Grieving pig, how to help?

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Bertbean

Hey all. So, early Sunday my guinea pig Bert died. I am still very sad and can't believe he's not here anymore. I won't go into the details as there is a topic about it in the Illness section.

So now I have two remaining g.pigs. Bert lived on his own at first until I found him a rescue piggy friend named Ernie. They tolerated each other but Ernie is just one of those pigs who likes his own company staying on his own in his house and is not into "playing". They spent most of the time seperate in the cage. I then got little Louis who became Bert's soulmate. These two were made for each other and did everything together, laps round the cage were in piggy trains, they would sleep piled ontop of each other or squidged up side by side in the corner. Bert was so happy with Louis it was like seeing a diff pig and I think they gave each other a lot of confidence.

So now Bert has gone and it is just Lou and Ern. :( Lou seems VERY quiet and has not been up to much, he just sleeps between eating. He doesn't run about or seem to do much now because he doesn't have anyone to do so with. I have been giving him extra cuddles and attention (and Ernie too) but I can't be there all the time and feel so sorry for him. He keeps trying to squeeze into the house to be with Ern which Ern doesn't take too kindly to and Lou just gets a nip for his efforts. He's also taken to attempting to lick and groom Ern's face just as he did with Bert. Bert would normally do a "I am boss pig" rumble (but then do the grooming thing back to Lou!) and then they would have a popcorn about the place. Ern is lovely but just isn't in to all this!

I'm not sure if Bert and Louis just got on unusually well and whether most piggies relationships are pretty indifferent like Louis and Ern's is now.

How do all your piggies get on?
 
they are all very different. It seems that Louis will need some like-minded friend to play with, though, as he may become depressed if he keeps being knocked back by Ernie. There is always the risk of Ernie being fed up with him too and hurting him.

Maybe you should consider a younger friend for Louis to play with.
 
i lost my mickie last week n his cagemate alfie was not his usual happy self on his own so i put him in with some of my other boars and although they are not fighting he just doesnt seem to be as happy with them as he was with mickie. maybe it will just take time or maybe alfie needs a guinea pig more like he is young and playful, I'm not sure.
I'm not sure if mickies and alfies relationship was just extra special.
 
well my ruby died on 6th of jan 09 she loved with her mummy lilly and her sister poppy

Now ruby was allways cuddling up to lilly etc but lilly never cuddled up to ruby it was allways other way around

Ruby also use to sit next to poppy aswell

but poppy and lilly have never cuddled togather there do get logn tho and allways have

now there on thier own thier do thier own thing only time there do anything togther is at feeding time and cleaning out time i did see lilly kiss poppy this week tho

lilly is just not a socaiable guinea pig she likes to do her own thing she dose go and check to see what poppy is doing see if she ok
 
I'm not sure what to do with my piggies now, i had two that lived in the same cage Bertie and Alfie, sadly Alfie had to be put to sleep today and now i'm not sure whats the best thing to do for Bertie. I have another pig, Pinky who is also a boar (just over 2 months old) he lives in a seperate cage in the same room as the cage that Bertie used to share with Alfie, do you think it would be worthwhile trying to unite the pair of them with the aim of getting them to live in the same cage? Bertie is just over a year old so i'm not sure if the age differences will be a problem or not.
 
I decided to have a go at introducing the pair today, so i brought their play pen down into the living room and put lots of hay, veggies and food in there. At first they just stood at seperate ends of the pen ignoring each other, then Bertie the eldest one started doing a bit of bottom sniffing which then progressed into him rumbling and trying to mount poor little pinky from any which way he could get to him - Pinky just kept running away so then it turned into a chase/mount/chase/mount pattern. I let this go on for about 15 minutes and then removed Bertie as i was getting concerned about him hurting pinky by keep jumping on him, or indeed pinky collapsing from all the running and stress!

I'm not sure if i did the right thing seperating them or not now, i was going to try them together again tomorrow and see if the behaviour was the same. I know baby pigs are supposed to adapt better to pairing but if i get a new piggie to pair with Bertie i still can't guarantee that he'll be any less of a neusence with it as he was with Pinky.

Has anyone got any advice?
 
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