Hi new to the forum and looking for advice please, I have two rescue guinea pigs I have had for nearly a year they are both male who have always lived together they are about 3 years old. One of them stop eating and very quite took it to the vet teeth etc checked, had injections and medicine and I hand-fed it with a syringe for a week, for the last week he has started eating and is slowly putting weight back on he did lose a lot of weight. He has been living on his own whilst poorly so I could monitor what he was eating etc think he needs another week on his own to put more weight on etc other GP is a big chap. Will I be able to put them back together and if so the best way to do it.
Advice needed - Reintroducing boars after a medical separation
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Claire W
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I’m sorry to hear your boy has been poorly 
When you introduce him back to his friend which I suggest you do sooner rather than later, you will need to do so in neutral territory so somewhere neither of them has been before. Place a big pile of hay in the bonding pen and no hides. You may find these guides helpful Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics you will have to bond as if it’s their first meeting
When you introduce him back to his friend which I suggest you do sooner rather than later, you will need to do so in neutral territory so somewhere neither of them has been before. Place a big pile of hay in the bonding pen and no hides. You may find these guides helpful Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics you will have to bond as if it’s their first meeting
Hi
Please take the time to carefully read our step-by-step bonding guide link. Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
You may also want to read this guide here as you are likely to see quite a lot of dominance/submission squealing behaviour in the following two weeks if the re-bonding works out: Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Any re-intro has to be conducted on neutral ground outside the cage as a full formal bonding session. You should however know fairly quickly whether the dynamics between the two boys are heading in the right direction or not. Please accept that if your boys decide that they are no longer getting on and do not want to be with each other, there is nothing you can do to make them. You can facilitate the bonding process as such but you cannot make guinea pigs to change their mind and personality.
Make sure that you remove any huts and places with just one exit during the post-intro dominance weeks in which the hierarchy is re-established or newly established with another leader, in which case the dominance will be a lot stronger and dramatic. Please weigh your ill boy daily during that time and step in with suplementary feeding support if needed.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars (see especially chapter 3 for Boar Dos and Don'ts, which can really help during the post-intro dominance phase - the bonding process will actually only be fully finished by the end of it)
All the best!
PS: I have added the corncern of your thread to the title so members with personal experiences are more likely to post. We are doing our best to answer all threads on this forum as soon as we can, seeing that we are all this for free in our free time. You can help us much more by putting your concern in the title since the Care sections are specifically set for for the purpose of asking for advice. You will attract much more interest that way and won't end up at the bottom of the notifications pile under 'miscellanious' when we are working through all new posts since our last look at the forum. Thank you.
Please take the time to carefully read our step-by-step bonding guide link. Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
You may also want to read this guide here as you are likely to see quite a lot of dominance/submission squealing behaviour in the following two weeks if the re-bonding works out: Dominance Behaviours In Guinea Pigs
Any re-intro has to be conducted on neutral ground outside the cage as a full formal bonding session. You should however know fairly quickly whether the dynamics between the two boys are heading in the right direction or not. Please accept that if your boys decide that they are no longer getting on and do not want to be with each other, there is nothing you can do to make them. You can facilitate the bonding process as such but you cannot make guinea pigs to change their mind and personality.
Make sure that you remove any huts and places with just one exit during the post-intro dominance weeks in which the hierarchy is re-established or newly established with another leader, in which case the dominance will be a lot stronger and dramatic. Please weigh your ill boy daily during that time and step in with suplementary feeding support if needed.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
A Comprehensive Guide to Guinea Pig Boars (see especially chapter 3 for Boar Dos and Don'ts, which can really help during the post-intro dominance phase - the bonding process will actually only be fully finished by the end of it)
All the best!
PS: I have added the corncern of your thread to the title so members with personal experiences are more likely to post. We are doing our best to answer all threads on this forum as soon as we can, seeing that we are all this for free in our free time. You can help us much more by putting your concern in the title since the Care sections are specifically set for for the purpose of asking for advice. You will attract much more interest that way and won't end up at the bottom of the notifications pile under 'miscellanious' when we are working through all new posts since our last look at the forum. Thank you.