Bonding a blind guinea pig

WWDrew

WWDrew

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Hello,

I would like to try to bond a blind guinea pig who is 7 years old with one of my single boys. Is there anything different about it that you have to keep in mind? How does a blind guinea pig be submissive, or dominate for that matter? You're experiences would be helpful. I would really like to give this 7 year old boy a new home, because many people would over look a senior who is blind at the shelter.

Thanks In Advance,

Andrew
 
How wonderful that you are looking to bring home this piggy! Such a lovely thing to do.

Bonding is still done in the same way as with sighted piggies. Sight is not their strongest sense and they cope very well without it. They just use their others senses more and use scent marking as a way to move around their space. Older piggies are just looking for companionship, he may not even try to be dominant, and often the sighted piggy in the pair will become a carer for the blind piggy.

If you bring this piggy home, then do let us know how things go.
 
Hi

Having bonded a number of advanced cataract piggies (at one point I had a group of assorted cataract sows that were unlikely to find homes but were too fear-aggressive with the residential rescue sow herd), I would recommend that you start with a grid/bar divider they can sniff through (the sense of smell and hearing are even stronger in blind piggies) and get to know each other first for a day or two. I like to use a piggy run as a bonding pen.
For the bonding I just remove the divider and put a large heap of hay in the middle and sprinkle pellets and breakfast veg around the open bits.

It all depends on the personality mix and how fearful the blind piggy is when out of their comfort zone (hence my tip above). Piggies are generally very tolerant with disabled companions once they realise what is going on.

The bonding process and protocol is the same: Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics

All the best!
 
Aw good luck with the bonding! I have several blind piggies and they're wonderful, and as above, bonded basically the same as a sighted piggy.
 
All the best with the bonding. It sounds like he is going to have an amazing home with you.
 
Hope the bonding goes well.
I haven’t had to bond a blind piggy but my Merab was blind the last years of her life.
It didn’t limit her at all.
She still did an occasional zoomie,
She also retained her position as top pig.

This is one lucky boy to find such a lovely home with you.
 
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