Guinea Pig bereavement.

[CinnamonSwirl]

So one of my piggies has recently passed away as it come a shock for us and especially to my other guinea pig as it was so sudden. One of my guinea pig is now currently on her own and has no cage mate and it feels so odd not hearing them squeak together ):
my current guinea pig is her usual self but i think she is a little confused from what has happened recently, I’m not exactly sure what to do from here. How can i give my current guinea pig the best life despite her losing her friend?
I was thinking about getting another but I wouldn’t know how to introduce them to each other, ive been told guinea pigs that have never met before fight each when first met. Can they successfully bond together and can the fights be avoided and how can they be avoided?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry for your loss.

Your piggy will need a new friend. They are highly social and single piggies do get lonely.

It is not true that all piggies fight when they meet. You will see dominance behaviours, but that is not fighting. Fights will only happen if they are not compatible and don’t like each other. Due to this, if you went out and bought a piggy from a pet shop, then you would be taking a risk that they would not be character compatible and would not have mutual liking and would therefore not bond. This is because you do not know the character of the piggy you are buying. There is nothing you can do about two piggies do not like each other - you cant make them like each other

To ensure you get a good bond, the safest way to find a new friend for your piggy is to contact a rescue centre and enlist their help. They can help you find a friend for your piggy, ideally via dating. You take your piggy to the centre to try with some of their available piggies. If your piggy finds one she likes, you then bring them home to start their new lives together.

Not all rescue centres offer dating but they may still have piggies for you to try. The benefit here over buying from a pet shop is that although you need to do the bonding yourself, if the two piggies do not get on, you can return the piggy and try another.

There is a specific process you need to follow to bond piggies. Put simply, you put them on neutral territory (never in the cage of your existing piggy) to bond. If they get on after several hours in the bonding pen, then they go into the cage (which has been thoroughly cleaned out) and stay together from then on. If it fails due to incompatibility, then they need to be separated. As I said, if you’ve got a rescue piggy, then you can usually return that piggy and try another available piggy. If you have bought from a pet shop and a bond fails, then you will need two cages permanently so they can live side by side but never having physical contact

We are more than happy to help you with information and the bonding procedure

Ill add in some useful guides below which can give you further information

Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig

A Closer Look At Pairs (Boars - Sows - Mixed)
Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs