Progress and pain!

[AmysAnimals]

Well, today Oscar and I had a breakthrough!! I cant help but share this news with others since it made me absolutely ecstatic! Oscars a very shy piggy but today, he actually sat on my lap for TWO HOURS straight! He seemed perfectly content watching television with momma. This has never happened before. Usually, Oscar tinkles and squirms during laptime but today he was a complete angel. He sat with me looking all over the room, watching the television and staring at our pet fish. He was so amazed by the fish flitzing around in their tank that he literally put his front paws on the tank and was looking in watching their every move! It was so comical, I think he may be a fish at heart. His head followed them in any direction they would move. Has anyone ever gotten a pet for their pet? Hehe, just kidding.

When I was taking him back up to his cage for a potty break he started to bite my arm. This isnt out of the ordinary, he does it fairly often whenever we get near the cage. Normally when he hops in his cage he runs straight for the pigloo but this time he actually decided to run around the cage! Today was such a great and progressive day.

I did have one problem. Im use to being bitten by Oscar when we get near his cage but this time those bites have swollen up into welts. Im not sure why this is but Im a bit concerned. I wanted to ask if anyone else has had this problem. Has anyone ever gotten a piggy bite that has swollen into a welt before?

[BABY'S MOM]

I don't know anything about welts, but I'm really glad that Oscar's making progress.

Congrats to Oscar, and I hope you're welts are better soon.

[piggieluver101]

Awww, hope you didn't go thru 3 pants and 5 shirts! lol

[guineapiggoddess]

Glad to hear of the success! Haha, my grandma got another cat for her cat as his pet so he could leave her alone.

[emily111897]

Congratulations!! Sorry, I know nothing about the welts...

[SkippyNXC]

Hmm... the first things that spring to mind are infection or allergic reaction... i'd make sure it's kept cleaned and put some anti-bac ointment on it. I'm really not sure tho...

i'm waiting for the first day when one of my piggies bite me. I know it's going to happen sooner or later as they're still reallly nervous of me.

[guineapiggoddess]

The only time one of my pigs bit me was when I was holding all three at the same time. Precious bit me but was aiming for Goofball. Ouch.

[AmysAnimals]

The welts went away for the most part but I still have little bite marks all up my arm haha. I think the bites swelled up because the area he bit me is tender and the pressure made it swell. Ive come to the conclusion that Oscar is just a natural born biter. Ive tried so many techniques such as making a loud "yip" noise when he bites, telling him calmly that it hurts, puffing air at him, taking him away from his cage when he bites (I saw this trick actually on a dog training show where if your dog acts up while walking or something, turn the dog around in the other direction to show it that by acting up it will not get what it wants), putting nasty tasting things on my arm such as vinegar, and double-triple checking him for any sign of pests. He's just a spoiled bossy little piggy and when he sees what he wants, he'll let you know he wants it NOW.

Ive lost that battle, but I think Im slowly winning the war.

[guineapiggoddess]

Haha, I seen that dog training show! Attack of the ANKLE BITERS!

[Toadies]

I got my dog a dog and I have 7 cats that are sort of little tribes, you know, 2 here, 3 there, 2 elsewhere. And, of course, I have two piggies.

The welts are very likely an allergic reaction as guinea pigs are one of the most allergic pets that we keep. I used to care for sugar gliders and when their tiny nails scratched me, I would swell up some for a day or two.

Congrats on the progress. It is so gratifying when you win a creature over.