female op, putting her back with her sister

Question
QUESTION: hi there , i emailed you a while ago re my tiny sow who had had 2 ops, stone removal and spayed due to severe internal bleeding. she wasnt drinking but eating. she is now drinking the same amount as before the op and very well. she is now wheeking again and running round her cage popcorning !! she is much more bright and alert and her scar is healing very well. i am due to clean their cages out tomorrow and was wondering if it would be ok to try and introduce her back with her sister as they are constantly at the grid that i put up to separate them while she was resting, sniffing each other and making noises. if so how do you think the best way to do this would be ? i would love for them to get back to living together again.
many thanks
michelle xxx

ANSWER: I'm so happy to hear that she's recovered so well. I think she's ready to return to her sister's cage, but it might be wise to stand near for the first hour or so to make sure there's no confrontation of any kind. You might try giving the 'patient' a bath first to remove any surgical odors that might be lingering and that might make her smell like an alien to her sister. If they get along okay without any sign of aggression they should be ready to resume normal lives again.

I'd love to hear how it works out. Please let me know.

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QUESTION: great thanks i will give them both a bath so they both smell the same before putting them in a neutral area to see how they get on. i know there still might be some bottom sniffing and nudging etc to start with. the ' patient ' used to be the more dominant before in the relationship, would this be the same or will they try to re-astablish the ranking order ?
michelle xx

ANSWER: That's hard to say. Very often a dominant animal remains dominant because that's just their personalities. A little like we humans I suppose. So it will most likely be a wait and see situation.  

As you say, there is probably going to be a little pushing and shoving, but the girls may surprise you and just live happily ever after. I suspect they'll just go back to life as usual.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for your answer. well i bathed them together yesterday and dried them off and left them on a clean towl in the bath tub with a bowl of hay. they started eatiing together but generally ignoring each other. after an hour i decided to put them back into the totally clean cage which i have re arranged as well. they went back and forth to the different food bowls eating together. after a few hours there was a tiny bit of nose and bottom sniffing and rasing of heads, the patient being the higher one, so you were right it seems she is still alpha female. they have been together all night and i slept in the living on the sofa just incase but both seem fine this morning. lots of wheeking for breakie and then they spent five minutes playing chase me , the odd 1 or 2 nips , but they used to do that before , the patient being the one who nips so just really showing she is boss, but now just laying down together in their log cabin so seems the bathing together technique worked. xxxx

Answer
That's awesome.  I love to see the grown pigs playing chase me, chase me. Mine will do it too. They suddenly race around their cages as fast as they can two or three times, then stop as if to say, "You want to see it again?" I love it.

That's proof positive that they're happy and healthy pigs. Good job Michelle!.