Desperately need help - Now only have one boar and every sanctuary / rescue is overbooked / closed / not doing playdates for bonding.

Alamerona

Alamerona

Junior Guinea Pig
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Location
Leeds, West Yorkshire
Hi TGPF - As I posted recently, we unfortunately and suddenly lost one of our two Boars, Joey, on Thursday morning after a 24hr stay in the vet's.

We now have just Bluebear, but this has opened up a whole host of issues that we have no idea how to solve.

Obviously we don't want Bluebear to be just on his own for ages, as we want to get him a new cagemate/s after he's concluded the grievance period of 2-6 weeks - The issue, though, is that none of the rescues, sanctuaries or adoption agencies around Leeds (Where we're based) are doing bonding sessions or even have any pigs up for adoption. This leaves a few circumstances:
  1. We neuter Bluebear and look for two or more Sows to accompany him in 6-8 weeks time.
  2. We look for a new Boar, anywhere in the UK, irrespective of how long it takes.
  3. We go the Pets at Home route (DO NOT WANT TO DO), and buy/adopt a new Guinea Pig and risk either misgendering / nonbonding.
  4. We surrender Bluebear (Worst case scenario).
Right now, we're leaning towards option 1 as then Bluebear can be amongst more ideal company (What Boar out there WOULDN'T want to be surrounded by ladies?), but it's proving to be such a difficult task as nobody seems to be open for adoption or playdates.
  • Cavy Corner is understandably closed due to the owner's recent bereavement.
  • Milhaven Guinea Pig Rescue has an extreme backlog of bonding request in excess of 2-3 months.
  • All our local Pets at Home stores have no Guinea Pigs for adoption, let alone sale (Once again, we'd prefer NOT to go through PAH).
  • Wakefield RSPCA couldn't be contacted.
  • Camp Nibbles have no Guinea Pigs that would bond well as they're extreme special needs / elderly.
Please can somebody help us? We're desperately trying to figure out what would be best for Bluebear and how to provide him a new cagemate in the coming weeks. We don't drive, which makes things even harder, but are willing to do anything to help our baby, and will find a way. Again, please help...
 
I’m sorry for your loss. You are really looking out for Bluebear’s welfare which is commendable. Would you be able to consider contacting some rescues that are a little further afield? Perhaps ones that you can reach by train? There is also the piggy train, though I don’t know how functional that can be at the moment due to current circumstances.

Alternatively, would you consider adopting a boar and doing the bonding yourself - if the rescues would allow it (Milhaven)? I’d it didn’t work out they could live side by side. Not ideal but better than nothing.

Option 1 is also a good one. By the time he’s safe, you may find that rescues are open to as close to normal as possible.

Depending on how he is in himself, you may consider a piggy from a pet shop as a very last resort. I think if he’s really pining and down in the dumps then you have to consider his welfare before anything. But I do understand why you don’t want to go for a pet shop piggy.

I’m sorry you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. Hopefully my drivel helped!
 
I’ve been through a similar situation recently. We lost Nutmeg about 3 weeks ago, and made the decision to neuter his friend Butternut. He sailed through the op about a week ago and we’re collecting a sow tomorrow from somebody who needed to rehome her, and I’m going to let them live side by side until he’s safe to be introduced to her. Butternut was actually introduced to Nutmeg as a baby (his mum was a rescue who arrived pregnant so we were lucky to find a baby boar that way!) after Nutmeg lost his companion last year, and they never bonded as much as Nutmeg was with Pumpkin so we felt a sow would be the best option for little Butternut. Good luck with whatever you decide <3
 
Thank you both for your responses; I'll go by answering Siikibam first, then Hiitshannah second:

> Would you be able to consider contacting some rescues that are a little further afield? Perhaps ones that you can reach by train?
This is something we're considering - It might be stressful on Bluebear in the temporary, but it would be worth it if he gets a new lifelong companion.

> There is also the piggy train, though I don’t know how functional that can be at the moment due to current circumstances.
I haven't actually heard of that - What is it?

> Alternatively, would you consider adopting a boar and doing the bonding yourself - if the rescues would allow it (Milhaven)? I’d it didn’t work out they could live side by side. Not ideal but better than nothing.
Again, this is another consideration we're having, however we're still pretty new to the Guinea Pig game, so we acknowledge it'd be fairly risky, albeit most likely worthwhile if we run close to our options.

> By the time he’s safe, you may find that rescues are open to as close to normal as possible.
Mmmm, this is a definite hope for us. Lockdown should be easing soon and fingers crossed rescues will be able to operate as normal!

> Depending on how he is in himself, you may consider a piggy from a pet shop as a very last resort. I think if he’s really pining and down in the dumps then you have to consider his welfare before anything
Very true. We have had poor experiences with pet shops (Joey was a petshop pig, and was sickly from day 1), but again want the best for Bluebear.

> ... so we felt a sow would be the best option for little Butternut.
This is what we were thinking - Finding a compatible Boar might be tricky given the current restrictions on being face-to-face and with travel restrictions - Hence why we thought neutering and adopting Sows
 
A piggy train is where people help transport a piggy from A to B. Piggies handle travel well so don’t be out off using public transport.

@Hiitshannah if the new piggy is older than four months she needs to be quarantined for two weeks. All the best with the bonding.
 
I feel your pain. Luckily I had two piggies left when Ellen sadly had to be pts last April but I have been on the waiting list at two local rescues for almost a year but it’s been difficult as they’re not doing bondings due to the current Covid situation. Luckily for me, a Facebook friend and member of this forum was looking for a home for her two sows and I brought Ella and Esme home 5 weeks ago to live with Edward and Elizabeth. She was thankfully happy for me to do the initial bonding at her house.

