This article may have outdated information.
The HappyCavy webcams and Guinea Pig Treat Machine went offline on April 8, 2024.
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After 10 days of separation from the Herd to heal from a recent surgery, Buttercup the Guinea Pig was returned to the HappyCavy Forever Home yesterday with much fanfare.
Since Buttercup’s surgery on Wednesday, April 24, she had been kept in a separate cage next to the HappyCavy Forever Home. This was done with the foresight of allowing her to still be able to see and interact with the Herd while she recovered. The intended result was to allow a smooth re-introduction.
Boy, were The Humans wrong about that one.
Re-Introduction: First Attempt
At about 5pm yesterday, The Humans removed Buttercup from her small cage and placed her in the much larger, much more comfortable HappyCavy Home. After several minutes of exploration, Hammy and Feebee approached Buttercup to say, “Hello.” The fighting began almost immediately.
Buttercup seemed most upset with Feebee, as she began to chatter and rumble-strutt. The Humans were particularly concerned with keeping Buttercup safe since her surgery was so recent.
After a few minutes of loud, other-worldly chattering and durring, Buttercup made a half-hearted attempt to lunge at Feebee. No blood was drawn, but it was pretty clear that Buttercup had made her statement: “Leave me alone.”
The Humans promptly removed Buttercup and went to the Twitter machine to make the following announcement:
Webcams offline until further notice. Buttercup joined the herd today after 10 days away, nobody is happy. Re-introduction? Stay tuned!
— HappyCavy (@happycavy) May 5, 2013
After a two-hour separation, The Humans made an earnest attempt to get this guinea pig family back together again.
A neutral area was set-up with several pigloos, food bowls, and water bottles. Then the pigs were allowed to make their peace.
The second attempt at re-introductions took about three hours, during which Buttercup proved to be the aggressor. She frequently engaged Feebee in rounds of chattering, unwelcomed butt-sniffing, and rumble-strutting.
Fortunately, things never advanced past the “big talk” phase. There was no lunging, no biting, and no screaming.
Hammy, always the level-headed pig, remained neutral during the entire event. She kept to herself and decided to give Buttercup as much space as she needed. Smart girl, Hammy!
Re-Introduction: Second Attempt
After a 2-hour separation, The Humans made an earnest attempt to get this guinea pig family back together again.
A neutral area was set-up with several pigloos, food bowls, and water bottles. Then the pigs were allowed to make their peace.
The second attempt at re-introductions took about 3 hours during which Buttercup proved to be the aggressor. She frequently engaged Feebee in rounds of chattering, unwelcomed butt-sniffing, and rumble-strutting.
Fortunately, things never advanced past the “big talk” phase. There was no lunging, no biting, and no screaming.
Buttercup re-introduction is on! Lots of noise, but so far promising. At least they've retreated to their own corners http://t.co/74Qdz9BHyO
— HappyCavy (@happycavy) May 5, 2013
Hammy, always the level-headed pig, remained neutral during the entire event. She kept to herself and decided to give Buttercup as much space as she needed. Smart girl, Hammy!
Re-Introduction Success!
After three hours of what turned out to be a chance for Buttercup to let off a lot of pent-up frustration, the Herd settled down, and things quickly returned to normal.
Buttercup is now back online and living happily alongside her sisters Hammy and Feebee. Extra food bowls and water bottles are on hand to preempt any future dominance issues.
Introduction After Separation
During yesterday’s introduction, HappyCavy took to Facebook with this post to get your feedback.
The responses were quite informative. Our friends shared their experiences with re-introducing guinea pigs after separation and what might be in store for Mrs. Cups.
The stories our friends shared were relevant and insightful. We think two in particular are worth sharing here:
“My piggies (after a short separation because of an eye infection) became aggressive with each other. One day one attacked another one and opened her nose with a bite. Now they live separated and I don’t know if is possible in the future for them to come back together. I separated her 8 days, the time the treatment lasted. But they all had been living together almost for 2.5 years.” – Martha
“I had this happen with my pigs before. One got ill and had to be separated from her bonded partner. They never got along after than with my healthy pig attacking the healing one. My vet said it was something to do with them being a prey animal and not wanting a sick one to draw attention to the heard by a predator.” – Jessica
“Had the same problem. It took 2 days to get together again, inseparable ever since.” – David
What We’ve Learned
This experience has taught us that, no matter how brief a time a guinea pig is separated from their main herd, a planned, neutral-space introduction is a MUST to ensure friendly and fight-free re-integration.
