This morning my wife and I noticed that our piggie was standing in the corner of the cage and she won't leave it no matter what we try to do. We rattle her treat bags (she usually comes running), we try to entice her with food, etc., and nothing seems to work.
If we pick her up and move her elsewhere in the cage, she will eventually run back to the corner. It's strange, she seems to be moving very cautiously and seems easy to startle. I almost wonder if she is losing or has lost her vision. She is still eating, drinking water, pooping, and seems perfectly mobile, so we have no idea what is wrong. It's very strange, she is in the corner but she is constantly sniffing, leaning far forward, but never moving, just sniffing in any general direction. It's very pronounced.
Her cage mate passed away about 2 months ago and since then she has seemed totally fine, happier even, constantly running around and popcorning. But I'm wondering if she is smelling her cage mate still (even though everything has been cleaned several times since), and thinking another guinea pig is out there and is getting confused/nervous?
We have a vet appointment tomorrow to see if everything is okay, but wondering if anyone has any experience with this. We know guinea pigs are supposed to have cage mates, we're just trying to decide how to handle it since the last one passed and we don't want to end up with an endless cycle of piggies. So if the solution that worked for people is a new cage mate, would be open to suggestions on how we can best manage that.
Thank you all so much in advance!
Piggie suddenly won't leave corner of the cage
I don't seem to be able to edit my main post, so I apologize for double posting, but I wanted to add that I did some research into spooked pigs, and it seems like this is very similar to what she is experiencing right now.
I don't want to make it worse, so I am wondering if we should forego the vet visit for a few days?
I don't want to make it worse, so I am wondering if we should forego the vet visit for a few days?
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Lynx
- Resist!!!
You could wait. Continue close monitoring of activity, food intake, weigh daily right now (loss of weight can be a strong indicator something is medically wrong). You might also try to jazz your cage up a bit to get her interested in new foods or curious items.
This page with tips for grieving guinea pigs might give you some ideas:
https://www.guinealynx.info/alone.html
This page with tips for grieving guinea pigs might give you some ideas:
https://www.guinealynx.info/alone.html
Thank you, Lynx!! I really appreciate it. We weighed her and will continue to monitor. That's a good idea. We'll change up her cage a bit after cleaning tonight, move things around and make it feel new. I'll report back soon - hopefully with some good news! And thank you for sharing the info on grieving pigs as well. We fortunately work from home and she stays in my wife's room all day, so she gets plenty of attention, but we'll make sure to keep it up!!
She is about 5 years old.
Yesterday we put her in the playpen while we cleaned her cage, and she seemed to walk around a lot in there, mostly just curious. Walking around, stopping a few times to clean herself, and then slowly walking some more, really just seemed to be exploring. When it came time to put her back in her cage, she freaked out like we have never seen before. Running around the playpen like we had never seen, even tried to jump out (fortunately she didn't and just landed on her feet).
When my wife caught her, she held her for a while until she calmed down, and then we put her back in the newly designed cage. She seemed a little confused at first, but was slowly walking around and exploring. I showed her that she still has her fleece pocket that she loves to sleep under and she slowly and carefully explored under the pocket (now on the opposite side), before settling under it for sleep. This morning, she greeted me at the cage like she usually does for her daily vitamin c - though I gave it to her from the opposite side. She seems to be in better spirits overall, though still a little more cautious, so I think for some reason she was just extremely spooked by her former cage.
Yesterday we put her in the playpen while we cleaned her cage, and she seemed to walk around a lot in there, mostly just curious. Walking around, stopping a few times to clean herself, and then slowly walking some more, really just seemed to be exploring. When it came time to put her back in her cage, she freaked out like we have never seen before. Running around the playpen like we had never seen, even tried to jump out (fortunately she didn't and just landed on her feet).
When my wife caught her, she held her for a while until she calmed down, and then we put her back in the newly designed cage. She seemed a little confused at first, but was slowly walking around and exploring. I showed her that she still has her fleece pocket that she loves to sleep under and she slowly and carefully explored under the pocket (now on the opposite side), before settling under it for sleep. This morning, she greeted me at the cage like she usually does for her daily vitamin c - though I gave it to her from the opposite side. She seems to be in better spirits overall, though still a little more cautious, so I think for some reason she was just extremely spooked by her former cage.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
Hoping for the very best for her.
It may take a few days for her to settle and fully 'normalize', for lack of a better way to say it. Hopefully you will see steady improvement as she recovers from whatever freaked her out. It certainly sounds like her eyesight is fine, thankfully.
It may take a few days for her to settle and fully 'normalize', for lack of a better way to say it. Hopefully you will see steady improvement as she recovers from whatever freaked her out. It certainly sounds like her eyesight is fine, thankfully.
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