ellyinexile
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi,
I'm new to the forum (long time reader first time poster) and wanted to ask a question about introducing a new pig.
Basically one of my piggies (Bowie) died, he had a chest infection when we got him that we weren't aware of and although he recovered it left him with permanent damage to his lung which made him weaker and smaller overall. Our other pig; Harvey, was doing a lot of rubble-strutting and we witnessed him pushing Bowie away from the food bowls, intimidating him out of their house etc.
Bowie started to lose weight so we had two feeding stations but it didn't help so we then separated them during feeding times. Unfortunately, although Bowie ate a bit better when he was alone there must of already been an underlying health issue. He had been to the vet twice since he started losing weight but nothing seemed to help him. He had a course of Baytril and then an anti inflammatory but the vet couldn't find a cause...
We only lost him a few days ago and I'm still so devastated, he was such a little dude, really affectionate and playful. I loved him so so much..
Since he passed Harvey has been alone. He isn't responsible for Bowie being ill don't get me wrong, but he was being very dominant and bullying which didn't help, because of that i wanted to get an opinion of long time piggie owners on whether or not you think getting another pig is a good idea?
I hope I don't sound like I am overreacting, I guess I just can't face watching another of my piggies die
Ideally I would like to get another as I don't want Harvey to be alone and I know they thrive better together but I am scared now that a new pig could get bullied
Sorry for blabbering on.....
Any advice would be great
Thanks
Elly
I'm new to the forum (long time reader first time poster) and wanted to ask a question about introducing a new pig.
Basically one of my piggies (Bowie) died, he had a chest infection when we got him that we weren't aware of and although he recovered it left him with permanent damage to his lung which made him weaker and smaller overall. Our other pig; Harvey, was doing a lot of rubble-strutting and we witnessed him pushing Bowie away from the food bowls, intimidating him out of their house etc.
Bowie started to lose weight so we had two feeding stations but it didn't help so we then separated them during feeding times. Unfortunately, although Bowie ate a bit better when he was alone there must of already been an underlying health issue. He had been to the vet twice since he started losing weight but nothing seemed to help him. He had a course of Baytril and then an anti inflammatory but the vet couldn't find a cause...
We only lost him a few days ago and I'm still so devastated, he was such a little dude, really affectionate and playful. I loved him so so much..
Since he passed Harvey has been alone. He isn't responsible for Bowie being ill don't get me wrong, but he was being very dominant and bullying which didn't help, because of that i wanted to get an opinion of long time piggie owners on whether or not you think getting another pig is a good idea?
I hope I don't sound like I am overreacting, I guess I just can't face watching another of my piggies die
Ideally I would like to get another as I don't want Harvey to be alone and I know they thrive better together but I am scared now that a new pig could get bullied
Sorry for blabbering on.....
Any advice would be great
Thanks
Elly