Quarantine???

[cookie_gal]

I am currently looking around for a new piggy as I recently lost 2. I currently have 3 ladies,1 is 1 yr old, 1 is middle aged and 1 is 8yrs old. So I'll either be after an older female or a neutered boar.

Its not so easy to find suitable piggies here in the UK but there is this one piggy and rabbit sanctury really close by that may have some. I'll be going up one of these saturdays. However they don't seem to bother with quarantine, the process is:
1 - visit and chose piggy
2 - have home check
3 - bring your piggies to meet the new piggy and see if they get on.

Whenever I have got piggies before reading these sites, I haven't bothered with quarantining them newbies. So I'm not sure what to do, even the other rescue I got them from doesn't bother. Obviously I'd ivomec them all when the new one moves in. The other thing is, whats the point in having a piggy then finding out it doesn't get on?

Any suggestions?

[cookie_gal]

I still don't know what to do, they're the only rescue nearby that has single females or neutered boars.

[newpiggiemommy]

Is the sanctuary that you are looking at seem to have healthy piggies? Does it seem to be a clean place?
Do they seem to know what they are talking about?

[Newpiggiemom]

I have mixed feelings on the whole issue. I tried to introduce a rescued pig to my two existing pigs and it was disastrous. Now they are in a divided cage. They did the 3 week quarantine.

Everyone says to quarantine for 3 weeks but I understand your reluctance. It can be difficult having to have them in separate cages if they don't get along.

Of course if you don't quarantine you may face vet bills if someone winds up sick, or if all of them wind up sick.

[PhoenixFeather]

Normally I wouldn't recommend that anyone break quarantine.

However... we did not do a quarantine with Parcheesi and we got lucky. I would equate this with the grandparents who say "we didn't have carseats when you were a baby, and nothing bad happened" -- bad things did happen to lots of other babies who died in car crashes, they just got lucky. We got lucky. But we had a reason similar to yours, so we took the chance.

I would ask the rescue when the last time was that they brought in a new piggie to the rescue. If it was less than 3 weeks, I wouldn't consider not doing a quarantine.

In our situation, the woman at the shelter said she had had a lot of bad luck matching up males, unless they had been together since birth, or very close. She was aware of the cavyspirit site but said that her experience had been different. She was very reluctant to adopt a male to us, as a friend for our 6-month-old male who had been living alone for 4 months. She had us nearly convinced that it would be better to neuter him and adopt a female. Then we asked if we could bring Frisky in to see how he would get along with the other pigs there. When he met Parcheesi, it seemed obvious that they were meant to be together. During that first meeting, they didn't do *any* dominance stuff (they did do a little at home later) and they cuddled together. We and the shelter folks then felt comfortable doing the adoption.

You are taking a big risk if you do this, however. If you expose your existing pigs to something dangerous at the rescue, ultimately they could all die. That's the worst-case scenario.

You should ask the rescue what, if any, quarantine procedures they go through when they bring in a new pig. You might ask if they'd be willing to quarantine the pig you are interested in there for 3 weeks before you bring your pigs in to meet him/her, though I am guessing they would be reluctant to do that. But if they tell you that no pigs have been brought in in the past 3 weeks, and the pigs look and sound healthy when you visit, and they won't adopt a pig to you without having it meet your pigs, I probably would "go for it" and keep a very close eye on all the pigs for any symptoms once you bring them home.

Good luck!

[WheeksUnlimited]

I don't think I like the idea of bringing my own pigs to a rescue to visit prospective new piggies. Too much stress on the them, and I would be afraid of them picking up unwanted illness, etc. I would stick to picking out a pig or pigs that you think would best match your own herd, do the quarantine, and follow the guidelines for intros.

[Ly&Pigs]

Is it a reputable rescue? Some rescues will allow this as they treat all incoming pigs for mites and other illnesses/injuries. Just make sure your own pigs are very healthy before taking any in to meet new potential cagemates.

If the rescue is not a reputable rescue, then you may not want to take your pig in.

It's ok to call or go there and ask tons of questions!

[cookie_gal]

Thanks for the advice everyone, we're going to visit by ourselves next Saturday and I'll be able to see what the set ups are like and ask questions about what they do.

Whilst waiting for that, do you think I'll be better off with getting a female or a neutered boar? Which would be more likely to get on with my 3 girls better? The only boars I've had are from when I was a kid, they were two brothers and we never had any problems with them.

I'm also going to try and get one thats been there a long time unless of course its been there a long time cos it doesn't get on with other pigs!