First let me say I'm the 'Grandmother' of the pigs. My daughter is that actual mom and she is 14 and had them for 3 years.
This morning one of our pair of pigs passed away. There could be a lot of detail I can give, if need be. I will say we took him to the vet, but he passed away before we got there. I did not have a necropsy performed, so we do not know the actual cause of death. We did bring his cage mate in and so far he has a clean bill of health.
We did a lot of research before getting these guys and I know that they are much happier in pairs. I'm not particularly thrilled to get another pig, but I know Moon is going to be lonely. He is also a male so I know that can be tricky. This is not all going to happen tomorrow. My daughter will need some time to grieve and maybe Moon, too? Also we are going to want to be sure that Moon is OK and there was not an issue that was contagious that cause his cage mate, Star, to pass. However, I want to start formulating a plan on if/when/how to do this.
As I said, Moon is a male and not neutered(which I don't believe is really recommended, correct?) and since I have no intentions of become a great-grandmother, I assume the new cage mate needs to be a male. I also assume our best chance at success is to get a young male. As young as we can get, but still old enough to be safe. Is this all correct? Is there another other scenario to consider?
We have a large C&C cage. It is a 2 by 6 panel with the full upper loft and just recently changed the upper to have the 2 ramps. We use the fleece flippers for the bedding.
These two guys were purchased together and if not brothers had been housed together at the pet store and had always been together. We had done research, previously (long story) on introductions. I have read about the baths, neutral area, divided cage for a time, possibility of NOT being able to get them together, the basics. I want to be sure we know as much as we possibly can to give us the best chance for success.
Hopefully that is enough background to get the ball rolling. I would appreciate any and all advice on how to move forward. Moon's mom is 'good', but she is gone at school all day, sleeps all night an has 'activities'. I'd really rather stick with a single pig, but I don't think that will be fair to Moon.
This morning one of our pair of pigs passed away. There could be a lot of detail I can give, if need be. I will say we took him to the vet, but he passed away before we got there. I did not have a necropsy performed, so we do not know the actual cause of death. We did bring his cage mate in and so far he has a clean bill of health.
We did a lot of research before getting these guys and I know that they are much happier in pairs. I'm not particularly thrilled to get another pig, but I know Moon is going to be lonely. He is also a male so I know that can be tricky. This is not all going to happen tomorrow. My daughter will need some time to grieve and maybe Moon, too? Also we are going to want to be sure that Moon is OK and there was not an issue that was contagious that cause his cage mate, Star, to pass. However, I want to start formulating a plan on if/when/how to do this.
As I said, Moon is a male and not neutered(which I don't believe is really recommended, correct?) and since I have no intentions of become a great-grandmother, I assume the new cage mate needs to be a male. I also assume our best chance at success is to get a young male. As young as we can get, but still old enough to be safe. Is this all correct? Is there another other scenario to consider?
We have a large C&C cage. It is a 2 by 6 panel with the full upper loft and just recently changed the upper to have the 2 ramps. We use the fleece flippers for the bedding.
These two guys were purchased together and if not brothers had been housed together at the pet store and had always been together. We had done research, previously (long story) on introductions. I have read about the baths, neutral area, divided cage for a time, possibility of NOT being able to get them together, the basics. I want to be sure we know as much as we possibly can to give us the best chance for success.
Hopefully that is enough background to get the ball rolling. I would appreciate any and all advice on how to move forward. Moon's mom is 'good', but she is gone at school all day, sleeps all night an has 'activities'. I'd really rather stick with a single pig, but I don't think that will be fair to Moon.