~PerianArdocyl

I was online, so I thought I'd post this. It's something my guinea pig, Blue, has never done before.

Lately, when refilling her food bowl, if it doesn't have hardly anything left in it, I just dump it in her bedding, refill it, and place the bowl over the mess.

But I guess today, Blue had other plans, because she actually nosed the bowl aside and started on the remains of yesterday's food, completely ignoring the fresh food right beside her.

Watching her now, she doesn't even seem to want the food in the bowl. After picking off the old food, she plops her head down cutely for a nap (aw, I wish I could show you guys!).

What I want to know, being the animal behaviour analyst I am, is why won't she touch the food in the bowl? I know she didn't soil it, because I've been here the whole time; I would've seen it.

The only reason I can think of is that she noticed that I gave her less today, half of what I usually put in. She is a rodent... so maybe she was instinctively making the most of her food supply, believing I wouldn't be replenishing it until the next day.

Then again, I did notice a strange mark under her chin the other day. If that thing on her nose really is a fungus, could this mark be? And could it be interfering with her ability to get at low-lying food in the bowl?

Unfortuneately, I'm going to have to disturb her nap, so I can check if that mark is still there... if it is, I have something to be more than just interested about.

(jeez, don't you just hate it when I go all monologue-y?)