[Gpdd] SILLY: A pig protest?

[Sandra Oliver-Poore]

Sammy staged a pig-in for several days preceding the passing of our precious
Australian Princess. As soon as we heard about it, I lit the candle and
tucked Sammy under my chin so we could say our words and share grief. He
wouldn't hear of it, pitched a fit till I put him back home. Since then he
has calmed down. As much as I believe in psychic connections, the smartest
thing to do is look for a real here-and-now physical cause.

It could be a squabble over dominance but more likely, in my experience you
should look long and hard for a deficiency in their cage size, set-up, and
food and water supply. I used to have a very large CLC setup with a herd of
sows occupying their castle. If there wasn't enough food, or if the water
bottles were empty or dirty or if they were crowded or the cage was dirty
the boss sow would pitch a fit and if that didn't work she would break out. 

It's not that hard as the opening was merely an overlap of three cubes. Even
though she could get out whenever she wanted, she never did unless she felt
she had to care for her charges. Then out she would come after deftly prying
apart the "gate", and after her in the exact same order, every time would
come the whole herd. That is except we had some Dalmatian ladies who came
out at the very end but as soon as they were out they would head for the
hills, go their own way. Once discovered the whole line would about face and
race back into the cage in the exact same backwards order except for the
Dalmatians who would try to jam their way in in any order. It was so funny
it was all I could do not to laugh. Since I knew there would be a cause I
didn't enjoy too long and went to figure out the problem. It was usually
water. Even though I had  multiple bottle set up they could run out since
there was two of us caring for them, so especially if one got clogged or the
lid loosened and dumped all over one end of the cage, making a mess along
with a water shortage.
So take a good look, change the waters, and clean the cage. I would guess
that the ladies were upset with the toilet facilities since they dragged it
into the center of the cage. They are the ones that set the limits, we only
have to obey.

One other quickie, the Penny Giggles would all start eating hay like crazy
when I came along and picked up the bottles to wash. They knew they were
going to get fresh yummy water to wash down the hay so they started munching
immediately. Funny yes, but I had to work faster cause freshly filled
piggies meant I didn't have long to provide freshly filled bottles as they
would need that water pretty quickly. I got in the habit of setting out wide
bowls of water so the added chlorine from the water system would evaporate
and of course, I would clean any bleach out the washed bottles as soon and
as thoroughly as possible. 

Penny Giggles and Piggie TV I missed them so much! But I do love my Sammy
and AR,   Sandy