New friend(s) for Daisy

[DaisyDuke]

It's been just over a week since our male guinea pig Duke sadly passed away, leaving our girl pig Daisy alone.

Although she seems ok in herself, eating and pooing etc as before, she's not always as vocal and she is hiding more. We all miss Duke but we're starting to wonder if she would benefit from having one or two new friends.

We've contacted 2 local rescue centres, 1 has a single male (currently un-neutered but will be in near future), the other rescue has a bonded male/female couple. We like all of them and can't decide what to do so it's best for Daisy. She has ovarian cysts so we're wary of just adopting one guinea and subsequently he'd be alone if and when her cysts become unmanageable. Or, do we go with the couple and hope they accept her? Do groups of 3 like this work? Does the male prefer one female to the other? Will the females get on? We've arranged to meet the couple this weekend, with Daisy, and although bonding takes time, we hope the initial introduction will give us some idea of whether she'd like company or not!

Daisy and Duke were our first guinea pigs, they were the perfect couple. It's difficult to imagine her with any other guinea pig, but we don't want her to be alone.

I've had a quick look at some of the guides on here about introducing new guineas and the bonding process and it's making me nervous about what we would do if it doesn't work out. Would Daisy be better on her own?

Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 126952]

you should definitely give her a friend most of the time it works out with a female a female and a male. in fact you can have lots of females and one male

 

[DaisyDuke]

you should definitely give her a friend most of the time it works out with a female a female and a male. in fact you can have lots of females and one male

Thank you. We'd like at least one male, so we'll either adopt the single male or the male/female couple. Just confused on which may be better for her (would the couple leave her out as they're already together?)

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

So sorry you lost Duke.
If the rescues you're looking out don't offer bonding services, would either of them allow you to take the piggies home to see how they get on, and take them back if they don't get on with Daisy? In the end, which is best depends on her personality. I guess whether she would be happy with the pair may depend also on how closely bonded the pair is. If they are close and the sow is the dominant sort, she may not want somepig else muscling in and getting between her and her boar.
Going for the solo male though would mean you would have to wait at least 6weeks until they could be properly together after neutering, and the rescue probably wouldn't allow him to go to a new home anyway for several weeks after the op while he's recovering...

 

[DaisyDuke]

So sorry you lost Duke.
If the rescues you're looking out don't offer bonding services, would either of them allow you to take the piggies home to see how they get on, and take them back if they don't get on with Daisy? In the end, which is best depends on her personality. I guess whether she would be happy with the pair may depend also on how closely bonded the pair is. If they are close and the sow is the dominant sort, she may not want somepig else muscling in and getting between her and her boar.
Going for the solo male though would mean you would have to wait at least 6weeks until they could be properly together after neutering, and the rescue probably wouldn't allow him to go to a new home anyway for several weeks after the op while he's recovering...

Thank you. Yes, luckily both rescues have offered help and advise with bonding. And both have said if it doesn't work out we can return the piggies. I have wondered about the mix of 3, if the female in the couple would accept Daisy. We're going to meet them this weekend, and as the male is already neutered we can take Daisy with us.

We're in no rush to get another guinea. Daisy seems ok after loosing Duke. She's still eating etc, part of me wonders if she likes the extra food and attention! To be honest, we're still grieving Duke, I still have unanswered questions about the advice given to us by the vet when he was really ill. So if the single male would be a better choice for her, we can wait until he's fully recovered and ready. By then, we should be ready too.

We're only considering adding 2 new guineas as Daisy has ovarian cysts, although they're under control with hormone implant, they're still big. So we wouldn't want a new single guinea to be on it's own once she passes away.

We'll just have to see if how her first meeting with the 2 guineas goes this weekend.

 

[Wiebke]

It's been just over a week since our male guinea pig Duke sadly passed away, leaving our girl pig Daisy alone.

Although she seems ok in herself, eating and pooing etc as before, she's not always as vocal and she is hiding more. We all miss Duke but we're starting to wonder if she would benefit from having one or two new friends.

