Do they think of previous friends?

[Spaniel]

Do you think piggies think of their friend/s who have passed on and miss them?

I feel like Perry misses Lily sometimes even though he’s happy with new friend Lola.

We really miss her too

 

[Swissgreys]

I think that some piggies do in their own way.
I always felt somehow that Eddi never really got over the loss of his beloved Oreo, and he only lasted a few months after we lost her.

 

[Spaniel]

I think that some piggies do in their own way.
I always felt somehow that Eddi never really got over the loss of his beloved Oreo, and he only lasted a few months after we lost her.

So sorry for your losses

Perry is happy with Lola, they’re always playing and flirting! Just a feeling that he has these moments where he misses Lily. He’s such a sweet natured, sensitive and loving boy and he did need quite a while to come to terms with Lily passing. It’s the longest we have had to leave a friend in the cage for the goodbye

Missing her a lot today

 

[weepweeps]

So sorry for your losses

Perry is happy with Lola, they’re always playing and flirting! Just a feeling that he has these moments where he misses Lily. He’s such a sweet natured, sensitive and loving boy and he did need quite a while to come to terms with Lily passing. It’s the longest we have had to leave a friend in the cage for the goodbye

Missing her a lot today

Awww. Sending you a hug

 

[Wiebke]

Yes, they do.

There is nothing wrong with their depth of feeling or their memory, whether that is a loss, several years of separation or a life-long dislike after a failed bonding attempt.

I had an experience with one of my childhood piggies where I accidentally called the name of my boy's beloved first wife over a year after her death and he promptly started wailing even though he'd been living with a new sow in the interim. It was also proof that he not only knew his own human name but those of his companions, and it was one of the reasons why I got hooked because guinea pigs were clearly a lot deeper and more intelligent than most people at the time would have given them.

 

[Merab]

I agree.
I’m convinced that my Priscilla has never fully got over the loss of her best friend Jemimah.
We lost her in the early months of lockdown in 2020.

 

[Eriathwen]

They definitely remember, I had no idea that my Bella knew Clover before I got them but when I bonded her into the herd she gravitated towards her. I later found an old video from the rescue I got them both from a year apart showing them both in the same pen. They were clearly happy to be reunited

 

[Freela]

My son and I were just talking about this the other day (whether Leela would recognize Hadley, the pig that she lived with for 4 years who passed away 18 months or so ago.) I personally think that she would. I don't think she necessarily thinks of her because I'm not sure pigs are that good at abstract thinking, but I think that if she somehow saw her again, she would know her. I definitely know they recognize people who are gone a lot (my pigs are wary of total strangers but remember my mom, who they spend lots of time with in the summers, even when they don't see her often in the winter.) And I imagine remembering other pigs would come more naturally than remembering humans.