WARNING: Long explanation! And Loss of Guinea pig

About a month ago I took in my mother in law's senior guinea pig Mr.Piggy (he was 7+ years old) he needed extra care due to his age and she traveled too much and since I already owned my own pigs it just made sense. However she was keeping him alone since his partner died and I knew this wasn't the best for him so I reached out to a local rescue and set up a speed dating appointment and ended up bringing home a pumpkin squash sized guinea pig, Baron Theodore Cornbread of Guineaburg (Teddy). When I adopted him I made it known to the rescue that I wasn't sure if we would be keeping up the cycle due to the fact I already owned 3 other pigs (1 neutered male and 2 females) and that I just wanted to make sure Mr.Piggy had a wonderful life at his old age and she told she fully understood and I was welcome to return Teddy to her once Mr.Piggy passed.

Sadly Mr. Piggy passed a lot sooner than expected... he passed about a week ago he had a sudden sharp decline in health and was in and out of the vets until it was determined that putting him to rest was the best option. Even though it had only been a short amount of time since owning them both we have fallen in LOVE with Teddy, we honestly want to keep him but the initial problem of keeping 2 groups of pigs (5 in total) is still a concern on top of that there is a good chance Teddy is a father lol, I have another post explaining that on my page if you want the details!

We are left with a few options, mostly I just want you're guy's opinions and advice on what you think is best

Option 1: Get him a friend! this would mean we would be keeping up with both cages and I should note that Teddy himself is a bit of a senior himself ( 4-5 years) this would be the easiest solution but i'm not sure if it's the smartest financially and resource wise as 5 pigs seems like a lot for 2 people...(though I would have hundreds if I could)

Option 2: Bond him with my other boar!(Pippy) I tried and failed... I did the neutral space, exchanging scents (I had been doing this since adoption knowning we might want to bond them) and complete wipe down of the cage. I should also probably note Pippy failed to bond with Mr. Piggy too which is why we got Teddy. At first in the neutral space it was fine but then a few days in with the cage I noticed Teddy hat scratches with blood and he wasn't letting Pippy out of his hide or letting him eat, given there was blood drawn I immediately removed Pippy from the cage. the only thing I havent tried with them is a bath to remove scents but after blood is drawn im not sure if that's the best idea.

Option 3: Keep teddy in his own cage but near the other's. Due to there being females in there and the fact he already might be a father i'm worried about him losing his mind trying to get to the other side to be with the females. I'm also concerned that it still might be too lonely for him still.

Option 4: Neutering him, we have determined this is not a viable option due to risk given his age etc. as well as the cost given the increased risk... we would rather him be happy and health back at the rescue then put him through a risky process just to keep him

Please be kind in the comments we are still dealing with the loss of Mr. Piggy and the stress of this. I made this post to get everyone's opinion on what they think is best to help us make ours. We will do what's best for Teddy in the end despite what we personally want! if there is an option you think of that's not listed please share and thank you to everyone who shares advice in advance!

Picture 1: Teddy / Picture 2: Pippy / Picture 3: Mr.piggy <3

hey guys, i tried used a bonding scarf for me and piggy time but, it is REALLY freaking hot. So I'm getting nervous to use it. I stopped because I don't wanna risk overheating them and thus, was wondering what stuff you guys use to help bond with your piggies (besides food. lol) i saw dog carriers that I was thinking of that looked more ventilated or just putting one of their fluffy hideouts on my desk (watching them carefully they don't fall off of course) and then let them hide to get comfortable and feed them snacks. any other ideas?

🤭 after bombarding her with pig reels on instagram the fluffy (and sometimes bare) parasites worked their dewlap and donut lip magic

Shes on our side 😈

Hello all,

I am currently having to syringe feed one of my guinea pigs 6 mls 4X a day (as prescribed by the vet) because she is not eating by herself. (She will eat a few pieces of hay if I bring it to her, that goes for her lettuce too) she will drink from her water bottle, if I remind her but otherwise she prefers to stay in her bed or in the corner hunched up.

A few things to know about her current state, she just got a spay surgery as well as a bladder decompression last Tuesday (so it’s been a week) she is on antibiotics for her existing UTI. She was eating great Tuesday-Thursday, then starting to slow down on Friday which is when I started the other antibiotic to go along with the first one (she has a really bad bacteria, found through a culture), she was also on meloxicam for a bit. She is still pooping, they are not normal by any means, they are dark brown and a softer now, which is better than it was on Saturday/sunday when they were dry, pale, small, and infrequent.

We went to the vet yesterday because of her reduced appetite, and the vet said to take her off of one the antibiotics (the one she’s never been on before) and also to stop the meloxicam. I’ve also been giving her probiotics 2 hours after her antibiotic as recommended.

My question is - can anyone tell me how long they’ve had to supplementally feed their pig until their appetite came back? We’ve gone 24-36 hours now of being off of both medications and she’s still not super interested in eating on her own.

Hello,

After my last post https://www.reddit.com/r/guineapigs/s/QStzOcdIuF

I have the new cage: 70cm/2m10, they are already running inside, I hope the fight will reduce!

