[Gpdd] [BEHAVIOR] : moping pigs

[Louise August]

About pigs moping when separated...

Neville lives alone, but his "luxury suite" is right next to the rest of
the pig clan - he can see, smell and hear them all the time.

When it came time to decorate the Christmas tree Neville's cage was right
where I wanted to stack the boxes of decorations, so I moved him to another
room - just for an hour or so. So I got to decorating but then some friends
came over and several hours later someone said, "hey where's the other
little pig?"

We went to visit him in the other room because the tree still wasn't
finished. He was huddled in the far corner, took no notice of us, and
wouldn't even respond to parsley being waved at him (most unusual for a
normally gregarious little pig). 

So I picked him up, gave him a cuddle. He got pats from the friends and
seemed a bit better, even nibbled a bit of parsley. But I was worried, this
wasn't like him at all. So after the friends left, I hurried to finish the
tree, put the boxes away and brought Neville back. I was going to take him
out again and give him the once-over to see if I could detect anything
wrong. 

Well I didn't get the chance. Before I could set his cage down, he was
hopping and wheeking and generally making like a crazy pig.  I guess it was
separation anxiety or just being alone and lonely. 

Reckon I won't be making that mistake again. I felt so guilty - poor little
guy, he'd never been away from his family before (well except for that trip
to the vet to be neutered, but he's in deep denial about that and claims
not to remember a thing about it). 


Love from all of us,
Louise and her masters, Phineas, Delilah, Hillary, Pandora, Mostly,
Neville, and Mr. Norman, the rat