Do they remember their past friends

[Claire W]

This is probably an impossible question to answer but I am just interested on your opinions.

When a guineas friend dies and and they are put with another guinea pig, do you think they remember the friend who died?

Although not related, Connie and Eliza had a very strong bond. I'm not sure if it was because they were very close in age but they did share an incredible bond.

When Connie died, Eliza became depressed until I successfully paired her up with Eleanor. They didn't hit it off straight away but they are now the best of friends and again, share a very strong bond which I am very happy about. Eleanor is younger than Eliza by about 6 to 8 months and Eliza is very protective over Eleanor.

I often wonder if Eliza has forgotten about Connie xx

 

[Wiebke]

I don't think they forget.

Dizzy was pulling on her old mummy so much when she was dying that her mummy spoke about her to her husband that exact day - and that was more than two years and nearly half her life after Dizzy had seen her last!

 

[clairelove]

@)mallethead sorry I'm a bit simple what does this meanmallethead

 

[Wiebke]

It means that Dizzy's previous owner (who'd loved her very much), out of the blue said that she was worried about Dizzy - on the day that Dizzy realised she was dying. I doubt that that would have happened if they didn't still share a very deep bond.

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Do you know, I don't think they forget, as much as they "live in the moment".

 

[Niki]

@)mallethead sorry I'm a bit simple what does this meanmallethead

Claire is asking for peoples opinions as to whether a surviving guinea pig (of a bonded pair) remembers it's previous cage-mate after it's been bonded to another pig

 

[Tallulah]

I don't know, I think guineas are quite clever about the present, and maybe if they were presented with a guinea they'd been close to afer a year of separation they'd be familiar with them and would remember in that sense, and certainly after a piggy dies their companion can become very depressed, but I'm not sure they have much of a memory in terms of what isn't there, I don't know if their thought processes are that complex. I don't know if they can think about something that isn't there if that makies sense. they're not as complex as a lot of animals