Guinea Pigs and Rabbits?

Status
Not open for further replies.
big no no i'm afraid their diets are too different and rabbits can kick and kill a guinea pig so its not really worth the risk :) keep 'them seperate
 
Not a very good idea, they have completely different dietry requirements. Guinea pigs are so fragile, one hop/kick from a bunny could leave a piggy seriously injured at best.
 
My guinea pig suffered a broken hip from a rabbit kick (years ago)... So a big no! And as above their dietary requirements are different.
 
I have to agree it is a big NO NO from me too, bunnys often bully pigs there diets are very different and a bunny can injure a piggy, after all they are a completely different species and it is a myth that they can be kept together.
 
Probably gonna be shot down but my guineas used to live with my rabbits.
They all ate the same stuff and never had a problem...They lived in a big shed free range so they had loads of space to get away from each other.
 
kate7590 said:
Probably gonna be shot down but my guineas used to live with my rabbits.
They all ate the same stuff and never had a problem...They lived in a big shed free range so they had loads of space to get away from each other.
Click to expand...

you were very lucky then that no harm came to your piggys . Perhaps the extra space meant that the piggys could keep away from the bunnys but i would strongly advise that people do not keep bunnys and piggys together.
 
As a child we used to keep rabbits and guinea pigs together. Luckily we never had any injuries, but you never know what could happen. Also rabbits carry a bacteria (bordetella or pasteurella I think) that can kill guinea pigs, that along with the different diets and the fact they can't communicate with each other etc etc means a big no no I'm afraid.
 
I say no.

I once had a pig living with a netherland dwarf when I was younger. The guinea pig died at about 3-4 years age and my friend bought me another baby pig to live with the rabbit as a friend. The poor thing died just a few days later...I look back now and feel so guilty for the lack of knowledge and care I did for those animals. It actually makes me depressed knowing I let that happen....I can only hope they forgive me
 
It's the Bordetella bronchiseptica bacteria that can be carried by rabbits, and also cats and dogs without them showing symptoms.

Unfortunately it became the "norm" because on the surface, their needs seem fairly similar. I would never keep my chameleon with a snake, or my hamster with a budgie, and rabbits and guinea pigs are no different - they are not just two different species, but two different orders of animals.

The RSPCA also advise against keeping the two together. http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rabbits/company/rabbitsandguineapigs
 
for those that used to keep them together - guess what, so did I. But in a very large pen (think outhouse) and the rabbits lived in the open hutch in there, the pigs underneath and I actually put the guinea pig food underneath the hutch with some hay so they had their specific food that the rabbits couldnt get to. I also had a home check by the rspca who passed us due to the amount of space and the extra care taken to make sure they were provided with their own food.

And times change, education and experiences change the way we keep our pets, and now I would never dream of doing it again. So its not the done thing to do now we know better and know more about the different needs to both rabbits and guinea pigs.

Its a big no from me
 
Poppy used to be housed with my rabbit Buddy and he bullied her. BIG NO! I feel so bad and I will never do it again. :'( They both have friends of their own kind now. :) xx
 
I went to the Cotswold Wildlife Park at the weekend and they had Guinea Pigs and rabbits together. Unfortunately there was no-one around to complain to so just sent them this email.

Hi,



Have visited your park at the weekend i was horrified to see rabbits being kept in the same run as the guinea pigs. There was no one around the area at the time i could complain to so felt compelled to email you. Rabbits should not be kept in the same run as guinea pigs, as one accidental kick from a rabbit can seriously injure or even kill a guinea pig. Also rabbits carry a bacteria called Bordetella bronchiseptica which can be passed onto Guinea pigs and cause serious respiratory illness. Also the diets of both animals are different and they need different types of food. I have attached below a link to the RSPCA website with their advice on keeping the two animals together.



http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/pets/rabbits/company/rabbitsandguineapigs



Can you please look into this as a matter of urgency as i would hate for a guinea pig to be injured or even killed un-necessarily.



Regards,



Dave Randall
 
A big no from me too!
We also kept them together when we were children - it was just what everyone did and the Internet didn't exist so information sharing was far more sparse. Our first pair, Harold and Smokey, actually lived together very happily. So, when they died, we did the same thing again. Big mistake! It became very apparent that Charlie was really bullying Gizmo - he'd chase her and try to mount her. We immediately took her out and ended up getting her 3 guinea friends to live with - she was so much happier. I've never kept them together since then.
I think that people still do it as they've done it before and it's been fine, but my experience shows that there is no guarantee that the next time isn't going to end in a catastrophe. I really see no reason or excuse for it these days - it takes about 5 minutes to search on google and find out that it really isn't safe. Why not just find them friends of their own species?
 
My personal opinion is no, definitely not. Rabbits and guinea pigs are completely different animals, with different requirements and such. I echo what everyone else has said. Keep them separate :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top