Adopting Finally found a reputable rescue!!

trenbeau · Aug 11, 2014

So if any of you have read my last few posts, I have been looking for a suitable rescue to get Frodo a friend from, since Moogle went over the rainbow bridge. It has been AWFUL. Frodo constantly cries and searches around his cage, or else he just lays under his favourite hidey and doesn't move for hours. The only time he seems like his old self is during lap time and playtime. When I have him out with me he is happy and purring and licking my hand and eating veg (no popcorning as he rarely does that due to his back legs). As soon as we put him back in his cage though, he is super unhappy and depressed.

I had left my name and number at the two humane societies close to me, and the SPCA about three hours away and had no calls. I checked out a petting zoo that was looking to get rid of their animals and found basically a BYB situation. But FINALLY!!!! A small town rescue outside of Saskatoon (about three hours away) has one pig available! We will be going up to Saskatoon this weekend to stay with my boyfriends family, and the lady who runs the rescue will be bringing him to Logan's parents house to do a meet and greet with my Frodo. This will be happening one week from today and I am ecstatic!!! I was feeling so much pressure to get him a friend because of his cries, but wanted to do it the right way. Just a few questions about this:

-when we do the meet and greet, if it goes well, we are hoping to take him home after that. Would they be alright in the same carrier for the three hour drive back to our place, or should I get a separate carrier?
-will I need to separate for the three weeks, since he is coming with all of his vet history etc.?
-should I buy new toys/hideys or will washing be enough?

Any other advice would really be appreciated! I am very nervous about this since it is so soon after my Moogle's passing-but I can't leave Frodo alone any more. Thanks guys.

also here is the link to the rescue, and shows videos/pictures of (hopefully) my little guy: (broken link removed)

pigger123 · Aug 11, 2014

A regular carrier would be a bit small for such a long trip, but separating them would make the initial introduction useless. If you have an old pet store cage or something you could use that for traveling, or you could wait to introduce them until you get back and have them in separate carriers.

If you're going to introduce them when you first get him, there's no point in quarantining since they're coming into contact with each other immediately anyway. If you want to quarantine, you have to get the new pig and keep him totally separate for 3 weeks, and wait to do intros until after the 3 weeks.

trenbeau · Aug 11, 2014

@pigger123
Do people normally quarantine their rescue pigs though? If he is coming from a rescuer I shouldn't have to , should I? Additionally would they be okay in two separate carriers as long as they were facing each other and could smell/see each other? Thanks for the info

trenbeau · Aug 11, 2014

Or like when people do piggy meet and greets at shelters how do those work? Sorry for all the questions!

guineapigcraz27 · Aug 11, 2014

Depends if the rescue was a reputable rescue. Do you know what it looks like in the inside? And do you have link to their website?

pigger123 · Aug 11, 2014

Good rescues will usually have already quarantined the pig and had a vet check-up, but many shelters and some of the not-so-great rescues won't do this. If the rescue has already quarantined it's unnecessary, but it's recommended if they haven't. If they're facing each other in two separate carriers they should be okay, but I would still reintroduce them in a large neutral area at home before you put them in the cage, so they can get familiar again and remind each other of the dominance order.

PrincessAngel · Aug 11, 2014

I have gotten 3 of my pigs from a shelter and have done quarantine with them. None of them ever got ill. If the rescue offers "meet and greets" they probably have some guarantee in the contract that if the animal gets sick they will cover medical bills within a certain time frame. I recently got a new pig from a friend and bypassed the quarantine thing because this pig has been in and out of vet care in recent months. As far as the ride back, if they were both in the same cage/carrier they may be too scared to fight. But I'd probably bring them home separately and do reintro once you get home as it's new territory and just throwing them into a cage together may lead to fighting.

Rywen · Aug 11, 2014

He's very cute! I did a meet and greet with a local rescue when I adopted Penny (I already had Ferb). They came home in the same 19" cat carrier, granted it was a 15 min drive.

trenbeau · Aug 11, 2014

Thank you so much @guineapigcraz27 @pigger123 @PrincessAngel-- I trust this rescue, I have been corresponding with the lady in charge and she seems knowledgeable and caring- she recommends this site, guinealynx and a bunch of other sources that I trust as well. I have yet to see the inside of it- I believe that it is just run out of her ranch but I will check out the pictures on her website (there are some of the pigs on the adoptables page playing-- link is above in my first post) and see what I think. She is giving me a folder full of his vet history, and will be getting him checked to ensure he is safe to leave the rescue.

Here is what I think Im going to do:

Have a piggy meet and greet while we are there to see that they are not going to fight immediately and draw blood.
If they do not draw blood and seem to be getting along, load them up in separate cages which are facing eachother in the car, and take them back to our home.
re-introduce them in the playpen and leave them for a few hours to get used to one another, figure out pecking order, eat, scent mark etc.
Put them into the cage for the night!
Hopefully everyone will be happy!
@Rywen thanks! I think he's just adorable!

Ill be happy to meet him! Yeah I was hoping to avoid buying another carrier (we have one of these: https://petvalu.com/dog/crates-and-carriers/product/65069/fashion-pet-home-brown-bailey-bella although it isnt as hoitey toitey as it sounds on the website, we got it a garage sale haha). Ill have to look online to see if anyone is getting rid of one!

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Adopting Finally found a reputable rescue!!

trenbeau

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trenbeau

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trenbeau

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guineapigcraz27

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