Can guinea pigs kill their cagemate?

Mikatelyn

Mikatelyn

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So this is probably an odd question.
A work acquaintance of my husband's mentioned in passing that she acquired 2 guinea pigs a few days ago, but one killed the other one. Because they think the surviving piggy is a murderous one, they think it needs to be a solo piggy. That's all we know about that situation, but it triggered a discussion.
I thought I had read somewhere that sometimes piggies are mistakenly accused of murdering their cagemate because the cagemate has been chewed on. But actually the cagemate died of other causes and the surviving piggy is distraught and becomes increasingly aggressive in trying to resuscitate its cagemate. Or the survivor is trying to hide the remains of the cagemate somehow to avoid attracting predators.
I can't find where I read this, so I thought I'd verify if this is true with you guys so I can send hubs back to work with correct info, and encourage his work acquaintance to get the surviving piggy a friend.
Thanks in advance.
 
Guinea pigs are really, REALLY unlikely to kill a cagemate! I suspect you're quite right that the guinea pig died of natural causes and any bite marks or chewing was postmortem, as guinea pigs do notice a dead companion and will nuzzle/lick/potentially chew their deceased companion as an emotional reaction or an attempt to wake them up. Although guinea pigs can get into scraps, the only way that I can think that one might kill another would be a really misaimed bite on an artery or something... and a severed artery would be hard to ignore, it would be blood everywhere, and I'm assuming that's not what they found! In short... I think your scenario is the most likely and hopefully your hubby can clear this up with the owner so that the remaining piggy isn't kept solo for fear of a repeat offence for his entire life!
 
Mikatelyn said:
So this is probably an odd question.
A work acquaintance of my husband's mentioned in passing that she acquired 2 guinea pigs a few days ago, but one killed the other one. Because they think the surviving piggy is a murderous one, they think it needs to be a solo piggy. That's all we know about that situation, but it triggered a discussion.
I thought I had read somewhere that sometimes piggies are mistakenly accused of murdering their cagemate because the cagemate has been chewed on. But actually the cagemate died of other causes and the surviving piggy is distraught and becomes increasingly aggressive in trying to resuscitate its cagemate. Or the survivor is trying to hide the remains of the cagemate somehow to avoid attracting predators.
I can't find where I read this, so I thought I'd verify if this is true with you guys so I can send hubs back to work with correct info, and encourage his work acquaintance to get the surviving piggy a friend.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Hi!

Guinea pigs do occasionally chew into a suddenly deceased mate in an increasingly desperate attempt to revive them. We see cases of that every now and then on here after a mate had a sudden heart attack or stroke out of the blue (which can happen at any age due to a genetic problem).
Guinea pigs usually know when a mate is ill/dying long before you do but an unexpected sudden death in a beloved mate whose company they badly rely on can really throw them.

They DO NOT kill their mates and they DO NOT fight to the death. In 15 years and with literally tens of thousands of piggies passing through here, we have come across less than a handful of cases where a full-on fighting bite accidentally hit a vital spot, usually in a desperate attempt to defend himself in a fight forced on the two boars due to not having the option to move away and out of the other boar's reach as they would normally if they were not stuck in a far too small cage and were unable to solve their personality clash in a peaceful way.
But in this case, the surviving piggy will not try to revive the mate. In the case of fights is not their fault, but their owner's, who put them in this situation in the first place; buying them for looks and not for matching personalities and then not separating them when they were not getting on before the situation escalated so badly. :(

Stressed-out/traumatised mothers of a litter of dead-born newborns can eat them partially in a desperate attempt to wake them up or with the instinct to eat the afterbirth in order to start the milk flow carrying further onto the bodies of their dead pups; especially when they are unable to move away. But this generally only happens in neglect/less than optimal situations in our experience. Piggies do not kill living babies although mothers may occasionally reject a baby they sense won't survive. But it is never killed.

Sadly, too many people make these kind of assumptions (some of them even vets not experienced with guinea pigs) and because of it fail them really badly by depriving them of their biggest species need - that of company of their own kind and preferably of their own choosing.
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities

I hope that this clarifies the issue?
 
Ideally the owners need to take the surviving piggie to a rescue that offers dating so he/she can choose a new friend x
 
Bill & Ted said:
Ideally the owners need to take the surviving piggie to a rescue that offers dating so he/she can choose a new friend x
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, as far as I know, piggy dating is not an available service in Arizona. I'm not even sure if there is a dedicated piggy rescue in the phoenix area. There are facebook groups dedicated to guinea pigs. I joined one. Let's just say I am less than impressed.
I have seen some individuals who seem better read about cavy care talk about introducing a piggy to a new piggy from a private owner (say off of craigslist or the facebook group) with the understanding that they will return that new piggy to the original owner if it doesn't work out between the piggies. I haven't needed to do this, but that was my plan if one of my piggies found himself alone. My plan was also to coerce the hubby to go back to work with a wealth of information for that work acquaintance, lol. I think my poor hubs might be regretting mentioning this conversation to me.
 
Mikatelyn said:
Unfortunately, as far as I know, piggy dating is not an available service in Arizona. I'm not even sure if there is a dedicated piggy rescue in the phoenix area. There are facebook groups dedicated to guinea pigs. I joined one. Let's just say I am less than impressed.
I have seen some individuals who seem better read about cavy care talk about introducing a piggy to a new piggy from a private owner (say off of craigslist or the facebook group) with the understanding that they will return that new piggy to the original owner if it doesn't work out between the piggies. I haven't needed to do this, but that was my plan if one of my piggies found himself alone. My plan was also to coerce the hubby to go back to work with a wealth of information for that work acquaintance, lol. I think my poor hubs might be regretting mentioning this conversation to me.
Click to expand...
Well I hope it works out well for the little bereaved piggie, in the Guinea Pig Guides (along green bar) there is a great page on Bonding do’s and don’t to give every advantage for a bond to go well x
 
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