Unfortunately, we have lost one of our guinea pigs, Sydney (female) to rainbow bridge! The remaining guinea pig (aged 2) Cynthia, is off her food and in mourning!! 3 days now!

Will she get over it???

Both female guinea pigs were bought as babies from Graves Park 2 years ago and have been very healthy and happy so this is all rather sudden to lose one as there was no signs of any illness etc

What should I do??

I feel I should buy another female baby for Cynthia but don't know if it's too soon and I don't want a weak baby guinea pig to be bullied by her!

Would it be better to try and get another 'older' female that someone has become 'bored' of!

:help:

theres somebody offering some free on classifieds on here http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=3399859#post3399859

Thanks for that I may well follow it up....I just really want one guinea and need to know whether she will be better off 'bonding' with another adult or better with a baby!!

:)

Hi Shiesh. Unfortunately guinea pigs do pine and don't do at all well on their own once their cage mate has died (as a general rule - some are quite solitary and seem to do better on their own but you'd have noticed if this was in her character). We did on one occasion introduce a baby female to one that was really suffering but it was a fraught process and they never got on as well as the original pair. It did however provide a distraction and the elder one survived a good deal longer than we thought she would on her own (8 years in the end!!). At some point though you will lose that one and be left with the other, in a never-ending cycle.

In all honesty she is unlikely to get over it. If you do introduce another piggy you're much better off with a baby. They need to be kept in separate cages within sight, sound and smell of each other (or the same cage with a divider), and gradually introduced on neutral ground that doesn't smell of either pig, and closely supervised for some time.

I hope that helps and sorry to hear about Sydney :(

Thanks Twiglet for your words of 'guinea' wisdom! I will see how she goes!

:(

You don't necessarily have to introduce a baby piggy, an older submissive sow would do just as well. If you are wanting to get another I know of a lot of rescue piggies who would love a new home

You don't necessarily have to introduce a baby piggy, an older submissive sow would do just as well. If you are wanting to get another I know of a lot of rescue piggies who would love a new home



I would go for the older sow as it seems to work better than introducing babies to older piggies.
Guineapigs like to live in groups and it is very true that a solitery piggy doesn't do as well .

You don't necessarily have to introduce a baby piggy, an older submissive sow would do just as well. If you are wanting to get another I know of a lot of rescue piggies who would love a new home


I have PM'd you, thanks!

I think the sooner the better, she looks even sadder today :(

One of my little piggies died recently, poor piggy.

The remaining lil boy pined and so i paired him with a baby and he is happier than ever! They are great chums.

Good luck

e x

I would go for the older sow as it seems to work better than introducing babies to older piggies.
Guineapigs like to live in groups and it is very true that a solitery piggy doesn't do as well .

With male guinea pigs this is very much the case and in fact I've seen people have so much trouble trying to introduce males to each other I personally wouldn't recommend it full stop.

With female guinea pigs you'll find that all professional advice guides toward introducing a younger guinea pig to an adult.

With male guinea pigs this is very much the case and in fact I've seen people have so much trouble trying to introduce males to each other I personally wouldn't recommend it full stop.

With female guinea pigs you'll find that all professional advice guides toward introducing a younger guinea pig to an adult.

I totally disagree, boars often make the best pets if housed away from sows. I actually have 4 boars living together very happily, and I know of 5 that live together lovely too. Its getting the personality matches right :)