Lonely Guinea Pig

[Max&Spike]

Sadly we recently have had a death in the family.
Our 3 and 1/2 year old male died of respiratory problems and despite a valiant fight with antibiotics he passed away.

Whilst its very sad for the humans its even more sad for his life long buddy.
The other male has now become very quiet and reserved (Its only been 3 days) but we are worried.

I originally got 2 because I didn't think it was inhumane just to keep one.

Now whilst the pet left behind is dearly loved would it be more humane to find him a new home with other Guinea Pigs or will he be fine on his own.

I thought about a new one, but as he is over 3 he is really set in his ways and I am not sure a new upstart is what he needs.

Any thoughts ?

[dextersmycutegp]

You could adopt an older male piggy. I know in my area there are lots of older pigs for adoption that never seem to find homes just because they're older.
I don't have boars (well I have one neutered boar, but not a group) but last chistmas (2005) Smores, my oldest piggy, she was almost 4 at the time, had her life long friend and sister pass away. Since I didn't know about adopting piggies I went out and bought a 6 month old female at a petstore, she turned out to be pregnant and I ended up with three much younger pigs that I needed to introduce to Smores.
Smores was not pleased with these young'ns but after a couple of weeks she settled down and realized that it was nice to have friends again.
My group of pigs, Smores (five in June), Holly (two in July), Dexter (turned one in January) and Midnight (turned one in January) are living pretty happily now, a little over a year later. They seem to be beginning to bond, finally.
Good luck! I hope you are able to find an older friend for your guy. He could live for quite a while more and I'm sure he would love to spend his last years with a buddy.

[enchantingcavy]

Hi their,

Yeah he probably will become quite lonely not only from being on his own now but also he will mourn the loss of his friend longer if he stays on his own. It might be a good idea to look into getting him as someone else suggested possibly an older 2-3 yr old male friend. If he's used to being housed with only males he shouldn't be agressive towards a new friend and if his new friend is used to being with only males again you shouldn't have too many issues with trying to house them together. Older males can definitely be housed together if they havn't grown up together but it's mostly trying to find another piggy that is used to being housed with males, that hasn't been housed with females and that isn't agressive towards other males.

Not sure where you're located but at the shelter here in brisbane we do have a couple of older piggies available for adoption or maybe checking out private classifieds is another idea where people may genuinly need to rehome their guinea pigs.

The other option as you mentioned you be maybe trying to re-home him somewhere where he could find another companion. I guess a change of environment can be stressful although if he goes to an environment where it is quite similar and where he will be housed and fed the same or very similar diet I don't think their will be too many problems. Again we're located in brisbane and if it comes to that as a last resort I'm more than happy to take him in here to find a friend and then be rehomed to a similar environment to what he's used to.

Jess