One Guinea Pig At A Time...

[Kacie Wilson]

Hello! I currently only have one guinea pig and have had her a month now. I am throughly enjoying her and wanted to know if guinea pigs can thrive just bonding with their owner? I wanted a few of you to share your experiences.

Thank you!

-Kacie W.

 

[gizzy]

Hi , Kacie glad you like it hear, allthough it is recomended that they have at least one partner
pig, there are pigs that prefare there own company ,
a good freiend of mine had a solo pig for many years and he thrived
his nam was Poppy

 

[Kacie Wilson]

Well, getting Whinny another partner is not out of the question for me. I just have some adjusting and rearranging to do in my room since moving back home before I get the indoor, 2 story rabbit hutch for Whinny. At this point, I should have had her about 3-4 months and by this Winter should be able to get her a partner in crime if need be. I just wanted to be sure I was doing all I can to make her happy and comfortable with the amount of time I do spend time with her since she is currently in a cage by herself.

 

[Deleted member 114675]

It's great to hear your spending so much time with her. However, you can't be with her 24/7 and she would be happier with company of her own type too.

When you are ready to look for another one, I advise you liaise with a local rescue ( preferably one on our Rescue Locator ) as they will help you find a compatible companion

 

[sport_billy]

Hello, welcome to the forum.

A good question too. Guinea pigs are herd animals so do like company of their own kind and where possible it should really be the case. They enjoy social interaction with each other. Some guinea pigs can't be paired up but this is very rare indeed. When the time comes it may be worth looking for a younger piggie to introduce, that way the baby will be second in the hierarchy to begin with for certain, we found that bonding our mini pig in with the girls was really smooth. Rescues have younger piggies in often now. Some rescues offer dating to so Winny could pick the perfect friend for herself.

Where are you located? Could you add your location to your profile please?

A 120cm cage such as a ferplast is great for two pigs.

Welcome once again

Lee

 

[Freela]

Welcome! As a child, I had a solo guinea pig (their social needs were not really common knowledge back then and most probably lived alone.) Although I think she had as good a life as we could possibly give her, at this point I can say that I think pairs are better for the pigs themselves, seeing how much happier my pairs have been than my pig who lived alone. There is a real noticeable difference in how social, alert, confident, and curious my pairs have been versus my solo pig as a child, and also my paired pigs when they were between partners due to bereavement. My experience is that my paired pigs interact with each other, with me, and with the environment more, are a lot less skittish, and their personalities come out so much more when they have both human interaction and another guinea pig to interact with. They clearly are social animals who have a relationship with one another, and some of my best guinea pig memories have to do with seeing the bond between my pigs. A lot of owners fear that if there is more than one pig, they will not bond to their owners in the same way, but that hasn't been my experience. My paired pigs have actually interacted with me a lot more than I remember my solo pig doing and have been a lot more confident and less skittish because, for a guinea pig, there is safety in numbers and they become a lot bolder. And although they have each other as company, all my pigs have still enjoyed lap time and have a bond with me too. I would say if it's at all possible, introducing a friend would probably be a great idea, both for your piggie who will get to enjoy the company of her own species, and for you because you will get to see a whole bunch more natural guinea pig behavior. And plus, two piggies is twice the cute, right? LOL!

 

[biscandmatt]

i think they can be happy with a good loving owner certainly, but with a piggy friend, they just seem to have this extra sparkle to them

 

[Kacie Wilson]

It's great to hear your spending so much time with her. However, you can't be with her 24/7 and she would be happier with company of her own type too.

When you are ready to look for another one, I advise you liaise with a local rescue ( preferably one on our Rescue Locator ) as they will help you find a compatible companion

I have looked on the rescue locator on this site and there are none that are near me.

 

[Deleted member 114675]

Oh , that's a shame . Are you happy to tell us what County you live in ?

