poggle
Forum Donator 2023/24
Hi everyone, I've been lurking on the forum for a couple of months now but thought it was time to say hello! I am based in the UK and have been a guinea pig owner on and off for closer to thirty years than I generally like to admit, although we're currently "between pigs" as we've been getting everything ready following a house move last year. Our indoor set-up is finally complete but we've encountered a couple of issues I would be grateful for your views on. (Apologies in advance for the long post.)
Our main hurdle has been finding a local, reputable rescue. Most of the rescues we have around here are the back garden variety, and I do worry about how the pigs have been living and how thoroughly quarantining, treatments etc. have been observed. Since finding this forum I have checked your rescue finder but there doesn't seem to be anything closer than a three-hour round trip away - not ideal, and I'm sure the rescues requiring physical home visits would be less than keen also. I would be grateful for any suggestions on next steps as I am getting frustrated and it feels more and more like a pet shop is our only option, something we'd like to avoid, unless we settle for an unknown welfare rescue.
A side concern of this is that I'm pregnant. While I'm confident in our ability to care for our existing and hoped-for future pets, I do wonder if many rescues would be reluctant to rehome to us as I've so often heard "new baby" cited as the reason for surrendering pets to rescues. As I said, I am confident and experienced (and I have my husband well trained as well these days), and this is certainly not something we're doing on a whim, but I can see how my bump could be a red flag. I know that there are several members here who run or work with UK rescues and any insight would be appreciated.
Our second issue is around the pairing we're looking for. We have zero intention of breeding but are looking for a boar / sow pair; my husband has never seen guinea pig "romance" behaviours before and I would love him to be able to experience them as they can be so endearing to watch (nothing like a husboar living his best life
). As space, time and money allows in future we would also love to be able to expand our herd to include more sows. I've seen very few neutered boars available for adoption, understandably, much less the pair we're after, and rescues are rightfully reluctant to rehome single piggies or un-neutered mixed pairs. Additionally, we unfortunately don't have the space the keep a boar and a sow separately but next to each other while he becomes safe; I do have an old hospital cage which could be used but at best the closest this could be would be on top of the main cage. If we did go the pet shop route, we would also most likely be purchasing babies much too young to do without social contact even for a short time, let alone the time needed for neutering. Plan B would be a sow pair, expanding to introduce a neutered boar later if we are able, but there's no guarantee this would ever be possible; we don't have the space for a boar pair currently so this isn't an option we're considering. If anyone has any ideas on how to make Plan A happen I would love to hear them!
For those interested, we have a non-C&C, fully enclosed cage approx. 10.5 sq ft (after the thickness of the cage walls has been accounted for, 140 by 71cm) on one level, currently located in the living room but to be moved to the quiet back bedroom (husband's home office) once decorated, at least until little one is old enough to understand how to interact with them safely / considerately (supervised!). We have our eyes on an outdoor run for day trips in the warmer months which we intend to purchase soon - although we probably have a good few months' wiggle room on this yet thanks to good old British weather! We also have a dog and an elderly cat, both of whom have lived with pigs previously - thankfully the cat prefers to pretend they don't exist while the dog thinks everyone is a friend... not that we would ever want to test either of them.
Thank you to everyone still reading, and thanks in advance for any advice.
Our main hurdle has been finding a local, reputable rescue. Most of the rescues we have around here are the back garden variety, and I do worry about how the pigs have been living and how thoroughly quarantining, treatments etc. have been observed. Since finding this forum I have checked your rescue finder but there doesn't seem to be anything closer than a three-hour round trip away - not ideal, and I'm sure the rescues requiring physical home visits would be less than keen also. I would be grateful for any suggestions on next steps as I am getting frustrated and it feels more and more like a pet shop is our only option, something we'd like to avoid, unless we settle for an unknown welfare rescue.
A side concern of this is that I'm pregnant. While I'm confident in our ability to care for our existing and hoped-for future pets, I do wonder if many rescues would be reluctant to rehome to us as I've so often heard "new baby" cited as the reason for surrendering pets to rescues. As I said, I am confident and experienced (and I have my husband well trained as well these days), and this is certainly not something we're doing on a whim, but I can see how my bump could be a red flag. I know that there are several members here who run or work with UK rescues and any insight would be appreciated.
Our second issue is around the pairing we're looking for. We have zero intention of breeding but are looking for a boar / sow pair; my husband has never seen guinea pig "romance" behaviours before and I would love him to be able to experience them as they can be so endearing to watch (nothing like a husboar living his best life
). As space, time and money allows in future we would also love to be able to expand our herd to include more sows. I've seen very few neutered boars available for adoption, understandably, much less the pair we're after, and rescues are rightfully reluctant to rehome single piggies or un-neutered mixed pairs. Additionally, we unfortunately don't have the space the keep a boar and a sow separately but next to each other while he becomes safe; I do have an old hospital cage which could be used but at best the closest this could be would be on top of the main cage. If we did go the pet shop route, we would also most likely be purchasing babies much too young to do without social contact even for a short time, let alone the time needed for neutering. Plan B would be a sow pair, expanding to introduce a neutered boar later if we are able, but there's no guarantee this would ever be possible; we don't have the space for a boar pair currently so this isn't an option we're considering. If anyone has any ideas on how to make Plan A happen I would love to hear them!For those interested, we have a non-C&C, fully enclosed cage approx. 10.5 sq ft (after the thickness of the cage walls has been accounted for, 140 by 71cm) on one level, currently located in the living room but to be moved to the quiet back bedroom (husband's home office) once decorated, at least until little one is old enough to understand how to interact with them safely / considerately (supervised!). We have our eyes on an outdoor run for day trips in the warmer months which we intend to purchase soon - although we probably have a good few months' wiggle room on this yet thanks to good old British weather!
We also have a dog and an elderly cat, both of whom have lived with pigs previously - thankfully the cat prefers to pretend they don't exist while the dog thinks everyone is a friend... not that we would ever want to test either of them.Thank you to everyone still reading, and thanks in advance for any advice.
How great that you're thinking about all these things in advance!
. Although they don’t seem to have a mixed pair 
. The principal applies though 
Hertfordshire is unfortunately too far away I think, but what beauties 