So, we entered the world of GPs just 4 weeks ago when we bought 2 baby females. But yesterday one of them suddenly became very poorly and had to be put to sleep (heart problem apparently). Remaining GP looks so sad and quiet so we'd like to get her a new companion, but have been getting mixed messages about what is best. Would introducing another young sow be successful? Have been told a neutered male would be better, but struggling to find one. Or we could take ours to meet another girlie to check they get on, but worried the drive to the pet shop would be extra stress for an already sad piggy. Any advice would be very welcome.
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70isaLimitNotaTarget ·
28/02/2016 11:13
Oh 
poor piggie.
Were they littermates? Has your vet recommended the remaining piggie has a check up to make sure the heart problem isn't hereditary?
WRT a cagemate:
My pigs travel from the Pighouse to the house in a big plastic sealed crate with newspaper on the floor and air holes drilled. it takes 1 minute. They bellyache like a coop of pidgeons while they're in transit. If the box is on the floor (like when I had to get hay from the garage) they are silent.
So with mine, it's a protest.
Cuddly towel, lots of bribey food and no jostling, she'll be happier.
A neutered boar is an option and lots of rescues will have some either ready or waiting ( they need 4-6 weeks (depending on what website you use) to go sterile after neutering.
And neutered boars don't 'think' any different to entire boars so they'll still try it on.
We got two adults for our GP3 (he was a huge Rex, 3lb weight) because (though DD would've loved to Rescue some baby pigs, and so would I, truth be known) we didn't think a couple of tiny females would cope with lardy great GP3 if he was trying to bonk them . (As it happens, I never saw him try, though he did with his male cagemate)
If your piggie is young adult and you get a boar (you'd still need to quarentine him a while even if he was sterile) . We had ours side by side , we had a high side cage in the Pighouse.
Or, yes a new female companion, it's impossible to say if an older sow or a baby sow would be better. It depends on the piganality.
But the females piglets at the Rescue we got ours were all snapped up , it was the boars that are trickier to home.
I'm biased 
and would recommend a neutered boar plus a couple of sows, so you could have your sow, a boar and another lone sow who would love a piggie home with company.
You could ask a Rescue to match them.
(I've asked for what my piggies 'need' rather than what I want, and we've had really good matches)
It's on all the piggie sites that it's the most 'natural' way for piggies to live
Though , IMO, two boars is a 'manufactured domestic' set up, it works well for lots of boars.
EastMidsGPs ·
28/02/2016 13:51
Echo all advice given. Yes find a playmate for your remaining piggie. Our rescue encourages 'play dates' for new friends to get to know one another. They are such social animals and seem incredibly sad when on their own. Have always managed to bring 'strangers' together as friends .. and there are people here with such a wealth of experience and good advice i am sure they'll help you establish your new family unit.
As to travelling although they moan and grumble we take ours in the car to East Anglia 4 or 5 times a year and it often takes 3+ hours. We have ours in a large plastic box - the ones where the sides fold in to make them flat. They have enough room to sit apart, newspaper, hay, parsley and cucumber etc a fleece that smells of them at one end to snuggle into and another fleece over to top so they feel safe. We put them in the foot well. If i am taking them in the car on my own i talk to them constantly 
if with OH he puts the radio on .. but we still talk in any case. Usually arguing about directions or driving!!! Only ever had one piggie who didn't like the car .. but even then she tolerated it when wrapped inside my jumper.
EastMidsGPs ·
28/02/2016 14:00
Oh and i have been known to give a sad grief affected piggie a knitted toy and a well wrapped warm hot water for comfort
EastMidsGPs ·
28/02/2016 16:26
Hiya. I've only ever had sows and have managed apart from once (and we were very inexperienced then) to bring together 'strangers'. Never really had any fighting. A bit of bickering and nips taken out of youngster's ears but generally its always worked ok. Plenty of space and places for each to retreat to, neuteral smells, peace and quiet and all goes well. We had to find Sadie quickly and introduce her to Mollie last year as Mollie was really miserable at loss of her long term friend .. so we did all above and all was fine.
The one GP we couldn't integrate was a rescue, after being nasty to our lonely piggie she went to live with my DB opp norf. She never settled in her cage would escape regularly and disappeared out of their garden for days on end and then would just reappear. She lived to be 6 and just died of old age. We think she had more than one home and visited each .. bit like a cat 
she lived on her wits and really was never tamed .. but am sure she was a one off
All will be fine ... as 70.often says ..appeal to their stomachs!
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