the cage. Make sure she's got places to hide if she wants.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 8:01 am


Here's a link to a few topics Tracis put in a links topic about similar behavior:
https://www.guinealynx.info/records/viewtopic.php?t=57

I think of distraction too (bpatters suggestions concerning changing up her cage may help). Changing up the cage can mean she'll have to engage with her environment to find things.

Hard to know what starts this! A smell, a bug, a mouse, a sound, or something completely different.

I wonder if a mirror could help her feel like there was another guinea pig around.

Leia417

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 10:55 am


Thanks for the replies so far. She seems much more relaxed this morning and hopefully does okay while I'm in class. She definitely had a case of the spooks last week. Something in her playpen scared her, so I cleaned it and rearranged it. She's still not 100% back to normal playing, but she at least gets zoomies and plays with the treat toys. I switched out the hidey in her cage with a darker, more private one and changed its location.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Mar 06, 2023 1:49 pm


I hope she has no more serious episodes!

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