We've contacted 2 local rescue centres, 1 has a single male (currently un-neutered but will be in near future), the other rescue has a bonded male/female couple. We like all of them and can't decide what to do so it's best for Daisy. She has ovarian cysts so we're wary of just adopting one guinea and subsequently he'd be alone if and when her cysts become unmanageable. Or, do we go with the couple and hope they accept her? Do groups of 3 like this work? Does the male prefer one female to the other? Will the females get on? We've arranged to meet the couple this weekend, with Daisy, and although bonding takes time, we hope the initial introduction will give us some idea of whether she'd like company or not!

Daisy and Duke were our first guinea pigs, they were the perfect couple. It's difficult to imagine her with any other guinea pig, but we don't want her to be alone.

I've had a quick look at some of the guides on here about introducing new guineas and the bonding process and it's making me nervous about what we would do if it doesn't work out. Would Daisy be better on her own?

Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.

Hi!

I am very sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately any neutering op comes with a full 6 weeks post-op safety wait; the little baby in my avatar is the unexpected legacy of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of mine).

A cross gender couple can work out, but may not if they are very happy as a pair. Trios are the most difficult combination to get right and to avoid an outsider issue. That is definitely a case for rescue dating only.

Can you get a little bit further afield towards South London/Surrey and contact Bobtails in Ewell? To my knowledge, they offer dating at the rescue. Palace Piggie rescue in Crawley is currently in the process of relocating to Yorkshire.
Here is our list of good standard rescues that we can guarantee you and your girl are in safe hands: Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues

I feel for you having been in the situation of needing to find a new companion for a pining piggy very quickly and ending up going quite a distance for one in order to allow them to have a say in who they want to live with (worth it because it generally makes for a much happier relationship in the long term if you respect that mutual liking and character compatibility are the key to any successful piggy bond).

All the best!

 

[Flutterby]

I am so sorry for your loss xx

 

[DaisyDuke]

Hi!

I am very sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately any neutering op comes with a full 6 weeks post-op safety wait; the little baby in my avatar is the unexpected legacy of a supposedly safe over 5 weeks post-op boar (not one of mine).

A cross gender couple can work out, but may not if they are very happy as a pair. Trios are the most difficult combination to get right and to avoid an outsider issue. That is definitely a case for rescue dating only.

Can you get a little bit further afield towards South London/Surrey and contact Bobtails in Ewell? To my knowledge, they offer dating at the rescue. Palace Piggie rescue in Crawley is currently in the process of relocating to Yorkshire.
Here is our list of good standard rescues that we can guarantee you and your girl are in safe hands: Recommended Guinea Pig Rescues

I feel for you having been in the situation of needing to find a new companion for a pining piggy very quickly and ending up going quite a distance for one in order to allow them to have a say in who they want to live with (worth it because it generally makes for a much happier relationship in the long term if you respect that mutual liking and character compatibility are the key to any successful piggy bond).

All the best!

Thank you. To be honest, Daisy seems ok on her own right now. And the single male is from the same rescue centre that she came from, so we're happy to wait if necessary. With both rescue centres being local, it means less traveling for Daisy and more support for us.

We're happy to take on 2 extra guineas, but only if Daisy doesn't get left out (like you say, if they're already a close couple, they may not include her as much).

We'll just have to see how she reacts to new guineas. And if she prefers one or two new friends.

 

[DaisyDuke]

Update...

We met both the couple and the single male (with Daisy both times). And we've decided to adopt the single male. He's awaiting his op and recovery, then the rescue said we can try side by side bonding, even if this is in his 6 week recovery period (we have a c&c run which we can partition into 2). So fingers crossed Daisy bonds with him during this time, then we can see what they're like together (but still supervised to start with just in case). She seemed happier meeting the male to the couple, might be because it was a different meeting (she met each of the couple in an open run, but she met the single male through cage bars). Hoping for a happy ending.

 

[DaisyDuke]

Update...

Just wanted to share our good news and newest member to our family, Deacon (cream and white). A recently neutered male to keep our girl piggie, Daisy, company. Luckily we can keep them separate but side by side during his 6 week post-op period. So far, they seem to like each other. Fingers crossed.