guinea pig friend? help!

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guineas4

Hi there i am new to this forum, i was wondering if any of you guinea pig fans could help me.
i currently have a female rabbit and a femail guinea pig living together but sometimes it seems like my rabbit doesnt really acknowledge the guinea and so she gets a bit lonely sometimes. so i was wondering if it would be a good idea to introduce another guinea pig, as the rabbit seems to be happy hopping around on her own.
if anyone has any thoughts on this please share them with me to help me decide what to do.
thanks everyone for reading
Heather
 
Hi there, you are not supposed to keep rabbits and guinea pigs together, rabbits can harm guinea pigs sometimes by kicking and biting.
You need to seperate them, then it would be great if you could get another guinea pig because they love company, there are lots of rescues on here that could advise you better.
 
Helloo and welcome to the forum! :)

Tis a fab place to find all the advice and insperation from health, toys to hutches and cages!

Ruth is right, it's a good idea to seperate them into seperate hutches if you can; P@H usually have deals on hutches, my local one has a double tier one half price atm. :)

A friend for your piggie will be great for your current piggies emotional wellbeing, as she will have someone to play with and have a good old natter too. Whereabouts are you located? We could get you in touch with a rescue :)
 
The above posts are right in that your animals should be seperated and a friend found for your piggie, but you should also find a bunny friend for your rabbit. It is adviseable to have female rabbits spayed and then bonded with a neutered male rabbit. This is not only to prevent unwanted litters, but also to prevent against diseases that un-neutered females can get.

Good luck - I hope you end up with very happy pets :)
 
thanx for your advice but i have kept guinea pigs and rabbits together since i was little. i know in some cases what you say is right but in my situation i have never had any problems. thanks anyway.
 
I'm glad that you haven't had problems but if your guinea is feeling lonely I think it would be better to seperate and get the guinea a friend As you were thinking about a friend anyway? i'd worry that a kick from the buns legs could caused heaps of damage to you guinea. I know it has been common for years but there is quite a few posts on here about the dangers and it might be a worth thinking about. Just trying to help. I know it can work but as you said your guinea is lonely then maybe that shows that it's not the best arrangement this time? :)
 
Also they are different species would think it was a bit like keeping a rat and chinchilla together don't know how they would communicate?
 
guineas4 said:
thanx for your advice but i have kept guinea pigs and rabbits together since i was little. i know in some cases what you say is right but in my situation i have never had any problems. thanks anyway.
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It's great that you have not had problems so far, but is it worth the risk? As you said they do not interact anyway so seperate cages with their own kind would be better :)
 
guineas4 said:
thanx for your advice but i have kept guinea pigs and rabbits together since i was little. i know in some cases what you say is right but in my situation i have never had any problems. thanks anyway.
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has a rescue myself i would never rehome a guinea pig to live with a rabbit ever. I myself when i was little used to have a rabbit and guinea pig together yes they were fine until after 2yrs i found the guinea pig dead, its only now that i think its poss that the rabbit kicked the guinea pig..

rabbits carry bordetella which is fatal to guinea pigs...

i have had a guinea pig in rescue here who was housed with the rabbit for 3yrs i spoke to the owner and we both agreed to split them, the guinea pig was housed with another guinea pig of the same sex and both get on bril and do nothing but talk to each other..

the rabbit now will soon be bonded with another rabbit at another rescue..

i have my own female rabbit who i like yourself thought she was happy on her own this is until 5 wks ago when my friend that runs a rabbit rescue brought a neutered male rabbit and introduced them both, i have to say i now know my rabbit Tara was not happy even though i thought she was, she is now a different rabbit, plays all the time wash each other play with each other and snuggle on top of each other. i wish i now got a same specie friend for her before..

i look at it like this how would you like to live with some thing of another specie for the rest of your life and never ever get to talk to another human in your life?/ what I'm saying it a guinea pig will talk to the rabbit but it will get no response back as the rabbit wont even know the guinea pig is talking to the rabbit and vice versa..

regardless of how long you have kept rabbits and guinea pigs together. times change and new things are found out..

You have come on here and asked our opinion about what you should do!

you say the rabbit doesnt seem to bother with the guinea pig at times, have you ever sat watching them really? as you would see that your rabbit IS unhappy and will be crying out for another rabbit friend, i would hate to live my life and die never been with another human and this is how you MUST think when you look at your guinea pig and rabbit, they will one day die never knowing that other guinea pigs or rabbits existed..

so please take on board what we have said, rabbits need rabbits and guinea pigs need guinea pigs, regard of how much cuddles and time in a run they get they are still living a life of solitary confinement with in themselves, not giving them a chance to interact with their own specie is cruel....
 
I think that's kinda like saying "Well I've always had six pints then got in my car and drove home, I've never had an accident yet..."

Just because they've been okay previously doesn't mean that your rabbit won't injure the piggy in the future.

If the rabbit ignores your piggy anyway, then neither of them are benefitting from living together so they would most likely be happier with a companion of their own species.
 
I agree with what has been said so far that the bun and guinea pig should not be living together. Try to look at it from there point of view. They cannot communicate with one another as they arent at all related (as rabbits are lagomorphs and guinea pigs are rodents) and though they may tolerate each other living together they get No benefit out of each others company. A lot of what we know about rabbit and guinea pig care has been upgraded and changed over the years and what used to be thought of as ok is proven to be wrong or even dangerous.

In answer to your question yes i do think it is a good idea to get company for you girl guinea pig, either another female or a neutered male, both of which you will be able to find in rescues. :)
 
I'm leaving this post as it is. because I'm not going to be told I'm being cruel to my animals. thank you.
 
of course they ignore each other, they dont speak to same language! the both need a friend each who they can understand, and rabbits and pigs have different diets aswell. if your feeding your pig rabbit food, thats not good.

