Bonding

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Kerrie

Hi,

I'm new to the forums!

I've seen the bonding guide but I wanted to explain about my guinea pigs and ask about the baby boar we have.

We have three boars, two around 22 months old who are already bonded (the rescue said they're brothers), they were from a pet rescue and one around 4 months old. We did introduce them but the baby boar (Storm) kept trying to hump Big E and Sheamus, which I know is normal but it's possible Sheamus has a brain lesion which he got previous to him adopting him, so we didn't want to stress him out, not only that, Sheamus gets ill from time to time and Big E obviously catches it off of him depending on what it is, so we don't really want to put Storm with them because of this.

I explained the above so people understand why we are reluctant to bond him with our other two boars.

My question is... is it better to bond Storm with an older or younger guinea pig?

I'm very reluctant to ask the rescue that I got Sheamus and Big E and probably wouldn't adopt from them again.. wrong information about our boars, lies told about Sheamus and his weight and both guinea pigs getting ill not long after we adopted them is a bit off putting.

Thanks in advance
 
I do understand how you feel about the rescue. I went though the same. I got to boars from the blue cross. They told me to bed them on strew :no: I have only had them just over a week when i took one of them to the vet. He just didnt seam right. My vet said that he had a massive lump inside he's tummy and that the recrues vet should of easily noticed. Sadly he died that night.My vet phoned them up and put in a complaint. That was a year ago and I still get upset thinking the poor boy was suffering and no one helped him.
So one on here will be able to give you so good advice. Hope you find him a friend soon
 
I am very sorry that the rescue you used was not a piggy savvy good standard one. Unfortunately, there is no licence or official standard, so anybody can call themselves rescue (the same goes for breeders, by the way). Sadly, many general recsues like the RSPCA or the Blue Cross are often not particularly piggy savvy, either. We have included those branches that are.
That is the reason why we have started a list of good standard guinea pig rescues on the top bar that are safe to use because they have a mandatory quarantine/medical care, pregnancy watch, experience with bonding and a good standard throughout the whole process from arrival to rehoming.

Where are you located? If you can take your little boy to one of the recommended rescues, you will be in good hands to find him a character compatible friend who he clicks with. That can be both an older or younger boar. If you cannot date/meet and greet, then a younger boar is usually a safer bet, even though there is a higher risk of potential fall-outs when the two hit the teenage hormones.

Could you please add your country, state or (for the UK) your county to your details. With members from all over he world, we find it a great help in giving the appropriate advice and recommendations straight away. Click on your username on the top bar, then go personal details and scroll down to location. Thanks!
 
Sorry I've only just replied, I thought you got an email when someone responded to your post!

I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your guinea pig :( how sad. I thought you could trust those kinds of places because they are meant to be rescue centers, obviously not.

I live in Nottingham, England. Changed it on my profile :) I think... lol.

I would tell you the name of the rescue but I don't know if they look at forums and things.

Firstly when we got the boys she never let us pick them she did that for us and the woman told us that the one who isn't really sociable is sociable and said he was easy to handle... that wasn't the case, he runs off, he moans when you pick him up, he sometimes tries to bite, yes he does nibble but he tries to bite also, the other one is brilliant. So that was the first thing she did wrong..

Also one of them was always smaller than the other, no matter how much he ate he didn't seem any bigger, then they both got conjunctivitis and of course the stuff I was using was being blamed by the rescue even though it was just normal hay and wood shavings, we took them to the vets and got that sorted out, a few weeks later I woke up one morning and went to check on the boys as I always do when I get up and I noticed the smaller one had a bad head tilt, it freaked me out and I burst out crying, we got him into the PDSA who said he had a nasty ear infection, his eye was rolling as well and the vet said that it's possible he has a brain lesion caused by his previous owners neglect, he said that the reason he was eating so much is because his body was trying to fight off what was going on with him, a week later he hadn't pick up and he sounded like he had a cold, so we got him into the PDSA again who said he had a URI... *sigh* after two weeks he started to pick up with checks at the PDSA, then the other one caught the URI but not nearly as bad. That cleared up and a month or so later the smaller one got an ear infection... again to the vets and more meds, he picked up again, and then we noticed he kept scratching his ear (in fact he scratches everywhere?), he was taken to the vet again because we thought he had a problem with his teeth this time but the vet was too busy checking his ears and taking swabs to see if he has mites, no mites, but he gave him an injection just in case... he's still scratching, the other one doesn't scratch nearly as much as the smaller one. They also may have a cold again... the smaller one has to go back on Friday (this week) so I'm going to send a note with my son pointing out the different things I've noticed, if he does have a cold then I'll take the other one to the other vets (it's hard to get appointments at the PDSA because it's charity run). Luckily he has put weight on now and isn't a bad size, he's still not as big as his brother and we've noticed he poops a lot more than his brother as well. Oh yeah.. they claimed that the smaller one was the same size as the other, he never was, if he was I wouldn't have commented on the fact he was eating so much but not putting weight on.

