Was I cruel?

[chrisoncrack]

I had to give one of my 3 guinea pigs back to the pet shop a few days ago. Two of them were fighting viciously, one was a bully and I think the other just had enough. The bully caused a minor head wound to the other but the day after, the bullied pig damn-near took his eye out (profuse bleeding from the eye). I would like to have thought I could have kept them but I don't think it would have ever worked out. I was sad to see him go and I'm not sure if I acted in his best interests.

 

[zombieprincess]

I think you did do the right thing in separating them, and if it's not possible for you to look after more than one cage/hutch/enclosure of piggies then yes you were acting in his best interests. Keeping him and not being able to care for them all is just as bad. Trio's of male guinea pigs are very hard to keep, especially when they are young and one often ends up being bullied.

Hopefully the pet shop will at least home him with a suitable companion.

 

[Claire W]

Trio's of boars are very difficult to keep and it rarely works out. Boars are best kept in twosomes. I'm not having a go but this is why we promote rescue as a rescue would have advised against you having a trio of boars where as a pet shop would just look at profit.

Yes, you did the right thing as if left, one of the boars could have ended up seriously injured if not worse.

Please do not refer to the boar as a bully. He would just have been dominant which is natural behaviour.

I hope your existing boars are ok after the trauma. You may like to post a pic when they have settled down, we love piggy pics on here

 

[chrisoncrack]

Trio's of boars are very difficult to keep and it rarely works out. Boars are best kept in twosomes. I'm not having a go but this is why we promote rescue as a rescue would have advised against you having a trio of boars where as a pet shop would just look at profit.

Yes, you did the right thing as if left, one of the boars could have ended up seriously injured if not worse.

Please do not refer to the boar as a bully. He would just have been dominant which is natural behaviour.

I hope your existing boars are ok after the trauma. You may like to post a pic when they have settled down, we love piggy pics on here

One of them got preferential treatment off both of the dominant males (leading us to think he was a female) turns out he is just very submissive. It was blatently obvious the two more dominant males would have torn each other to shreds and I wouldn't have been able to relax at work knowing that this was happening. The less dominant male has become alot more relaxed and really enjoys his alone time with his subordinate ''humping post'' lol. Pics will be posted sometime in the near future xx>>>

 

[tabelmabel]

hiya i don.t think you were cruel - just misinformed. The pet shop staff were cruel if they sold you 3 boars to live together. I am new to keeping boars too but i.ve learned SO much from this forum and also the guineapiglopedia book plus the guinea lynx site. I knew nothing about rescues til i joined here and was only saved from getting piggies from pets at home due to the fact they had none in when i went. My local vet put me in touch with a breeder (vet didn't point in rescue direction either) luckily for me, this particular breeder is so piggy-addicted that she wouldn't let me have any piggies until i had visited twice and knew all there is to know about looking after grease glands and personal zones! She sent me home with the pigs and a week's worth of reading material. Next year i hope to have some rescue pigs too. You did the right thing returning the piggy and if you stay around on the forum a while, i doubt you'll buy from a pet shop again. I know i won't.