Hi I'm new to guinea pigs, I have a male who is about a year old, who I found at the park 2 months ago. After waiting to see if an owner would show up or post lost signs it was obvious he was ditched and I had a new pet. I have read everywhere that they need friends, when I brought this up to the vet I was told not to because they can transfer respiratory problems to each other and he will be better alone (and he has a clean bill of health from her). So I'm confused do I get him a friend or not. He doesn't do a lot, he did popcorn alot the first month and now he likes to run around really fast so I don't think he is sad but they live like 8 years so that seems a long time to be single.