New hutch mate or lone pig?

[ShyCrab]

Hi all, I’m looking for some advice. I had two 5 year old guinea pig boars and one sadly passed away suddenly on Thursday. We are all so upset as he was a lovely boy.

We were making plans to upgrade the outdoor hutch set up and now are unsure what to do.

Our living piggy seems ok in himself but we would like to get him a friend. However does anyone have any experiences of having a lone elderly pig? he is very dominant so we are unsure how easy it will be to bond him with another pig.
We don’t want to keep him on his own as we are both busy, work full time with a baby so feel it would be unfair to keep him alone; however he seems to be doing ok in himself.
We would take him to a sanctuary to bond him with another pig and bring them both home but DP thinks it might stress him to have another pig introduced. We don’t know what to do for the best. Does anyone have any advice?
The plan is to wait a few more weeks to let him grieve and then make a decision.
Just to add he is an outdoor pig and we wouldn’t want to move him indoors ideally, but would consider this if this was in his best interest.

You can't have a lone pig. They are social animals. When we had our last remaining pig I returned the last one to a shelter, just so he wouldn't be alone. I didn't want to get a new one at that point.

I don’t know how helpful I can be but even bonding an elderly female with two young females has been difficult and has taken weeks. Mine are outdoor pigs and I ended up building a large temporary extension to their ark and putting in lots of small shelters it was all a bit “high noon” when any off them ventured out.
I think bonding him with another male would be very hard, is it possible to split his cage and put other pigs right next to him that he can see but not in with him.
I had a boar many years ago and he lived happily separated next to females.
I may just have been lucky and others with greater experience will say don’t do this.
i hope you find a solution

Thanks both for the responses. I don’t think we’d be able to take him to a sanctuary, we would be heartbroken. I do worry that it will be difficult to bond him, we really don’t want to stress him.

5 isn’t particularly elderly for a Guinea pig. It’s middle aged.

We had a similar situation and got the remaining pig neutered- quite an easy op for a pig- and then got him 3 new housemates all girls. He was so excited he popcorned all over the cage for hours! We have them in a huge c and c cage in the kitchen and they are all very happy together. The 3 girls were babies when we got them.

It is hard but we did it for the best for our piggy rather than our own feelings. I've had some hard to bond boars and found that they did tend to become easier to bond as they got older. If you do want another pig, then a good rescue could help you find a companion that will work for them. Of course, you'll end up with another lone piggie to deal with eventually if you just get one.

5 isn't old though. It is the age things can happen from though, more likely anyway. I like mine to get to at least 6, preferably 7. Our last boar got to 8.5 years before he died.

Meant to add part of the reason new bondings often fail is territorial stuff - make sure you get either a totally new cage or deep clean the one you have so it’s all neutral territory and make sure it’s really big, lots of food bowls and water bottles so no one has to fight over anything.

When I first joined MN and got our piggies , one poster on Small Pets ( or as it was then Super Furry Animals) had a middle aged boar who lost his brother and was kept side-by-side with two sows . Obviously you ned to make sure he never gets his paws on them but it gives them company through the bars of the cage .

Our last boar (neutered) lived with two wives and we had a pair of sows in their own group (they didn't want to bond with the trio) . We had to keep them as a 3+2 seperated at all times (not pregnancy risk )
When the wives died he was kept as a side-by-side to he had company to chat to .
When one of the pair died ( the stroppy one ) we managed to pair him with the other one .
I did read somewhere that over 5yo boars are a delight and you can match them with anything (I;m not sure how true that is )

The best match would be a tiny boar piglet or a very laid back boar maybe one who has been a pair left on its own.
Neutered sows are rare

You could castrate him , bear in mind there are risks

Some Rescues will "loan" a pig out , it stays as their property , you have the piggie as a companion, the idea being you return it when your own pig dies . Not sure I could hand it back myself .
But you do end up in a spiral of another pig until you get to the last one .
We ended up with three oldies that we lost over 6 months , by the time we got to the last girl she stayed in 24/7 with DD

Thanks for sharing your story. We’ve considered a ‘loan pig’ but don’t think we’d be able to hand him back when the time came! Also considered neutering our boy but we feel it’s too risky an operation for him. It’s been a week since his friend passed and he seems ok - lots of cuddles and attention and he’s eating and drinking ok. We’re going to keep a close eye on his demeanour and try to find him a new friend over the next few weeks.
Interestingly I has a phone call with a rescue who advised that if he seems happy, some older boars will happily live alone with human company and trying to bond them will cause them stress. They obviously know more than we do but it seems cruel to not even try to find him a new friend. Our main concern is not causing him stress, so now we’re even more confused !

Older pigs are usually very accepting of babies. So I'd see if a rescue has a boar piglet and introduce on neutral territory, take it slowly. Lots of good introduction videos online.

We had two boars and when the more dominant one died within a few days the remaining timid one really came out of his shell.
He was friendly and vocal and would follow us around the garden and the house when indoors over winter. He was like a different pig.
All food was his and he genuinely seemed to enjoy his single life so we never got him a mate.
He lived for a few more years and I really don’t think he missed out.

Older pigs can be OK alone, but I think it depends on the pig. Dominant older boars are difficult to bond but it can work, particularly with babies, though they can fall out as the baby grows up. Some vets aren't keen on neutering older boars as it has risks and the older the pig the less robust they are, which can rule out females as new pen mates. We got our 4 year old boar neutered when he lost his mate and he got an abcess and we nearly lost him, he did pull through and had 2 extra years he thoroughly enjoyed with 2 young females. He was depressed at losing his mate, and lost some weight. He wasn't dominant and like a pp experienced, really blossomed when he met the 2 sows. So , if your pig seems happy, in your position, I would probably leave him as he is unless he seems unhappy.

Thanks everyone for the responses. We’ve been keeping a close eye on our boar and he seems genuinely happy alone for the moment. We’re keeping him in the house a lot and he’s been popping a lot - after we haven’t seen him popping for ages prior to his hutch mate passing! He is eating and drinking fine (think he’s actually put weight on) so we’re leaving him for now. I do think he would be difficult to bond as he’s a dominant old boy, but any signs of unhappiness and we’re fully prepared to find him a friend. I thought he would be very sad without his friend but he doesn’t seem to be at all.