Lonely boar - how can I help?

[danuutka]

We lost our girl Winnie yesterday to suspected kidney and heart failure. This has left us with a lone boar - Miki.

We were anticipating Winnie’s passing, and have already reserved some friends from a guinea pig rescue for Miki. However, she died sooner than we anticipated.

We will be picking up the new girls in 9 days, and they will then need to be in quarantine before they can be bonded together. We will be setting up cages nearby so Miki can have some interaction with them prior to official bonding. We also have a boar and sow who live above Miki.

Is there anything else we can do to help him? He has gone from a herd of 4, to on his own in 6 months, so I’m anticipating he might struggle.

We will get him out to have company from us, I have given him a plush toy, but is there anything else we can do?

 

[Truffolo]

Very sorry to hear you lost your piggy, Winnie. Sleep softly over the bridge little Winnie

 

[Merab]

So sorry that you lost Winnie. Be gentle with yourself as you grieve.
As you are picking up the new girls very soon and they will be living within talking distance of Miki he should be OK.
He’s probably going to be a bit more subdued for a few days but he should be fine.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m so sorry for your loss

You say the girls are coming from a rescue. If it’s a reputable rescue and they have been in quarantine at the rescue then they don’t need to be further quarantined when you get them home. You can then put their cages side by side with his for a few days/week before you bond them.
If they haven’t been quarantined at the rescue then you ideally need to quarantine them for two weeks in a separate room to your other piggies. That is Miki is ok to go without them for that period of time. If he is showing signs of loneliness then you can decide to forego quarantine and bond them sooner.

If possible or necessary for miki’s sake, moving your other pair down to be on the same level with him (until you can bond the new girls with him) so that he can have side by side interaction with them may help. It’s obviously quite a big thing to try to do though and you don’t necessarily want to disrupt your other pair either.

A cuddly toy usually serves no purpose to them so you’ll have to see how things go in that respect

Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig