A very stroppy sow!

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LeahsPiggies

LeahsPiggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I have 5 guinea pigs, all sows (see my avatar.)

I currently have 2 pairs and a single guinea pig. The single piggie is Porche (pronounced Por-sha, see photo below).

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Now Porche I rescued around a year and a half ago from my auntie who didn't keep her in a very good condition. She was never cleaned out, didn't have fresh food, water or hay and was supposedly fed on just pineapple. Her sister had passed away whilst she lived with my auntie, and was left dead in the cage for a number of weeks before someone was forced to remove her. When Porche arrived here, she was very malnourished, eyes and coat were dull and she wasn't in such a good shape. However, I nursed her back to health and she's great now! I originally was planning to bond her with one of my pairs, Pebbles and Pringles who are now 2 years old (3 in November) but despite numerous attempts, all has failed. Pebbles and Porche actually broke out into a full on fight in which I had to separate to prevent any injury, and they were returned to their hutches immediately. All bonding was done on completely neutral territory.

I decided to try again a couple of months later, in which I used a different neutral territory. Everything was well for around an hour, but when I put the 3 of them in a box to travel back to their hutches, Pebbles and Porche had yet another squabble and fur was flying. So I decided not to attempt the bond again as it was obvious that those 2 had a problem with each other. Pringles just wanted it over with bless her, but Porche did occasionally nip and pull hair from Pringles for no reason.

At the time, I also had a guinea pig named Poppy, who is now sadly at the Rainbow Bridge. I attempted to bond the 2 together as they were both single sows, but unfortunetely, Porche didn't like her and was nipping, pulling hair etc and I had to split them straight away as Poppy had an ongoing illness in which I didn't want her to go through any pain or stress. Poppy did get another partner though, who we named Pixie. When Poppy passed away, we got Pixie another friend who is called Bella.

I havn't yet tried bonding Porche with Pixie and Bella, as i've been nervous ever since the fights and squabbles. It's definitely Porche who doesn't like other guinea pigs and I find it a shame as it's not nice for her to be alone, although she doesn't seem to mind and still seems happy.

Does anyone have any tips, to either try again with Pebbles and Pringles or try fresh with Pixie and Bella .. Or do you think she's fine being alone?

Pixie and Bella don't have the strongest relationship in the world as it is, so i'd hate for anything to seperate them completely. But at the same time, I don't want anything coming in between Pebbles and Pringles relationship because they're inseperable! ..

Thank you.
 
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It's a difficult one to be honest. It sounds like she is a very feisty piggie, can she have a cage so she can she and hear the other piggies? While it can be deemed as unfair to have her living singularly, it is also unfair to have her in with your other girls and causing issues and even bullying them and making them upset.

Some piggies are fine on their own and while it is not ideal it works for them. Another thing to try if you can is to take her to a rescue that offers piggie dating, they would be able to help Porche find a friend that she gets along with and help take the stress out of bonding for you.

Here is a Link to Piggy Bank rescues, I think The Potteries are your closest, Helen there is lovely http://www.facebook.com/l.php?*=http://goo.gl/maps/mKDT&h=LAQGEOpJQ&s=1

Hope that helps a little and you can get something sorted out for your beautiful little monkey x)
 
Hello,

Just wanted to wish you luck with whatever you decide to do, whilst I agree with sport billy in part about her being feisty and what you don't want is her upsetting the rest of your girls, I would also be willing to try and get her a friend. I would if you are able to get there,contact The potteries, as like me you're in Cheshire I think it is your nearest reputable rescue- and can higgly recommend it!
You may be able to get some advice about bonding your piggies from the rescue, even if you decide not to get her a friend.
 
klee said:
You may be able to get some advice about bonding your piggies from the rescue, even if you decide not to get her a friend.
Click to expand...

That's a very good idea also! Rescues do lots of bondings so know what to look for.

Will point Wiebke this way to your post also
 
Sadly, some sows just won't bond well with other girls or are better off just in a pair. I have just had to split my ASBO teddy sow from my big group after a bullying campaign; thankfully, she has now bonded with my grumpy older teddy (who would not bond with either my elderlies group or my cataract group, but who had developed a persistent skin problem :( ).

Perhaps you may want to try and date her with a preferably gentle, submissive neutered boar instead of a sow? The RSPCA Walsall offer mixed gender dating under expert supervision and they have a boar neutering policy, so that may be the best place for you to give it a try, as they usually have several boars looking for a sow-wife. You should see very quickly whether it is a viable option or not. http://www.rspca-walsall.org.uk/page7a.html

At the worst, it is always an option to just let her live alongside other piggies, so she has her own patch, but is not lonely. I am sorry that you have come across such a difficult customer! Very occasionally there are piggies that won't get on with any others and that even rescues struggle to pair up for months or even years - at worst ever.

I wouldn't try her with any other of your girls if things are that unpromising still after such a long time with you. You are doing your best, but sometimes that is all you can do, but I wouldn't recommend upsetting a working pair just for the sake of it.
 
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Thank you so much everyone :)

She's always been around guinea pigs whilst she been here because she lives in the shed with my other 4 girls. There is 2 hutches next to each other then one underneath which is Porche's so she can still smell/see the other pigs.

She's never shown any signs of being depressed or lonely, she just acts normal although I don't like to see guinea pigs on their own.

I have thought about getting her a really young sow but I don't know if it'd be worth it incase she didn't like her, then i'd have 2 singles!

And I also have considered a neutered boar which will probably be my best bet if I take her to a rescue for speed dating. I've never owned boars before!

BUT, my remaining problem is i'd have 6 guinea pigs, which costs more in vet bills, food, etc although that isn't a problem as we buy 10kg bags. I'd love another but I really don't know if I could have the time for all 6 :( .. Hmmm
 
i have six in one group of two and one group of 4 Was going to put all six together but my oldest girl in the four is a pain in the butt and constantly showing dominant behaviour The other three just leave her alone She is a large piggie and hoping the 3 month olds dont try and challenge her as they get older The other two are 6 months old and decided not to risk upsetting the 4 and ending up with seperates They have their own room The two are in a 3x3 and the 4 in a 5x3 No more space for cages for seperates if the 4 get upset . It is difficult to decide what to do but after speaking to another experienced member she thought same as me
 
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