4boipigs
Junior Guinea Pig
tl;dr - is bonding a baby boar with an adult recommended? Is adopting within days of another pig's death okay?
Sorry if this is rambles a bit. I'm stressed from the unexpected loss.
Yesterday I woke up and my eldest boar had died overnight. His brother (Gimbly) had been in the cage all night with the body, but was acting normally (eating/begging for food) when I went to check on them after I woke up, as I always do. This will be my second experience having to find a new friend for a boar. Gimbly is around 3 yrs old, and extremely gentle. He was so kind to his senior companion (who was much smaller, blind, and in August had eye removal surgery). I want to adopt asap (as soon as today) but I'm afraid it will be difficult to find a boar will not bully Gimbly. I read and watched videos about how bonding young babies to adult boars is easy and a good choice. I understand as the baby reaches its teen phase, it may challenge the other boar and there could be trouble with the bond. Is it true a baby would be a good choice for a bereaved adult boar?
I have 2 options for adopting a new friend...one is the local guinea pig rescue, where Gimbly came from. The bad thing is they're only open Saturdays. I sometimes work Saturdays and my work schedule is varied, so I can't say what days I will get off. If I'm lucky, I could adopt a new brother in 2 weeks. They set aside 3 or 4 hours to do boar bonding with their various boars. Last year, I had to wait a month. In that time, the bereaved pig at that time (who is the boar that passed yesterday) was extremely stressed from the loss of his friend. Gimbly seems fine right now, but I don't want to wait to get a friend.
My other option is to go to the animal shelter. They have many males listed as 'baby' and they will let me do bonding at the shelter. This would likely involve me doing the bonding on my own, since I don't know how well informed the shelter is about guinea pigs. I am very skeptical on how much shelters know about pigs due to a past bad adoption experience. On the positive side, I will be adopting a shelter pig who is in much greater need of a home than a pig who is safe at a dedicated pig rescue.
I'm a little torn on whether to take Gimbly to the vet for a check up. I don't think my boar died of any infectious disease. I only had him a year as he was found abandoned. He was estimated to be 6 or 7 years old. We went to the vet many times for his eye issues which led to his eye removal, so if there was something wrong I trust the vet would have caught it. Physically, I don't see anything wrong with Gimbly.
I will take the new pig to the vet for a new pet visit if I get it from the shelter. That leads me to conflicts to if I should just pick a baby and quarantine, and then bond on my own, or should I bond at the shelter and keep the two together since Gimbly is alone and it's better to get a friend asap?
If all goes well, I'd really like to adopt a new brother today or tomorrow, however if it's better for us I'll also wait for the rescue.
Could anyone also link me to some good articles on young pig care? I have never had a young pig and am seeing conflicting info online on what to feed.
Sorry if this is rambles a bit. I'm stressed from the unexpected loss.
Yesterday I woke up and my eldest boar had died overnight. His brother (Gimbly) had been in the cage all night with the body, but was acting normally (eating/begging for food) when I went to check on them after I woke up, as I always do. This will be my second experience having to find a new friend for a boar. Gimbly is around 3 yrs old, and extremely gentle. He was so kind to his senior companion (who was much smaller, blind, and in August had eye removal surgery). I want to adopt asap (as soon as today) but I'm afraid it will be difficult to find a boar will not bully Gimbly. I read and watched videos about how bonding young babies to adult boars is easy and a good choice. I understand as the baby reaches its teen phase, it may challenge the other boar and there could be trouble with the bond. Is it true a baby would be a good choice for a bereaved adult boar?
I have 2 options for adopting a new friend...one is the local guinea pig rescue, where Gimbly came from. The bad thing is they're only open Saturdays. I sometimes work Saturdays and my work schedule is varied, so I can't say what days I will get off. If I'm lucky, I could adopt a new brother in 2 weeks. They set aside 3 or 4 hours to do boar bonding with their various boars. Last year, I had to wait a month. In that time, the bereaved pig at that time (who is the boar that passed yesterday) was extremely stressed from the loss of his friend. Gimbly seems fine right now, but I don't want to wait to get a friend.
My other option is to go to the animal shelter. They have many males listed as 'baby' and they will let me do bonding at the shelter. This would likely involve me doing the bonding on my own, since I don't know how well informed the shelter is about guinea pigs. I am very skeptical on how much shelters know about pigs due to a past bad adoption experience. On the positive side, I will be adopting a shelter pig who is in much greater need of a home than a pig who is safe at a dedicated pig rescue.
I'm a little torn on whether to take Gimbly to the vet for a check up. I don't think my boar died of any infectious disease. I only had him a year as he was found abandoned. He was estimated to be 6 or 7 years old. We went to the vet many times for his eye issues which led to his eye removal, so if there was something wrong I trust the vet would have caught it. Physically, I don't see anything wrong with Gimbly.
I will take the new pig to the vet for a new pet visit if I get it from the shelter. That leads me to conflicts to if I should just pick a baby and quarantine, and then bond on my own, or should I bond at the shelter and keep the two together since Gimbly is alone and it's better to get a friend asap?
If all goes well, I'd really like to adopt a new brother today or tomorrow, however if it's better for us I'll also wait for the rescue.
Could anyone also link me to some good articles on young pig care? I have never had a young pig and am seeing conflicting info online on what to feed.
