Introductions Some clarification on intros and bonding boys

[mejika]

I've been doing some reading on the forums and the Guinea Pig Cages main website about the process of of adopting a boar and introducing and bonding it with another boy.

So far I've understood that you need to quarantine a new addition separately for 3 weeks in a different room and then do in the introduction, but only once because re-introductions can be stressful for the pigs. Fair enough - this all seems to make sense.

But then I've also read that some shelters let you take your current guinea pig to find the best match for him/her and make sure they get along. Like here in Australia I saw on the RSCPA website that they suggest bringing your current pet to make sure it gets along with your new potential pet (though this wasn't specific to guinea pigs). This makes sense too and seems like a good idea.

So maybe I'm missing something, but these things don't seem to make sense together! How can you keep the pigs in quarantine if they've already met at the shelter? Do you just do it when you get home anyway? And at the shelter they could come into contact with several pigs without quarantine...? And when you go to the shelter to find a match, do you do the whole bonding process to check it's really going to work out even though I've read that sometimes it can take hours? (I'm sure this part depends on the individual shelter etc.) If not and it's more a 'speed dating' type idea then again with my quarantine question and the issue of them getting stressed through introductions...

I'm just wondering how these processes fit together! Thanks if anyone can clarify!

 

[Princess_Piggie]

With a good shelter, the pigs have likely been through the quarantine process and vetted already, so quarantine isn't required if they've been through it once already. My guess is the RSPCA will have taken care of this.

Shelter intros are more of a meet and greet. If they meet, and immediately go for each other, that's that. If they meet, and seem interested, or really just don't get aggressive, you can take them and do the proper intros at home.

 

[CavyMama]

Yes [MENTION=29900]Princess_Piggie[/MENTION] is correct. Many rescues will have quarantined their pigs already so that's why they can allow a meet & greet. If that's the case, quarantine once you get the pig home is not necessary. Any actually, after a meet & greet, the pigs have been exposed already so doing a quarantine at home would be pointless since the whole point of the quarantine is to avoid passing any dormant illness between pigs.

 

[bpatters]

It is a little confusing, isn't it?

Some shelters and most rescues will already have quarantined their pigs, so you don't have to worry about that. However, not all of them do, so it's a good idea to ask. Because, as you note, once they've been put together, there's no point in quarantining.

The "meet and greet" is an abbreviated form of introductions. What it will tell you is whether or not two pigs hate each other at first sight, so you can quickly eliminate those. If they don't, they've got a better chance of surviving as cage mates, although problems can still arise after you get them home. But sometimes two pigs will fall in love at first sight, and then you've got a match made in heaven. You can hope for that. But don't count on it.

 

[mejika]

Thanks so much for your replies. Your answers were pretty much what I had assumed so thanks for clarifying. When I'm ready to adopt I'll contact the places to check about the quarantining and if they allow meet and greets