In hindsight, what we may have considered is to give Buttercup some time each day inside the Forever Home with her friends while she recovered. Doing so may have prevented the need for a 3-hour re-introduction.
Share Your Re-Introduction Stories!
Do a similar experience to Buttercup’s story? How did you manage to re-introduce a herd after a brief or prolonged separation?
Please share your insights in the comments section! We love hearing from our friends!
I’ve been through the same issues after Chai’s spay and her eventual re-integration. The skinny, Skeeter, kept trying to dethrone Chai of her position as herd leader. Chai (old and spry) handed her piggie butt right back to her and then Skeeter had to stay in the hospital cage for a few days. Finally all were washed, all items washed, blankey kept nearby for fights and all placed back in and worked out ok. Stressful, almost uneventful but eventually works out. Never assume everything should be ok just because they’ve lived together for four years.
Cheers.
We have 2 young male Abyssinian guinea pigs that we are seriously considering having neutered. They are brothers and get along pretty well, but one is definitely more dominant over the other. And they are constantly marking their territory, especially after we clean their cage and their beds. And this isn’t the normal urine smell. Anyway, my question is, would you recommend having them both done at the same time in light of the trouble you experienced re-integrating Buttercup?
Hmmm, good question. Preface: Our Humans have no experience with post-operative care of neutered boars so we’re not sure if they’d need to be separated after surgery or not.
It would certainly make sense to us to have both boars done at the same time, to minimize disruption to their already hierarchical nature. Ultimately, your personal care decisions are best made after consulting with your family vet. But…solely from our experience…we’d ask our Humans to schedule both to be neutered at the same time.
If anyone here thinks otherwise, please leave a reply! 😀
I have a problem, one of my piggies, Hufflepuff, is having trouble with sharing, I always feed my piggies in the morning, then I go down and eat breakfast, I have a tight schedule but I think the smaller one, Gryffindor isn’t getting as much food and is being shoved away from the bowl. I can’t separate them. Help!
We’ve had two female guinea pigs for 2.5 years, Cookie and Sybil. A month ago Cookie had surgery to remove a sebaceous cyst. They’ve been in separate cages since because the surgery sight took ages to heal (she still has one stitch hanging out now which we’re getting removed tomorrow). The problem is that now they just don’t get on. We’ve given them ‘visiting time’ each day so they’ve had some time together eating, sleeping… but they always end up chattering their teeth, having a stand off and then going for one another. We then separate them but they’ve bitten us badly in the process, so I’m so worried about what damage they would do to one another if left alone. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? I really don’t want to give up hope of them never being reunited 🙁
Ugh, we hear you.
From our experience, as you may have learned already, we just had to leave Buttercup in the cage with Hammy and Feebee until they sorted it out. Things were much messier (a lot of chattering) than we anticipated. But, after the chattering went on for several hours, things calmed down and they eventually got along. It was a dicey night, but all eventually worked out. If you leave them together, and resist the urge to remove them, perhaps they will get along, as Feebee and Hammy did with Buttercup? The important thing is to not remove them and have “visiting hours” — this seems to instill the idea that they are still permanently separated, but only visit. If you make them stay together until they get along, things may work out for the best.
None of this may help, but perhaps it’s a start? 🙂
Thanks so much for your reply. Today we put them out in a neutral area together and watched carefully for 3 hours as they got to ‘know’ one another again – it was so hard not to intervene when there was chattering, chasing, mounting, nipping, squealing… But they did seem to calm down in the end. We then put them back in their cage and watched closely again, but so far (touch wood) there hasn’t been any disagreement. I think you’re right in that letting them get on with it and standing back is the only way. Hopefully it’s worked… Thank you 😊
You’re most welcome! So glad it sounds like it may have worked 🙂
I have one more question… Things are going well, but we’re a bit worried about Cookie’s wound where she had the surgery, as it’s still delicate and seems to have been scratched a bit by Sybil. It’s healed but the hair hasn’t quite covered it again yet. We don’t want any more damage being done to it, so is there anything you recommend we can do to cover it or protect it?
Hmm, that’s a good question. If I were you, at this point I’d contact your vet to get their opinion. They may say not to worry, or they may recommend keeping them separate until it’s healed. Because, as for covering it, I have no idea – but you want to ensure that it’s safe letting them together if there’s a chance her surgery site could be damaged 🙁