Meet Barley, our cute but socially inept guinea pig

Post Reply
TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Sat Aug 11, 2012 12:35 am


So. I think our boys need anxiety meds and group therapy. None of them are fighting for dominance, but they're all scaring each other beyond reason. Barley likes to walk around and nose the other guys when they're sleeping, like he's checking on them. This wakes them up and freaks them out. Milo and Frost like to eat hay and drink water while Barley is sleeping. This wakes Barley up and freaks him out.

We're spending a lot of time reassuring everyone that they're safe, but they're all getting paranoid and worried. Barley is the ninth pig to join our household and I can honestly say we've never seen anything like this before.

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Sun Aug 12, 2012 4:19 pm


Yesterday, we came home to find Frost screaming his head off, hoping we would rescue him from Barley. Frost had not been eating or drinking because he was hyperalert, and was shaky when we took him out of the cage. I fed him critical care and syringed him water and we took turns holding him so that he could nap, which he did for almost two hours. He was that tired.

So, Barley is temporarily separated again. Barley and Milo were getting along well. I think we'll give them floor time. We're watching Frost to make sure there are no other serious health problems going on. We just don't need our senior pig getting sick with worry - literally - because of the new guy.

User avatar
Bugs Mom

Post   » Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:35 pm


Poor Frost. I agree he doesn't need that kind of drama in his later years. I hope Barley manages to figure things out soon.

User avatar
AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:55 pm


I think I love Barley. He can come be socially inept with Snickers. Snickers will teach him to burp and crush beer cans on his forehead!

TwoWhitePiggies

Post   » Sun Aug 12, 2012 9:40 pm


Barley could use a Snickers in his life!

User avatar
Hunybee

Post   » Mon Aug 13, 2012 6:54 am


I think Barley should come live with Rosie. She could groom him into shape.

User avatar
skooters mommy

Post   » Mon Aug 13, 2012 11:35 pm


Oh my~Barley is just adorable!! He will have a wonderful life with you.

User avatar
TWP_2

Post   » Tue Aug 14, 2012 8:51 pm


They are separated, but I took Frost and Barley to the vet today.

Results of the cage fighting:

Frost has an abraded/injured eye with minor surface wounds around it. It seems to be "OK", but we are to continue the topical opthalmic ointment on his eyelids for the superficial wounds, and we are going to give him some NSAID drops in his eye to help with discomfort and swelling. We are also going to keep him on daily metacam until the visit next week.

Barley has a swelling in his cheek, which I just noticed today as I was getting Frost ready to go to the vet. It feels like an abscess to me. The vet could not identify a wound, but suspects it was either a bite during a fight or a hay stick. The vet is taking this one pretty seriously, and is concerned about it. Barley gets baytril, metacam, and probiotic until his return visit, plus warm and cold compresses two to three times a day to try and get the lump to either erupt or diminish.

*sigh*

User avatar
Bethie
Still supporting in 2014

Post   » Wed Aug 15, 2012 8:11 am


Oh Barley. Your boys are just unbelievable! I hope they both heal up okay and learn to live in peace and happiness. Silly pigs.

User avatar
violagirl3

Post   » Wed Aug 15, 2012 11:40 am


I'm sorry the boys aren't getting along, but I have to say that Barley is adorable! His social ineptness sounds very like my Bartleby, who weighs almost 8 ounces less than Neo but still hasn't learned what his boundaries are.

User avatar
Piggywig

Post   » Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:02 pm


I'm so sorry about the fight and resulting injuries. Sounds like Barley may be a neighbor forever. I hope everyone heals quickly.

User avatar
Princess Aurora

Post   » Wed Aug 15, 2012 2:09 pm


Oh no! I'm so sorry for boys are having so many problems understanding each other and living together. :-(
This reminds me when we first adopted Juanito and he arrived to mess things around with the girls so much, since they'd never been with a male before, so they started to be very sexually aggressive, both against him and against each other. Eventually they accepted him but for weeks Hairballie was sort of death scared of Juanito and avoided any contact with him! I even had to build a sort of extra cage for her on the second floor with pellets, water and hay, because she just didn't want to go to the first floor to eat.

I really hope this all had just been a scare for you two and that these injuries will be curable and easy to leave behind.
(((hugs)))

Post Reply