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lonely piggie

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Hello out there, I hope someone might be able to help us solve a problem for our now solitary 5 year old female piggie.

Coco has always been the dominant personality in our little herd, but she has gone from one of a group to being alone in 12 months, one of her sisters died from kidney disease this time last year, and her other sister had a stroke at the weekend. She has never lived on her own before and she is quite depressed. She is eating again, but she does not have much interest in life.

Vedra saw Coco on Saturday evening and gave her a clean bill of health, her sister, Liqucorice, died on the way to Verda's.

We originally got our piggies from the local RSPCA and I'd hoped to get another piggie the same way. But I have been through all the local rescues where we are based in Milton Keynes and the only resue pigs locally are uncastrated males. I'm still looking.

We are looking for lady pig of similar age to keep her company, I think she is too old to take on a pup. I'm hopeful we will find another solitary pig to keep her company, but I need more help to find one.

Can one of you point me in the right direction for a piggie resuce? The ideal outcome will be to give a lone piggie a secure home with us. Once we have the pair settled, I'll be looking for a third pig to join them, we don't want to find ourselves in this situation again.

We are CCT members and I can provide references if needed.

I'm also keen to get tips on introductions once we have our new piggie, I'm not sure how Coco will cope with this.

We (my 13-year-old son and I) plan to introduce Coco to someone before taking her home with us. We have a second cage and plan to do supervised introductions. Any advice welcome...
 
Ah, what a sad time for Coco, I'm sorry about your losses over the last 12 months. I personally can't help, but I know there are people on this great forum who will come up with a plan for you. I wish you and Coco all the very best!
 
Thank you. We are still looking.

I'm not sure what to do for the best. I spoke to someone yesterday who has a lone lady pig of the same age who recently lost her hutchmate. She would not normally think of rehoming a pig, but her piggie has lost weight since she put it her in with a couple of younger ones.

I'm not sure if taking on a pig of the same age as Coco and putting her in a completely new environement is the right thing to do. If the other pig isn't in good health this could be quite a traumatic experience for her and in any case her current family will probably be the best placed to spot health problems. And if we were to take on a piggie of the same age, we are going to be inexactly the same place in the not too distant future.

I'm wondering if we need to get a pair of slightly younger pigs and keeping them side by side if an introduction does not work out. Hula in MK has a pair of females - a mother and daughter, the mum about 2 years. We are seriously considerng this option.
 
I am sorry for your loss - it must be hard for you!

Would you consider contacting Honeybunnies in Leicester? They are a rabbit and guinea pig specialist rescue who rehome further afield and may have something suitable for you if you do not mind a trip up the M1. Here are their contact details: http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/rescue.asp?Rescue=461

Have you considered that having Coco living next door with contact through mesh/bars to a couple of younger piggies might be a possibility if you cannot find a suitable companion. Just the feeling of not being alone will help her!

Here is a list of more guinea pig rescues: http://www.guineapigrehome.org.uk/gp/centres.asp You may have to ring around as it sadly isn't up to date anymore.
 
Thanks for this.

I have been in contact with every piggie rescue in MK and the surrounding area and I have put a lonely heart ad for Coco in several local pet shops over the klast couple of days.

We will be going to HULA tomorrow to look at a pair of piggies tomorrow. We will be taking Coco with us to see if they get on.

These piggies are long haired, we feel a bit hesitant about the kind of input they will need to keep them looking smart. Any info on looking after longhaired piggies welcome, we've only had short haired.
 
Coco is no longer a lonely piggie:):):) We had a response to one of our lonely piggie adverts in the pet shop.

We have a 3 year old girl, her people had a surplus of piggies after an unexpected pregancy in a recently acquired rescue piggie. We have decided to call her Sage, her previous family had initially intended to rehome her and she had a litter name, they said they didn't mind if we renamed her.

We introduced them this afternoon, on Sage's lawn, and they seem to have taken to each other staright away, they are snuggled up together with my son. We have made some adjustments in the hutch so they can each get some space if something breaks down and we plan to keep them together from now on.

We do intend to increase our herd in the longer term, how long should we wait before adding a 3rd piggie?
 
Good news indeed!

I would add pretty quickly since adding a third piggy to a well established pair is the bonding most likely to fail - the newcomer is often made very much feel like a third wheel.

If you've got the time and space, I would recommend adding two younger sows - that will ensure that nopig is made felt and outsider and that the existing hierarchy won't be upset. By spreading the ages, you are running a smaller risk of ending up with a lonely piggy again.
 
I will see if we get any other nibbles to our lonely piggie ads and keep up with the local rescues for somenoe suitable.
 
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