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Juliakk - Bereaved Guinea Pig

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JuliaKK

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello, we have two 3.5 old guinea pigs. Sadly, one of them passed away over the weekend following a post-treatment complication. We are concerned about our Guinea Pig (Angles) left behind, as potentially she will live for another 3-4 years and it feels heart-breaking that she will not have a companion. We are conscious that she is the dominant one and introducing a new pig may be tricky. What are your views? If Angles is happy, would you leave her on her own? Or, is it always advisable for them to have company? If so, how quickly would you introduce a new pig to her? With best wishes, Julia
 
Hello Julia

Welcoem to the forum, I am so very sorry for your loss.

Piggies are social animals so need company of their own kind. They grieve when they lose a friend so please make sure they are eating okay for the next few days and you may notice they are more quiet than usual

Please have a read of this thread here Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig

Could I ask where you are located? We may be able to suggest a reputable rescue nearby to look for a new friend.

Please also feel free to leave a memorial post to your piggy in our Rainbow Bridge section, once again so sorry for your loss

lee
 
Hi!

No guinea pig should live alone and they are never too old to do so. I have currently got a friend's 8 year old sow living with mine after the last of her same age mates passed away and she became withdrawn/depressed. ;)
Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig

If at all possible, please contact any of our recommended rescues that are within your reach. Most offer dating at the rescue, so Angles can decide who she wants to get on with under expert supervision and at minimal risk for you of ending up with a piggy that doesn't work out. That is by far the best way of finding a new mate of her liking, with the added insurance that any adopted piggy from a good rescue is healthy/quarantined and guaranteed not pregnant and that the crucial bit of the bonding happens at the rescue, so you neatly avoid the tricky bits. You can look at either sows or neutered boars of any age; mutual liking and character compatibility is the crucial aspect.
I have come home with anything from same aged sows (both widows) to neutered 'husboars' 4-5 years younger than the old lady they have have been bonded with (and which they usually adored). Carwyn now has his harem of younger sows after his old lady Ffraid passed away aged 7 in 2015; he was 3 years old at the time. But whatever my piggies chose (often another piggy than I would have gone for), I have always got a happy new relationship out of it and a piggy I loved very much. Some of them became very dear to me indeed!

Here are the rescues that we can vouch for you being in safe and experienced hands. Guinea Lynx has very similar criteria to us for listing good standard rescues in some other countries.
I you wish more detailed recommendations, you may want to add your country, state/province or UK county to your details. For that please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear underneath your username in every post you make and allows us to tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are straight away instead of keeping it as general as possible. We have got members from all over the world, so we have to cover a wide range of situations and backgrounds. ;)
Recommended UK rescues: Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator
Other countries: Guinea Lynx :: Rescue Organizations

If you cannot get to one of those rescues, then you may want to consider getting a young sow or two that cannot challenge the dominance and do the full intros yourself. You may need to conduct a quarantine if your new guinea pigs are not from a place that has mandatory quarantines and pregnancy watches like a good rescues.
Importance Of Quarantine
Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

Here are rescue dated Tribe piggies to show you the range:

3 year old Minx and her new best friend, same age also bereaved Dizzy (Daisy) on the left, and Dizzy with her much adored neutered "toy boy" Llewelyn after Minx' death. Llewelyn became the founder piggy of the Tribe after Dizzy's passing and had 10 wives when he died.
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Formidable cataract sows Taffy and Tegyd during their rescue date with gentle neutered black Terfel ("Oak Prince") at a now closed rescue in Rugby; Terfel followed the ladies he was devoted to to the Rainbow Bridge only three weeks after the last of his later three older cataract wives died very unexpectedly in 2015, four years later.
IMG_5204.JPG

For aby Bedo ("Little Splendid Lord") I travelled 1 1/2 hours on the train with three of my top group sows to The Potteries Guinea Pig Rescue in Stoke-on-Trent. Here he is on the next day with all of his new wives.
Later he fell head over heels with a new similar looking ginger aby sow during a bonding where the new foster sow didn't integrate. I let Bedo choose who he wanted to live with. He is still with me.
IMG_9666_edited-1.jpg

Then 3 year old Carwyn ("Blessed Love) with his new young wifelets Heini ("Lively") and Briallen ("Primrose") on the right after the passing of 7 year old frail Ffraid, on the left. Carwyn has since aquired two new younger wifelets and enjoys bossing his harem around! He is now 5 years old.
DSCN0568_edited-1.jpg DSCN1571_edited-1.jpg

5 year old lady Tesni ("Sun-warmed") and 5 months old neutered boar Gethin ("Dusky") - one year on, they are still very much loved up!
DSCN3252_edited-1.jpg

New arrival neutered Nosgan ("Nightsong") turned out to like boys more than girls, so I found him little white teddy Nye as a boarmate. Cheerful Nye has really brought out skittish bereaved Nosgan (previous name Victor Meldrew) and they are very closely bonded. Nye is now coming to the end of his teenage months.
DSCN5101_edited-1.jpg

And my latest date, three year old widowed 'husboar' Pioden ("Magpie") with 5 year old sisters Heulwen and Hedydd.
IMG_3595_edited-1.jpg
 
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Thank you so much for your advice and for the link to the article. I love the cute pictures - they are so sweet and cute.
It's very useful and we will definitely look into getting a new friend for Angles, after we have read the article and identified the right centre. The Vets recommended Glynneath Rescue Centre in Wales which they said was the biggest and nearest to us. We are in South Somerset. Do you know it? With best wishes, Julia
 
Thank you so much for your advice and for the link to the article. I love the cute pictures - they are so sweet and cute.
It's very useful and we will definitely look into getting a new friend for Angles, after we have read the article and identified the right centre. The Vets recommended Glynneath Rescue Centre in Wales which they said was the biggest and nearest to us. We are in South Somerset. Do you know it? With best wishes, Julia

You may find Little Pip's Rehoming in Buddleigh Salterton, Wheek and Squeak near Southampton or The Littlest Rescue in Bristol also worth contacting as they might be closer to you. They are all on our list of recommended rescues and run to a high standard by experienced people and together with Glynneath they are all part of a group of rescues that are cooperating when it comes to larger rescue/neglect intakes that would overwhelm a single rescue. Little Pips also do residential bonding, like Glynneath.
I have rehomed from both Glynneath (Heulwen and Hedydd) and Little Pip's (Carwyn's latest wives Hapus and Llawen) myself although they are a bit too far for dating for me! I have been to Glynneath Rescue to pick up my piggies and seen their setup.
It is worth contacting all rescues that are within convenient reach of you to see whether they have suitable piggies in that are ready for bonding and a new home - dating always depends on what's in rescue at the time. ;)

Our forum rcommendations re. cage size etc. comply with and surpass RSPCA minimal recommendations, which are also required for adoption from these rescues. You can find the contacts for all the rescues mentioned here: Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator
 
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