Hello, I’m Pippin, and I’m a guinea pig. Today I’m going to talk about Signs, what to look for that show you what we mean or feel. Also, I need to tell you about Sows. That will be quite a short paragraph.

We’re helping out our Mummy, Jemima Pett, who is doing the A2Z this year by putting together all the posts we’ve done here on George’s Guinea Pig World, to make a book on Guinea Pig Care from A to Z. You can see her posts here: jemimapett.com/blog/. We’re filling in the gaps this month.

Signs we’re happy

A lot of people know that we popcorn. It was the first thing one of the girls where I was born ever saw me do, so she called me Popcorn. That’s a baby’s name, isn’t it, so Mummy changed it to Pippin. Popcorning is when we jump in the air and turn around. Or sometimes just buck like a horse and land the same way. It might even include a shake of the head and a twist of the body, if you’ve been running fast and stay in the air long enough. Most pigs can do it when they are running around, so it’s very common in young pigs. As we grow older we look wisely on the youngsters, but save our energy for more important things, like eating grass. Ronnie and Reggie did a bit of popcorning when they first came and found out how big their run is, but they’ve settled down now.

Most of the time we don’t really show we’re happy, but if we don’t show any other signs, we probably are.

Purring is a happy sound. Mostly done when sitting on Mummy’s lap being stroked. It’s very much like a cat. But don’t mix it up with the churring sound. Before we’re really confident of purring, we may vibrate. There’s nothing wrong with us if we do that.

Signs we’re trying to communicate

We’re famous for “Wheek! Wheek! Wheek!” It’s a demand for attention, and preferably food. Especially if you’re late. (We can also wheek when in pain, but hopefully you won’t hear that.)

Yes, we can hear perfectly when the fridge door opens or you rustle a bag of veggies. And we are not stupid. We know there’s a good chance that even if it’s destined for us, we can persuade you to bring some over for a treat.

We sometimes make a churring sound when we’re not happy with something. It’s more questioning than purring (which is a satisfied sound). It could be that we’re not happy with something in the cage, or with our cagemate who is sitting where we want to sit (when it often sounds petulant, Mummy says, but I don’t know what that means). Fred made a churring noise once and Mummy found a big spider in his cage. She removed it and Fred was happy.

Crying is a sort of repetitive ‘woe is me’, Mummy says. It may indicate something is wrong (like it hurting to wee) but it also means we’re telling our cagemate to move over because we want to sit there, or get past him. Rumbling and growling, and rumble strutting, which is when you rumble and wiggle your bum, are all signs of aggression towards another pig. Watch us to see if one is going to back off. If not, get one into another cage before a fight breaks out.

We may come to the side of the cage and stand up on it. That means we want something. Usually a treat, but some settle for a head scritch. A scritch is when you do the middle top of our heads, and scratch is bigger. Some pigs are very good climbers, so make sure they have a big barriers that they can’t climb over, unless they are on the floor and you don’t mind them climbing out.

The Stare. Fred had several different types of stare, which Mummy called the Fred Look. She had to work out what he meant, and she says it was often different. But he was communicating with her. Roscoe and George and Dylan were also good at it, but apparently Dylan didnt usually bother to stare for long, just got on with doing whatever he wanted. Locksley got quite good at the Stare, and Mummy usually replied with “What?” after which he’d stop and go off and do something else. I think it was a game for him.

Signs we might be unwell

If you have a pig that never reacts to the sounds of food coming, or loud noises, he might be deaf. It’s not a problem, and most of the time it isn’t an illness, but best to take him to a vet just in case… probably when you need to take someone else, to save on a journey. If your non-reactive pig also shakes his head a lot, take him straight away. He might just need drops in his ears to clear something up.

If we are sitting sadly, all fluffed up, then we may be unwell. Check us over, and if there’s nothing obvious, try us on metacam before phoning the vet. But if we are still fluffed up an hour or so after metacam, get us to the vet. If we have an enlarged front, round the chest area, take us straight to the vet, it may be a common heart problem that needs urgent action. Ask for an emergency appointment if necessary.

Snotty noses are often a sign of a breathing problem. If it’s dribbling, take to the vet. If its dry, monitor and see if it continues before taking to the vet. Sometimes these things clear up on their own.

Limping, wincing if our hips or spine are pressed: signs of injury. Vet visit needed. Your call on whether it’s emergency or urgent, or ‘not sure if I’m over-reacting.’ Most vets would rather have a false alarm than an emergency.

Not eating/drinking. If we are off our food, even hay, it’s a bad sign. It may just be time for a dental, and our teeth are hurting our mouths, but it could also be something more serious, like blockages somewhere inside. Vet urgently, and syringe us some water to make sure we don’t dehydrate. See Syringe feeding, which we are doing later.

Losing weight. You are weighing us weekly aren’t you? Monthly is okay if we’re well, but it can easily change fast. Losing weight often means we aren’t eating, and that means something is wrong. It’s probably your easiest sign to spot. Mummy has noticed that older pigs seem to to drop about 100 grams over a period of months and then settle at a new lower weight. So if they are just losing a little, and they are four or more, and don’t show any other signs, don’t worry too much. But if they drop 40 grams in a week, that’s getting serious.

I’m sure there are more signs we might be unwell, but those are the most obvious.

Sows

All the tips in this project are talking about boars… boy pigs, like me and all those in the pictures here. Apparently there are girl pigs, or sows. I knew some once, my mum, sisters Nancy and Sandy, but I was only a few weeks old when I left them. Sows are like boars but they are able to produce babies. So don’t put a boy with them unless the boy has been neutered by the vet. If not, you get babies like me born by mistake. (Is that a bad thing, Mummy? It is if there are more babies born than there are people who want them, which is how it works out, unfortunately.)

But Sows tend to live in bigger groups than boars, without getting cross with each other. I still can’t run around with Ronnie, although Reggie and I get on fine. Yet Mummy had the famous Jubilee Seven who got on fine for their free time – but lived in pairs. That tends to be an exception. Roscoe, Neville and Biggles got on fine together, and Roscoe, Neville and Bertie got on okay together after Bertie calmed down a bit. Yet Roscoe and Neville preferred to live in a pair, not a threesome. Bertie and Biggles were brothers and they fell out with each other when they were about six months old. Apparently sows mostly get on with each other, in even bigger groups. Sometimes they don’t, but it’s less often.

I don’t know if sows have different health care needs, or give different signs to their carers. Apart from things to do with having babies, Mummy thinks not, but says we ought to have a discussion with Auntie Doris about it. Then we can write about Sows Signs and Health needs.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow it will be Today! No, it’ll probably be Teeth or something else beginning with T.

Love

Pippin xxx

PS Mummy thought we were doing Syringe Feeding today. I wonder how we’re going to fit that in?