Get the pig a friend, and she'l be a lot lot happier and the can snuggle up together and fall in love, she cant do that with a rabbit!
 
your lucky you didnt ask this on the rabbit forum, you would have been taken out! I dont go on there anymore, i started getting anxious about being shouted at! I love this forum, everybodys really nice. :) x x x
 
guineas4 said:
I'm leaving this post as it is. because I'm not going to be told I'm being cruel to my animals. thank you.
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you are not being told you are cruel to animals you've come and asked our advice and we have given it. why ask advice if you are not prepared to listen to it! I'm sorry if we've offended you but everyone on here is talking from a wealth of experience and you are asking what is best for your guinea and we are telling. yeah it might work but personally I wouldn't want to be in a cage with someone i couldn't talk to or get on with for the rest of my life!! if you really want to know whats best for your guinea and your bun you will not get defensive and listen to the advice offered! we are not here to cause grief but you asked and we have given the answer! we are not suggesting the seperation to be difficult it is suggested because IT IS WHAT IS BEST FOR BOTH YOUR ANIMALS! you have said yourself the bun ignores the piggie! sorry to be like this but people are giving advice on experience and all we want is what is best for both the bun and piggie! Sorry to be stroppy but dont ask advice if you are not willing to listen!
 
p.s not suggesting you haven't had experience too but that doesn't mean things can't change! No matter how much experience you have you can still learn stuff!
 
i completely agree, i would never ever put a bunny with a pig, it would be like being kicked by king kong!

Also, what about if the rabbit is feeling a bit ermmm ") horny? i dont know but ?
 
well exactly might sound weird to us and it's unlikley the bun would try it on but hormonally all animals get a bit lairy so i'd hate to think what the poor guinea would go through. and sorry to be cynical but i would never forgive myself if i came home and found my guinea with a broken back because it just happened to be behind the bun at the wrong time. ok it's worse case scenario but personally i wouldn't tempt fate!
 
My partner had a guinea and a rabbit together when he was a kid as his dad said 'it would be fine'.

Having been with me for four years and now being honourary daddy to the herd, he now realises how lucky he was that his guinea didn't end up squished or dead from lack of the right food. He fully admits while it may have been what they did back then, it doesn't make it right, and wouldn't ever try it again.

I'm happy for him to have a rabbit (he loves them!) as long as it aint near my guinea wiggles!
 
I can't really add much to what everyone else has said except to say this. We've only just got our first two piggies and their relationship has been up and down to say the least.

Sometimes, like today, it gets really bad. But still, I'm sure they're happier having arguments in their own animal language with other piggies than being alone.

I have had arguments with my brother for as long as I've been alive (he's older than me) but I'd rather have a brother I agrue with from time to time than no brother at all. Piggies are the same as, I'm sure, bunnies are too.

Most importantly, all animals, especially social animals like bunnies and piggies, need stimulus, they need interaction. Your bunny will get no stimulus from your piggy and the piggy will get none from the bunny because they can't communicate.
 
The people on this forum are giving you good sound advice, based on a huge amount of experience and knowledge. As humans we learn all the time and adapt as we learn new things. Please do not take offence, you are learning something new, take the advice, and enjoy a new phase in your pets life, living with one of their own kind. The pleasure you get from that will be immense and a win win for you and them. Listen, learn and enjoy, life's too short to miss opportunities like this.
 
Noone here is trying to cause you upset or start an argument, I know its a wee bit difficult to understand the tone of what is being said to you across the internet and sometimes we can all get the wrong end of the stick. :)
Maybe you could just consider seperation for now, keep thinking of the benifits for you pets emotional and physical wellbeing, and whats best for them. stick by on the boards they're is lots of advise and insperation from housing, health to posting your stories of your pets, perhaps you could introduce us to your piggie and rabbit? It'll be lovely to hear what they get up to! On the housing board you could find lots of information on housing your piggie, and rabbit, and the health benfits of getting a another piggie friend. Theirs lots of people on here who own piggies and rabbits, and can give you lots of advice and guidance on every subject.
The for sale or wanted board could help you too, esp in finding a new hutch or indoor cage if you decided that seperating them would be a good idea.

Here's a helpful rabbit information site on finding your bunny a new friend, and it even has a small section on keeping bunnies and piggies together:
http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/friend.asp

Honestly this board is a lovely friendly place, and you learn new things every day! You might find new ways of entertaining your piggie or rabbit, as there is lots of snazzy ideas on here for toys and things to keep your little one's busy!
 
doglovinpiggylover said:
i completely agree, i would never ever put a bunny with a pig, it would be like being kicked by king kong!

Also, what about if the rabbit is feeling a bit ermmm ") horny? i dont know but ?
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My rabbit Frodo (RIP) seriously tried it on (ermmm styley) with Willoughby our entire Tom cat who was terrified, so I hate to think how a guinea would feel
 
As they don't seem to be bonded, I think it would be a good idea to seperate them. I'm not one of those who will tell you to seperate them immediately, because of the diseases and rabbits kicking guineas etc, as I have kept them together with no issues.

However if your piggy is lonely, it may be an idea to put her in a hutch of her own and get her a companion :) piggies are very social and love cchattering together. However the same for your bunny, she too would probably love a bunny companion, nothing beats seeing two rabbits playing together :)
 
When I was younger I kept my rabbit with a guinea pig at the time I didn't realise they were not meant to be kept together this was before internet and forums...

I didn't realise at the time that the food I fed to the guinea pig and rabbit didn't contain vit c as rabbits make thier own and guinea pigs don't so my guinea pig was ill until I changed the food:(

Rabbits have a nasty kick on thier back legs too which could break a guinea's leg this too I wasn't aware of.

I seperated them in the end for the guineas sake, I hope you will too:)
 
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