So that's why I'm very reluctant to go back to that guinea pig rescue. I was told they were vet checked etc. Plus while the smaller one was ill they came to my house and put mite drops on him without asking me first.. they aren't vet trained and in my opinion shouldn't be doing that.

PS

smaller one = Sheamus, the bigger one = Big E and the baby = Storm :D
 
This might sound silly, but it worth a try. When I got albie he was 8wks old and I had a lot of problems with him sneezing and a very runny nose and always scratching. Vet gave him antibiotics and a injection for mites even though he couldn't see any sights of mites. This went on the weeks. Someone on here said it could be his bedding as he was on wood shaving. I put him on old towels that day. The next day he was 100% well. After a 4 days I tried him on shaving again and by the end of the day he was snotty again. So we can't use wood. This might help.
 
Kerrie said:
Sorry I've only just replied, I thought you got an email when someone responded to your post!

I'm very sorry to hear about what happened to your guinea pig :( how sad. I thought you could trust those kinds of places because they are meant to be rescue centers, obviously not.

I live in Nottingham, England. Changed it on my profile :) I think... lol.

I would tell you the name of the rescue but I don't know if they look at forums and things.

Firstly when we got the boys she never let us pick them she did that for us and the woman told us that the one who isn't really sociable is sociable and said he was easy to handle... that wasn't the case, he runs off, he moans when you pick him up, he sometimes tries to bite, yes he does nibble but he tries to bite also, the other one is brilliant. So that was the first thing she did wrong..

Also one of them was always smaller than the other, no matter how much he ate he didn't seem any bigger, then they both got conjunctivitis and of course the stuff I was using was being blamed by the rescue even though it was just normal hay and wood shavings, we took them to the vets and got that sorted out, a few weeks later I woke up one morning and went to check on the boys as I always do when I get up and I noticed the smaller one had a bad head tilt, it freaked me out and I burst out crying, we got him into the PDSA who said he had a nasty ear infection, his eye was rolling as well and the vet said that it's possible he has a brain lesion caused by his previous owners neglect, he said that the reason he was eating so much is because his body was trying to fight off what was going on with him, a week later he hadn't pick up and he sounded like he had a cold, so we got him into the PDSA again who said he had a URI... *sigh* after two weeks he started to pick up with checks at the PDSA, then the other one caught the URI but not nearly as bad. That cleared up and a month or so later the smaller one got an ear infection... again to the vets and more meds, he picked up again, and then we noticed he kept scratching his ear (in fact he scratches everywhere?), he was taken to the vet again because we thought he had a problem with his teeth this time but the vet was too busy checking his ears and taking swabs to see if he has mites, no mites, but he gave him an injection just in case... he's still scratching, the other one doesn't scratch nearly as much as the smaller one. They also may have a cold again... the smaller one has to go back on Friday (this week) so I'm going to send a note with my son pointing out the different things I've noticed, if he does have a cold then I'll take the other one to the other vets (it's hard to get appointments at the PDSA because it's charity run). Luckily he has put weight on now and isn't a bad size, he's still not as big as his brother and we've noticed he poops a lot more than his brother as well. Oh yeah.. they claimed that the smaller one was the same size as the other, he never was, if he was I wouldn't have commented on the fact he was eating so much but not putting weight on.

So that's why I'm very reluctant to go back to that guinea pig rescue. I was told they were vet checked etc. Plus while the smaller one was ill they came to my house and put mite drops on him without asking me first.. they aren't vet trained and in my opinion shouldn't be doing that.

PS

smaller one = Sheamus, the bigger one = Big E and the baby = Storm :D
Click to expand...

They are lovely boys!

I would strongly recommend to either use Honeybunnies near Leicester (off junction M1/M69) or Cavy Corner Sanctuary in Doncaster; you will be in very safe hands with either rescue! We can guarantee that they are operating to very high standard of care at every stage of the rescue/rehoming process and that neither rescue owner is at the same time active in breeding circles.
You can get the contact details on the top bar; they are also present on facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/cavycorner
https://www.facebook.com/pages/HONEYBUNNIES-RABBIT-GUINEA-PIG-RESCUE/167230579241

You can set any thread or section you have started yourself or that you have an interest in on email or alert notification. Click on "Watch thread" or "Watch section" on the right above thread/section to set your personal preferences. We haven't set the default to automatic email notification for this forum. It is too active for that and would generate too many emails for our most regular users.
 
PS: It would be good if you started a thread in our health/illness section re. your ongoing health issues. That section is specifically monitored by some very experienced people from various backgrounds.
 
Ok I will, thank you very much for the advice.

Leicester might be a better place because it's closer, non of us drive, but my son might be able to get a friend to take him :)

In regards to the bedding, we were using wood shavings at first, but as you've said my piggies were sneezing, so we changed it to megazorb, but the bag didn't last that long so now they have fleece which shouldn't be scented when I wash it (I can't smell anything at least). Could it be their hay? I do try and get dust free but because I have anxiety disorders I have to rely on others to get it for me.
 
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