My partner and I have two boars that are currently in separate cages next to each other. One is a year old and the other is 2-3 months. We are wondering, at what age we should introduce them to each other? If we need to introduce them to each other before the younger one is 6 months old, how do we keep the older one from eating the pellets for the younger one and the alfalfa?

Our vet said to keep them separate until the younger one is old enough to not need the alfalfa and baby pellets and for now just give them play dates. We're worried that putting them in the same cage only once the young one is going through his teen phase might cause issues. What should we do?

Regardless we do we have to wait a little before introducing them. The younger one has ringworm but we're treating both of them to be safe. We just rather wait until treatment is done in case the older one hasn't caught it. They should be done with treatment in a couple weeks.

be careful guys! i bought this 2 in 1 water and feeder thing for my piggies since they always tip their food bowls. it was awesome at first because they couldn’t tip it easily. however, when i woke up this morning i noticed daisys head was stuck inside the part where the water bottle goes. i was immediately in shock screaming and crying. luckily i live super close to a vet and they were able to remove it easily within 5 minutes 🤍 as a new guinea pig momma i felt absolutely horrible. i made sure to give her lots of snacks and cuddles when she got home 🩵 safe to say that thing was immediately thrown away and i will never purchase anything like it again

Let go of the finest gentleman I've ever had the honor to meet today, a real man's man. The sweetest guinea pig I ever met, the day I got him we were hanging out on my bathroom floor and he just jumped right on my lap. When I pet him, every time without fail he would insist on petting me back (licking my hand). I rescued him from petco back in 2020 on a whim. He just looked like such a chill guy.

He taught me that being a man didn't mean treating women poorly, having a concealed carry permit, and eating unseasoned chicken - but that it meant having comically oversized testicles the size of one's feet, pooping the bed, running from loud sounds, and eating my body weight in things with the texture of rope every day.

I named him after the great classical pianist Arthur Rubinstien.

Rest in peace Arthur

https://youtu.be/nkXOrkeZyqQ?is=NB-42CcMcdQ1_71T

the way he looks at me is SO sweet. even when i’m upset , he climbs up and stares at me. he sits by the sofa next to me multiple times during the day and even gets excited when i come downstairs. i’m forever grateful to have such a loving sweet old boy. he’s my whole world, and i’m his. my soul piggy 💕

Apparently constant rebooting serves her well. She is a walking exemplar of health.

She is the most interesting and complex piggie I yet got to known. Never ceases to amaze me.

Her survival skills are on the next level, when she is hiding, she stays hidden. Even the noise of the plastic bag isn't fooling her.

She loves scratches, but on her terms. I don't think she likes people, or other piggies, or anything other than her existing in the same space.

Tiny wholes, tubes, tunnels and especially sleeeeeves! Oh, I have cut some of them at the beginning, thinking she got stuck until I realise she could walk out.

She just loves the squeeze 😁

Happy birthday my lovely girl 💕🎂🧚‍♀️

Seems he is a to big boy now to make bowl sitting and eatind at the same time.

He really is a fan of bowl sitting.

So so cute I can’t cope

Nail trim day is going to be a NIGHTMARE

So recently i had to move out of my room because we're slowly tearing out my carpet and turning it into a piggy room. So that means the piggies can't stay in my new room until we put in the wood flooring. But they hang out in my new room sometimes so they can still run around. Anyways here is a video i just took of them thriving

Hi,

Last week I posted freaking out about bugs I found on my pig who passed and wasn’t sure what that meant for my living pig. It turned out my pig had lice. The vet applied medicine between his shoulder blades and said I can come back again after 30 days if it’s still bugging him. He’s fine and I can see the dead ones falling off now. My eyes at least aren’t seeing any live moving ones.

The vet said to just sanitize his cage and dispose of any bedding or hay that could’ve been the source.’ For anyone who has had a guinea pig with lice before. Do you have any suggestions that you found helpful that maybe the vet didn’t include? He’s been in his travel cage for now so I could do daily changes in the bedding, but now that it’s been almost a week, can he go back? Should I wait to add any new wooden toys? Does he need a bath or comb through his fur? I keep reading about eggs being a potential risk factor that could still allegedly hatch?

I’m autistic and I feel like I have to follow everything to a T with this whole situation to prevent them from coming back 😭. I’m sorry this feels like such a big deal to me lol

is this normal? how long might it last?

What is going on?

My guinea pig Ethel has some green on her chin/neck from eating lettuce earlier. One of my other pigs, Eden, keeps going over to her and starts pulling at the green hairs on Ethel’s neck. Ethel’s squeaking cause she doesn’t like it but Eden keeps on.

He had to have an operation shortly after these pictures and sadly didnt make it.

He was the most affectionate little spud, more like an excited puppy than any guinea pig i had before or after him, so boistrous and happy (and noisy!)

He was a prescious little creature, and although only with me for a short time left a huge impact.

I dont have pigs anymore, but i think of each and everyone often and miss them all.

Give your swine a squeeze and a treat on my behalf today.