Definitely new pig :)

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weesilvie

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I was hoping to adopt from my local rescue, Yate. However, when I took my two into the vet for a quick check beforehand, she told me of one of her colleagues who had a lone pig looking for a new home after losing one before Christmas. That vet phoned me back today and I'm going to meet her and her pig, Peanuts, next week :)

Does anyone have any thoughts on how my new mix of pigs might work? Rory is a neutered boar, about four and a half years old and a bit daft, quite big and probably nominally dominant. Winnie is about four, female, a bit chubby after not moving about much lately, very smart, doesn't care who's boss as she has her own agenda. I think she's been missing female company since losing Woolly and Bingo last year (five and a half year old ladies). Peanuts is five years old, has lived all her life with a similar aged female friend, is recently bereaved, has some character and was the dominant of the pair.

Also, any thoughts on how to work this? Having had a nice home and belonging to a vet, I'm sure Peanuts will be nice and healthy. I would still want to give her time to settle before any introductions though, in a cage in a separate room. A week perhaps? Then what? I could put the separate cages beside each other. I could put Peanuts in the same cage with Rory and Winnie with a divider up the middle (after a good clean and with fresh bedding and stuff, of course). I can give them all a lovely bath! Any or all of that before I try introductions in a neutral space on the living room floor. What's the best sequence of events and how long should I spend with each stage? Have I missed anything?

Thanks for your advice :)
 
I've been having some serious second thoughts about taking on Peanuts since posting this yesterday (thanks Suzy for helping me sort those thoughts out!). I wanted to feel excited about it but wasn't. Then I started feeling uneasy, at which point I knew that this might not be the right thing for me to do. Nothing to do with Peanuts, I'm sure she's lovely!

The risk of it not working out is too great. The point for me getting a new pig is to find a friend for Winnie. If it doesn't work, I wouldn't be able to keep Peanuts as I don't have room for two separate pig cages, so I'd have to give her back or to a rescue which goes against evetything in me. It would have stressed all the pigs out, and me, and Winnie still wouln't have a friend!

My first choice for adopting was rescue and I'm going to stick to that. That way Winnie has a choice of new friends and we give her the best chance to find one she likes. We'll also have someone experienced to help us choose.

A difficult phone call to make but it is the right thing to do.
 
I took my two dating this morning and hage come home with a lovely lilac lunky :) We think she's about two years old and inside all that mad hair, she's really dainty. Will post photos later as I need help with a name for her.

Dating went amazing well, the three seemed to get on ok straight away - notjing negative, just Rory being a typical boy.

They're all in a 3x2 at the moment util I can get the big cage scrubbed for them. They're getting on fine except I think Rory's incessant advances are getting a bit much for new pig. When I get temnin the big cage I tik I'll put a divider in for some f the time, giver her a break from him.
 
Dating is fantastic and would recommend to anyone who is a bit uneasy about introducing a piggy to others - I've had failed bondings and it knocked the stuffing out of me for days as I had a lone piggy on my hands 8...
We all want to do the right thing for our fur loves and if bonding was as easy as pie, I'd be over run with them here as we have large pens and could adopt more but have to be disciplined rolleyes
We took one of our girls dating almost a year ago (19th Feb '12) and she chose two buddies (so one became three :x :(|)) - they are very very close, zero hierarchy and just adore each other x)
Keep us updated please and wish everyone could understand the 'ups and downs' of bringing a new piggy home and you did the right thing :)
 
I think dating is the only way to go if it is at all possible. I was prepared for an all dayer at the rescue, but we met this pig first and it seemed to work pretty well between the three of them, so I was there for little more than half an hour!

I know there is still a way to go before I'm sure they'll be fine together - I won't leave them without the divider when I'm not here to watch them for a while yet. Rory is doing his boy thing and seriously annoying the new pig and Winnie doesn't need to do much more than give a quick nip and a withering glare to let her know where she stands! Nothing worse than a bit of nipping, humping, chasing, teeth chattering and a whole lot of chuntering. A lot of grumpiness but nothing too aggressive so I'm happy so far. New pig is much younger and smaller than Rory and Winnie so she's bound to be bottom of the heap. In between all the 'behaviour', they're quite happy to all eat out of the same hay pile!

I was very happy to take this pig too as she'd been at the rescue with a group of sows who had all found new homes, so I think she may have been on her own. The rescue did have another couple - mother and daughter himis - ut at least they had each other and being himis and very cute, I'm sure they'll have no trouble finding a home! The rescue said the lunky would be harder to find a new home for because of all that hair meaning that she needs a little extra care. Apparently she came from a breeder who kept her pigs in a shed - rats got into the shed and killed and injured a couple of the pigs so she asked rescues to take all her pigs to save them from the rats.

Here's a couple of them meeting for the first time
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Here's one of her in the little cage with her new friends
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And one of her lovely wee face
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She has unusual dark pink eyes!

So, can you help me with name suggestions? I can't keep calling her the Hairy One! Not sure of her personality yet, I'll have a better idea after a few days, but she seems a really sweet pig so far and very pretty, of course! She's skittish and not impressed with being handled, but not too shy in the cage. Also, any extra tips for taking care of her and all that lovely hair, apart from the odd bath and brushing every day or so?
 
Having read your thread and looking at your beautiful pigtures the name Whisper came into our minds.

Lisa & Ali xx

PS All your piggies are absolutely gorgeous
 
At the end of the day, I think that you have to go with your gut instinct. In the past, I have had 4 successful bondings and one failed bonding. The failed bonding seriously put me off and I allowed the lady at the rescue to bond my Ena with the girls.

After sadly losing my Eleanor a few weeks ago, I have just adopted a neutered boar. I was very apprehensive and worried about bonding him with the girls as it was a neutered boar who was the failed bonding. Thankfully, I had a very experienced friend / member of this forum who was only to happy to help and guide me. The bonding was a success :)

Your trio are gorgeous and you definitely made the right decision :)
 
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What a beauty- did you get her from Tracey at Yate in the end? My vets sent a woman over to the shop last week because she had asked them if they new of anyone who sold piggies because she didnt want to buy from Pets at Home - so the receptionists sent her over to me saying that they knew I was pro rescue and has rescues myself - hope she went to Tracey in the end.
 
Yep, lunkypig is from Tracey :-)

They're unnaturally quiet just now...
 
She now has a name - it's Macy :)

They still seem surprisingly relaxed with each other!
 
Thanks everyone :)

Lil - yep, that was the thought process behind her name!

Macy seems very laid back with her new home. Rory is delighted to have a new friend. Winnie is inscrutable, not yet sure what she thinks! The three still seem to be doing fine together :-)
 
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