 

[Kacie Wilson]

Welcome! As a child, I had a solo guinea pig (their social needs were not really common knowledge back then and most probably lived alone.) Although I think she had as good a life as we could possibly give her, at this point I can say that I think pairs are better for the pigs themselves, seeing how much happier my pairs have been than my pig who lived alone. There is a real noticeable difference in how social, alert, confident, and curious my pairs have been versus my solo pig as a child, and also my paired pigs when they were between partners due to bereavement. My experience is that my paired pigs interact with each other, with me, and with the environment more, are a lot less skittish, and their personalities come out so much more when they have both human interaction and another guinea pig to interact with. They clearly are social animals who have a relationship with one another, and some of my best guinea pig memories have to do with seeing the bond between my pigs. A lot of owners fear that if there is more than one pig, they will not bond to their owners in the same way, but that hasn't been my experience. My paired pigs have actually interacted with me a lot more than I remember my solo pig doing and have been a lot more confident and less skittish because, for a guinea pig, there is safety in numbers and they become a lot bolder. And although they have each other as company, all my pigs have still enjoyed lap time and have a bond with me too. I would say if it's at all possible, introducing a friend would probably be a great idea, both for your piggie who will get to enjoy the company of her own species, and for you because you will get to see a whole bunch more natural guinea pig behavior. And plus, two piggies is twice the cute, right? LOL!

Your reply was exactly what I was looking for! I have already been looking locally for some that need to be rescued and that are still fairly young if not younger than Whinny. I feel that I have pretty much made up my mind on whether or not I am going to get her a friend. I am definitely planning on it most likely by Christmas. It is a matter of getting the space first and getting Whinny accustomed to that new space. Any recommendations on how I should introduce the new piggy to Whinny? I am most likely going to get a long haired one as I have seen a few that need rescuing.

 

[Kacie Wilson]

Oh , that's a shame . Are you happy to tell us what County you live in ?

Rockingham County in North Carolina...the closest that I have seen on other sites is Raleigh, NC which is where I use to go to school. I have thought about making a trip out there when I need to find a new piggy. Petfinder and adopt a pet has been a big help with looking for pigs that need rescuing.

 

[Deleted member 114675]

Rockingham County in North Carolina...the closest that I have seen on other sites is Raleigh, NC which is where I use to go to school. I have thought about making a trip out there when I need to find a new piggy. Petfinder and adopt a pet has been a big help with looking for pigs that need rescuing.

Oh - I see. I'm only familiar with UK rescues. Wiebke is our best person to advise on non UK rescues . I am sure she will pick up on this thread soon. It is always best to contact a rescue in advance of visiting it .

Good luck in finding a companion for your guinea pig.

 

[Freela]

Your reply was exactly what I was looking for! I have already been looking locally for some that need to be rescued and that are still fairly young if not younger than Whinny. I feel that I have pretty much made up my mind on whether or not I am going to get her a friend. I am definitely planning on it most likely by Christmas. It is a matter of getting the space first and getting Whinny accustomed to that new space. Any recommendations on how I should introduce the new piggy to Whinny? I am most likely going to get a long haired one as I have seen a few that need rescuing.

I love long-haired pigs... I've had two sheltie crosses over the years. Such beautiful fur, and both had really lovely personalities to go with it!

There are some really good resources here with a sticky to keep them at the top about introductions. I would suggest starting there. What I've always done is to introduce them in neutral territory (somewhere that neither of them have been.) They are less likely to be territorial when they are somewhere that they don't feel they need to defend from an intruder. Most recently I did introductions in a dry bathtub with towels padding the bottom and that was great- plenty of room, no corners for anyone to get backed into, and obviously not somewhere they were accustomed to being! They will likely engage in a variety of behavior... from ignoring one another to gradually sniffing, chasing, popcorning, rumblestrutting (where they purr and wiggle their bums to assert dominance) and mounting to determine who is top pig. I've been fairly lucky with my sows in that they have accepted each other pretty quickly. Generally I could assess that they had accepted one another once all the displays stopped and they would settle down together side by side and maybe do some mutual grooming. My pigs were typically very excited to see other pigs- they really do like other pigs as a rule! Actually, one of my fond memories is when we had acquired Sundae as a companion for Linney after her original companion passed away. Sundae was in quarantine, as we didn't know her health status, so we had them on different floors for a couple of weeks. The first time I had them in the same room together I was holding Sundae and walked by Linney's cage and let them have a look at one another... Sundae stretched out her neck to check out the other pig, and Linney actually popcorned (happy little jump) because she was so excited to see another pig after two weeks of being alone! It was so sweet, and really cemented my belief that pigs are happiest with other pigs (and with devoted human slaves to fetch the food, of course!)