Guinea pigs question (following death of guinea pig) please help DD is very upset.

[sensesworkingovertime]

Hi, it wasn't the best start to the school hols on Friday when my DS was greeted with anguished cries of his sister " has just died!" as he walked in the door. It's their first pet to have died and they're both extremely upset.

Anyway the question is now do we buy any more baby gps to go in with the 3 year old adult. Does anyone know if that would be a good or bad idea? My daughter read that a lone guinea pig would get bored and it wouldn't do it any good so she is now fretting about the remaining one. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Could you look in local rescue for a 3-4 yo female companion or pair?

Would you be ok having more? A rescue would help match you up with another one or maybe two
Poor kids and poor gp

Thank you, I will consider that.

We've very successfully paired up adult bereaved guinea pigs, with youngsters or adults from a rescue. At one point we introduced two younger female pigs to our two adult females and adult male, he was neutered, I hasten to add. All sorts of combinations over the years and never had any problems. Two didn't really interact but they didn't squabble.

Is your survivor a male or female?

Different problems to consider in each case: if female, you MUST make sure you either get another female or a neutered boar, as a female that age cannot risk pregnancy. Rescue centres always have neutered boars desperate for rehoming btw, but your pig may be picky -- ours was!

We tried to introduce an adult female to our lone pig and it was a disaster (had to re-rehome the newcomer), but she instantly took to the younger one we introduced a few weeks later.

If male, your best bet is a very young boar, maybe 6 weeks or so, so it's not a threat.

But do try to find it a friend. Most pigs noticeably pine on their own.

Got that, thank you. DH and DD just gone to pet shop to see what's what and have also left phone message with GP rescue place. DD said to me that she wants to find the most skinny gp in need of rescue, ahh bless her cotton socks.