Sometimes you have to look further a field and hopefully things will become easier now restrictions are starting to ease
 
Alamerona said:
Hi TGPF - As I posted recently, we unfortunately and suddenly lost one of our two Boars, Joey, on Thursday morning after a 24hr stay in the vet's.

We now have just Bluebear, but this has opened up a whole host of issues that we have no idea how to solve.

Obviously we don't want Bluebear to be just on his own for ages, as we want to get him a new cagemate/s after he's concluded the grievance period of 2-6 weeks - The issue, though, is that none of the rescues, sanctuaries or adoption agencies around Leeds (Where we're based) are doing bonding sessions or even have any pigs up for adoption. This leaves a few circumstances:
  1. We neuter Bluebear and look for two or more Sows to accompany him in 6-8 weeks time.
  2. We look for a new Boar, anywhere in the UK, irrespective of how long it takes.
  3. We go the Pets at Home route (DO NOT WANT TO DO), and buy/adopt a new Guinea Pig and risk either misgendering / nonbonding.
  4. We surrender Bluebear (Worst case scenario).
Right now, we're leaning towards option 1 as then Bluebear can be amongst more ideal company (What Boar out there WOULDN'T want to be surrounded by ladies?), but it's proving to be such a difficult task as nobody seems to be open for adoption or playdates.
  • Cavy Corner is understandably closed due to the owner's recent bereavement.
  • Milhaven Guinea Pig Rescue has an extreme backlog of bonding request in excess of 2-3 months.
  • All our local Pets at Home stores have no Guinea Pigs for adoption, let alone sale (Once again, we'd prefer NOT to go through PAH).
  • Wakefield RSPCA couldn't be contacted.
  • Camp Nibbles have no Guinea Pigs that would bond well as they're extreme special needs / elderly.
Please can somebody help us? We're desperately trying to figure out what would be best for Bluebear and how to provide him a new cagemate in the coming weeks. We don't drive, which makes things even harder, but are willing to do anything to help our baby, and will find a way. Again, please help...
Click to expand...

@pig in the city Do you know anybody who could help?
 
Really sorry for your loss, it certainly sounds like you are being sensible with thinking things through thoroughly.

Have you tried looking at our rescue locator? Rescue Locator

These are the only rescues we can vouch for on the forum as having robust care and rehoming standards. That's not to say others don't but they may not have been vetted or their standards may have fallen short.

How old is Bluebear? Is he otherwise in good health? If you have a good cavy savvy vet then I would take him for a health check to talk about option 1 and whether it's likely to be something he can handle well. Age and overall health does come in to play and whilst you can never remove risk from general anaesthetic a healthy piggy and a good vet will reduce it considerably.
 
rhymer said:
If you can travel a little furtherthe rescue me animal sanctuary in Liverpool advertised on their Facebook page that they have male piggies looking for bromance a few days ago.
You just ring 07952017696 and leave a voice mail.x
Click to expand...

To be honest, we're willing to travel anywhere to get Bluebear a new friend.

We did also have a look at Tees Valley Guinea Pig Rescue, however they too have a long waiting list :<
 
Lady Kelly said:
Really sorry for your loss, it certainly sounds like you are being sensible with thinking things through thoroughly.

Have you tried looking at our rescue locator? Rescue Locator

These are the only rescues we can vouch for on the forum as having robust care and rehoming standards. That's not to say others don't but they may not have been vetted or their standards may have fallen short.

How old is Bluebear? Is he otherwise in good health? If you have a good cavy savvy vet then I would take him for a health check to talk about option 1 and whether it's likely to be something he can handle well. Age and overall health does come in to play and whilst you can never remove risk from general anaesthetic a healthy piggy and a good vet will reduce it considerably.
Click to expand...

Bluebear is 1 year, 1 month old, and is in good health - Our regular vet is Agatha at Holly House in Leeds, who writes for The Guinea Pig Magazine and does regular surgeries, so hopefully he would be ok for neutering
 
Just a thought but have you tried contacting your vets? They may know of someone with either a bereaved guinea, someone who's just had a litter of babies with an odd male, or someone who's thinking of needing to rehome a boy through circumstances, bond fallout, ending the piggy cycle?
Maybe even a rescue that's had some recently surrendered that could help?

Try emailing/phoning local rescues as they don't always put single piggies on their website.

Good luck finding a friend xx
 
I just wanted to say I'm so sorry. We went through this last year in lockdown. One nice thing our rescue contact suggested was putting a guinea pig sized stuffed animal in with the bereaved for comfort...it seemed to help.

We ended up taking a surrender in the shelter parking lot without meeting ahead of time. Luckily it worked out.

Best of luck to you and your poor boy 💕
 
The piggies Palace in Seaton ,Hull.uk. have two male piggies for adoption on there website,awaiting neutering.it maybe worth contacting them.ive rescued a piggie from them previously ,when they were based in the southeast of england.i hope you find a companion.these are on the vet locator.
 
We have a dominant 6 month old boar that we are on the fence about rehoming or keeping. He’s currently on his own and has been for just over a week, just having bar interaction with his neighbours. He’s a gorgeous piggy, we just want him to be happy and to do what’s best for him.
If you haven’t had any success anywhere else in finding Bluebear a friend, we could PM to discuss things?
 
I know Neville’s Nest in Leicester have lots of neutered boars looking for homes and they do dating too.
 
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