My Piggie had died

[Sookeh]

Not sure if anyone remembers my previous threads about my two piggies, Tyrion and Scruffles and the hell we went through with pets at home etc.

Scruffles was found dead in his cage this morning and I'm beyond devastated. I'm also terrified Tyrion is sick too and that we'll lose him.

This is the second companion Tyrion has lost and he doesn't seem himself at all.

I can't stop crying and I've not told DD yet. Scruffles was totally adored by us both and I tried so hard to keep him well.

I'm just a mess and I'm meant to be taking the kids out for the day in an hour and I'm barely holding myself together.

I've never been this attached to an animal before .

You'd find a spayed female difficult to locate TBH. They don't routinely spay like rabbits. (Rabbits are spayed for health reasons even if you don't have them near a male).

You could have Tyrion neutered -but he would still be fertile for a while (IIRC about 4 weeks) then match him with a female or 2 females if he'd like an adoring hareem .

I dread the thought of trying to match our boars - GP1 is the bossy one, so a new pig would have to play second fiddle. But GP2 is really in his brothers shadow so I don't know how he'd cope having to be the number one pig.Mine are 2 next month so still young(ish) , but it's always there in my mind.

Oh and re baby boys, be careful to watch for baby challenging older one.

My Big Pig was 5 months when we got Little pig at 6 weeks. All was good until Little pig got too big for his boots :(

A good chat with a breeder would be best but maybe a older pig might be better?? I do wonder if its the route I should have taken....

Bonkey has LittlePig settled with age or is he still a raging little bundle of hormones?

You might struggle to find a female who has already been spayed I fear. If you had to get a male or female 'done' I'd go for the male tbh, but I can't see you even considering that option at this moment in time given how you are feeling and the potential risk. So I'm not sure how viable that is as an option. We had one of our boys done after he had a litter so he could continue to live with his wife and he was fine; just a bit bewildered for a day if thats any consolation. But I've got to be honest, it was a hard decision to make all the same and we felt guilty as hell about it. We didn't want to separate them once they had bonded though which is why we made the decision.

I do think he'd probably be fine with a younger boar though,especially if hes proved himself to do so very quickly and easily in the past. If it all goes wrong, like BonkeyMollocks says putting them in pens next to each other does work well. We've two boys in a similar situation and they are very happy with having 'their' patch but still having the company. But that depends on how much space you have to be able to do that.

Take your time. He's still young and that really is in his favour.

I think it will have to be a boy then, I really couldn't bring myself to put Tyrion through an operation.

I'll give it some thought and try to find a reputable breeder nearby to speak to.

70 He is more settled in himself. I.e he will sit for cuddles now for ages rather than get bored after a few minutes and pounce on the sofa.

He is tamer than Big Pig and bolder. He practicaly jumps on you to pick him up. :)

But they still start with each other through the bars. I was watching them tonight, Big Pig nosed up to him and he nosed up back and started chattering. Neither backed down until I clapped when they both ran off , so I am still worried about trying them back together . But then other times they will groom each other and I think awww bless 'um.

Check your local animal sanctuary for rescue piggies. They often neuter the boars before rehoming, and regularly have 3/4 month old piggies who have left the 'cute baby' stage and kids have got bored with them. We had two from a sanctuary and had them for more than 6 years. You'll also find that most will be happy to let you 'trial' to see if they can bond with your piggie first

I second what hiding says, definitely worth a try.

I think you're probably feeling particularly sad Sookeh because you nursed him back to health. That does create a special bond, it's curious really. My boy Dexter slipped unnoticed from his hutch last year as I was putting him to bed, he was attacked by a cat in the night and very nearly killed. He got horribly infected but I nursed him (I was advised gps respond well to nursing and it's true) and he recovered. It took months and I really came to love him during that time.

Tyrion needs a friend, and you sound like such a caring owner