When To Get A New Piggie

[clsmell]

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately one of my guinea pigs , Candy, died on Wednesday morning. I had noticed the night before that her eyes and nose were runny and had planned to take her to the vets after work on Wednesday. It was quite a shock to wake up and find her dead in the morning. She was old though, at least 4 years.
Her cage mate was a young, neutered boar called Piglet who is just under a year old. By the time I had found Candy he had moved on. He seems happy enough in himself, and has even pop corned when I put him back into his cage after a cuddle. However, when I am not able to play with him he is very quiet and just sleeps. I think he needs a new playmate, one his sort of age really. He is happy enough to chat to my other boar, Patch, through the bars but they can't live together as they have fought in the past, drawing blood.
Basically my question is, is it too soon to try and find a new guinea pig to live with Piglet? Also should I get one or two? He lives is a 3 x 3 c&c cage.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,
Unfortunately one of my guinea pigs , Candy, died on Wednesday morning. I had noticed the night before that her eyes and nose were runny and had planned to take her to the vets after work on Wednesday. It was quite a shock to wake up and find her dead in the morning. She was old though, at least 4 years.
Her cage mate was a young, neutered boar called Piglet who is just under a year old. By the time I had found Candy he had moved on. He seems happy enough in himself, and has even pop corned when I put him back into his cage after a cuddle. However, when I am not able to play with him he is very quiet and just sleeps. I think he needs a new playmate, one his sort of age really. He is happy enough to chat to my other boar, Patch, through the bars but they can't live together as they have fought in the past, drawing blood.
Basically my question is, is it too soon to try and find a new guinea pig to live with Piglet? Also should I get one or two? He lives is a 3 x 3 c&c cage.

Hi!

I am very sorry for your loss. URIs (bacterial respiratory infections) can hit very quickly and can kill; they are one of those issues that always need to be seen as soon as you can.
You are welcome to post a tribute to Candy in our Rainbow Bridge section if or whenever it feels right for you.

Unless your boy is acutely pining (i.e. not eating/drinking and turning his head to a wall) and needs company asap, please wait out 2 weeks quarantine time if the companion has passed away from a potentionally infectious problem to make sure that it is not passed on to any new guinea pigs.

But you can start now looking for a sow or two (mostly they come in bonded pairs) in any good rescues within your reach. This ensures that any new piggies are already quarantined, perfectly healthy and are also guaranteed not pregnant. Most of our recommended rescues also offer dating at the rescue, so the piggies can choose each other for a happier bond and to make sure that you only come home with new mates of acceptance has happened. This works for guinea pigs of all ages and genders.

For two guinea pigs, you need a minimal ground floor space of 2x4 ft, for a trio it is 2x5 ft according to animal welfare recommendations. Many rescues will not rehome to round the year outdoors hutches.

You can find links for rescues in a number of countries in this guide here: Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
If you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, we may be able to give you more specific recommendations. We have got members from all over the world. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear underneath your username in every post and allows us to automatically tailor any advice to what is available and relevant where you are. Thank you!

 

[Freela]

I'm really sorry for your loss. I think the timing is really up to you if you want to introduce a friend for Piglet. However, as he has been exposed to a respiratory tract infection as well, I would have a quarantine period for a couple of weeks first. You don't want him to come down with the illness and infect his new cagemate. Plus you don't want a new pig to come in with an illness and infect him.

We recently lost a pig and a week or so later got a new pig for company. We have the baby on a different floor for quarantine purposes. The new baby is all clear now, but unfortunately our existing pig has been fighting a respiratory bug and, although she is doing very well, she needs to be cleared of the infection before she can meet her new friend. The process of having them separated is hard and I feel bad for both of them living on their own for the past few weeks, but it's better than ending up with two sick pigs so we'll wait it out until everyone is healthy!