Anyone know about Guinea Pigs?

[ilove2patch]

Amy had two boy Guines pigs up until last night. Peanut has died. They were both the same age from different litters. Nearly two years old. We are reading conflicting things about introducing a new companion. Any advice gratefully received.

[fishpieface]

Ahh, sorry to hear that Patch. 

We used to have ginuea pigs and one of the things that we discovered is that, unless

you are very lucky, a ginuea pig is either well or not alive any more, there seems very little

warning to enable a vet to do something.  That said, my sister in law has them and did

manage to get one to the vet when it wasn't well and it made a full recovery, but they are

few and far between I think.

They don't live for that long, though I'd have said an average of about four years, not two as

you say.

Obviously introducing a female pig will result in lots of little baby piggies, but you should be

ok introducing another male, we've never had any problems doing that.

Unfortunately, unless you ask the vet to do a post-mortem, you are unlikely to find out why

your little piggy died.  It's very sad, bless him.

[ilove2patch]

Peanut had seen the vet but he was unsure what was wrong. He stopped eating & moving around. He was given a pain killing injection but sadly didn't make it. He was always slow to grow so it could have been genetic. They would get another male if they could be sure it would be accepted.

[fishpieface]

I don't think you can ever bee 100% sure until you try, which can be tricky if you haven't got another

cage.  However, one piggy can get lonely by itself especially if he is kept outside with little human

contact.

[chickengrandma-2008]

A shame about peanut, was Amy very upset? I used to keep guinea pigs, always liked them better than rabbits, especially for young children. Apparently the reason they usually die if they're ill is because they're immune to antibiotics because they were literally the 'guinea pigs ' used in research.

[ilove2patch]

They are coming down for a weeks holiday tomorrow & bringing George with them. I have got a hutch for him which I have just scrubbed out with vinegar & water as advised. I think Jackie is going to contact the lady she bought them from for advice as she lives localy.

[chickengrandma-2008]

I wonder if it will work the same way as for chickens? If you put new hens in with established hens there'll be fighting to keep the 'pecking order' but if you put them all in together into a different cage/coop, each one thinks it's the interloper and so keeps it's head down so as not to get picked on! After a couple of days they think that's how it's been since time began! LOL

[ilove2patch]

Interesting. I will tell Jackie.

[chickengrandma-2008]

I used to keep quite a few, but in a group, the didn't seem to mind any new members.  They lived in here in the winter,

[chickengrandma-2008]

And in here in the summer,

[dr-whos-assistant]

If you google to see if there is a local rescue they will let you take yours along to see if he gets on with another one, but don't forget you will be in the same position again in the future do you want to continue keeping them? if not then you might be better off keeping him on his own just give him more attention.

I have one now after my last one died and he seems happy enough, most vets know very little about guinea pigs, I found a guinea pig man who knew far more than any vet and used to trim our pigs teeth without needing to put them to sleep like the majority of vets do 

[ilove2patch]

Thank you all for your advice. I will show Jackie this thread.

[vamo48]

I'm no expert on guinea pigs but do know that they will happily share with a rabbit!

[ilove2patch]

I think that is not recommended now Vamo. I have to say we kept a bunny & a piggie in together years ago & they were fine.

[cat-knitter]

No its not recommended as bunny can kick out at piggy & cause internal injurys

I've had piggies & was always told males will not live happily together unless introduced to each other a a very early age, also most of mine lived between 6 & 8 years but then again they were spoilt & kept indoors between Oct & July

Two yrs isn't very long for a piggy ............. poor Amy

[geranne28]

Doughnut is the guinea pig 'expert' person - but she is moving house at the moment.

She is picking up emails if you need to contact her.

[geranne28]

I have found the guinea pig rescue society that Doughnut supports:

http://www.northeastguineapigrescue.co.uk/

They offer to give advice.

[fishpieface]

We used to have ginuea pigs and rabbits together too and they never came to any harm, in fact they all got on very well

together and, in the summer when outside in their run, they were often joined by our ginger cat (under supervision).

One night he got accidentally locked in the cage and they were all curled up together in the morning.

[fishpieface]

I meant to say that, although about four years seems to be average lifespan, we've had them live for seven or eight years.

[guardpig]

We had a couple of females.  When one died OH came back with a replacement the first time he bought food.  Last lonely one in the cage, being cuddled at the till 'cos it was lonely!!!!!!!  He's soft my OH. When the older one died we passed the younger one on to friends who had multiple rabbits and guineas and she lived a long and happy life.

Which somebody in my family is unlikely to do - just got to identify what is making my keyboard so sticky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!