Breaking the Cycle?

Muffin's great

Muffin's great

New Born Pup
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I have a random question, but if guinea pigs can't really ever be alone how do you ever stop owning guinea pigs? Every time you have a lone pig, you have to get a new one or more so they're not sad. But what if you've been raising a group of pigs for a while, they slowly start to get older and die off and your left with only one. But besides caring for that pig until it passes, you don't really want to be a guinea pig owner anymore. Are your only options getting more pigs, or getting rid of a best friend? How do you break the cycle? (This is all hypothetical by the way, I currently have three young pigs and don't plan on not being a guinea pig owner any time soon.)
 
Some rescues do fostering, so you can foster a pig that gets on with your lone pig and then when your pig dies, the foster pig goes back to the rescue. I took in my sisters lone pig when her cage-mate died so that broke they cycle for her.
 
didn't you know guinea pigs are a lifetime commitment! 🤣 I think it's all part of their plan they're in your house now and your heart forever and both will be empty and soulless without them. when you first fell in love with your first piggie they paved the way for future generations securing the success of their species FOREVER.
 
I think a lot would depend on the guinea pig in question.
Keeping them alone is never ideal, but if you have an older pig or one with a medical history then keeping them alone may be the best option for them.
If not then handing your remaining single piggy to a rescue for rehoming is one option, or fostering a companion from a rescue until your own piggy passes and then giving the foster piggy back.
Here in Switzerland there are places that do piggy 'rentals'. You can borrow a piggy for as long as you need and then return it.
But we also don't have rescues here, so to avoid breaking the law and keeping a single piggy is is a necessary service.
 
Swissgreys said:
I think a lot would depend on the guinea pig in question.
Keeping them alone is never ideal, but if you have an older pig or one with a medical history then keeping them alone may be the best option for them.
If not then handing your remaining single piggy to a rescue for rehoming is one option, or fostering a companion from a rescue until your own piggy passes and then giving the foster piggy back.
Here in Switzerland there are places that do piggy 'rentals'. You can borrow a piggy for as long as you need and then return it.
But we also don't have rescues here, so to avoid breaking the law and keeping a single piggy is is a necessary service.
Click to expand...

Genuine question, where does a guinea pig like Ruby fit into that?
 
Lorcan said:
Genuine question, where does a guinea pig like Ruby fit into that?
Click to expand...
When you have a 'difficult' guinea pig like Ruby they technically don't fit into the equation at all.
Ruby does live alone - she has fallen out with 5 other guinea pigs (that she had previously lived with in various configurations), and has had 3 additional failed bondings in the never ending search for a companion.
However Ruby does love contact with other piggies through the bars, so we have maximized that in her current cage set up.
So in this case we could prove (if necessary) to the animal welfare that Ruby is simply not able to live with other guinea pigs, but we do provide her with contact and interaction with other guinea pigs on her terms.
We would also be happy to take on another pig as a companion for her if we could find one she would tolerate.
So hopefully that would be considered an acceptable solution in this case.
However Ruby will be 5 soon, and at this point in time we probably would not try to bond her again.
 
Our boy just went and did piggie dating. His first match was a bereaved boy who’s cagemate had died a little while back. They knew it was best he wasn’t alone so they surrenderEd him to a small pet rescue.
We had a gap in piggies from our last 2 girls. They passed away very close together before we had the chance to find our girl a new friend.
 
This is a question I have been asking myself for a while now. I have six boars the eldest is 5.5 and the youngest is about 7 months, the others are spread in age in between. I don't think I would be happy taking on more due to my age. If my youngest were to live to 7 that would take me into my 70s. I'm very agile now but how much longer will I be able to clean cages and assemble garden runs etc. In my case it's an unanswerable question I think due to all the variables. It's really a wait and see what happens when situation, but I am absolutely certain I don't want to take on any more babies. I have had some very successful live alongside companions in the past when we were waiting for a new friend to come along and would probably do that again as I reduce numbers. What I do when I get to only one is anyone's guess!
 
Swissgreys said:
When you have a 'difficult' guinea pig like Ruby they technically don't fit into the equation at all.
Ruby does live alone - she has fallen out with 5 other guinea pigs (that she had previously lived with in various configurations), and has had 3 additional failed bondings in the never ending search for a companion.
However Ruby does love contact with other piggies through the bars, so we have maximized that in her current cage set up.
So in this case we could prove (if necessary) to the animal welfare that Ruby is simply not able to live with other guinea pigs, but we do provide her with contact and interaction with other guinea pigs on her terms.
We would also be happy to take on another pig as a companion for her if we could find one she would tolerate.
So hopefully that would be considered an acceptable solution in this case.
However Ruby will be 5 soon, and at this point in time we probably would not try to bond her again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I know we joke about how difficult she can be, but I can't imagine it makes it fun for you either. She might be difficult but she still has needs like any other pet.
 
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