Guinea pig and bunny together

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lizzie_71

lizzie_71

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When I was a little girl we had a bunny and a guinea pig who shared a hutch. They got on fine even though they were both boys (well I think they were). They shared their food, and shared their outdoor run too.

I was wondering if this is still considered to be OK nowadays? I have two boars and don't want a bunny in with them (no space really) but for the future my daughter is keen on a bunny and I wondered if it would work with a piggie too?

Can bunnies eat the same gertie guinea pig/tesco food as the piggies?
 
Bunnies are not a good idea with piggies simply because they can some times hurt the piggy or bully it and it isnt worth the risk. Piggies should be with piggies and bunnies with bunnies most animals are better with their own kind ;)
 
The simple answer is - NO!
They can't eat the same food - they need different diets and different amounts. Also the rabbit could accidentally hurt the piggie, as Dazie said. Plus, they are different species and so can't communicate in the same way - much better for them to each live with their own :)
I'd also say that rabbits are far from ideal pets for children - even my 9 year old is unable to handle mine. They aren't, in general, cuddly like people expect them to be - ltos of rabbits don't like being handled at all and can inflict a nasty bite or scratch if they are displeased!
 
Also a kick from a bunny can kill a guinea pig. My aunt did similar and everything was ok, but I don't think it is worth taking the chance. :)

Maybe 2 small rabbits would be nice, if you already have boars then thats what I'd do and house seperatly. :)

Louise
 
Bunnys also sometimes try to have sweet lonin with a piggy......
They can also catch germs from one another....
Please dont Buy a bunny on a wim... hard i know but i have three and they are hard work although very rewarding.x
 
OK, no bunny for us then at the moment.

I'm even more allergic to bunnies than I am to the piggies so it's for the best really :)

Although I know we gave them both the same food with no ill effects 30 years ago (I know, I'm really really old).

I am barely coping with the piggies and the tropical fish and the children, so I don't know why I'm even thinking of more pets 98)
 
My apologies if I offend anyone but I disagree entirely. We have had 3 guinea pig/bunny pairs in the past and they have worked brilliantly. If anything bunny piggy pairs have got on better for us. It does depend on the tempermant of the rabbit and of the guinea pig. We've had ours since they were very young so they have grown up together. Our bunnies are very small also so they have grown up to be approximatley the same size i.e. large guinea pig and netherland dwarf rabbit. They do have the potential to hurt each other but we've never experienced a problem. We were told by our vet that our rabbits can eat the guinea pig food as long as they are fed on guinea pig food and not rabbit food and as long as they have a healthy diet of hay and fruit/veg. Our vet also told us it is very very unlikely that guinea pigs and rabbits can contract the same diseases as they are not the same species although it is not impossible (as we can prove when one of our rabbits caught a disease from our other guinea) but if you do catch it early then its never a huge issue. Most people do recommend not to put rabbits and guineas together but we've never ever had a problem and our bunnies love our guineas so much they clean them and it makes our guineas purr :D our two boys are on their own now as they've lost their bunny buddies and its amazing how big a bond they had. As I've said alot of people will probably advise not to put rabbits and guineas together and we've been told the same but our vet and other experts have told us that as long as they are the same age and have practically grown up together and are roughly the same size in a largeish hutch then they should be ok. As long as you watch them and are prepared to separate if needs be you shouldn't have a problem.
 
Guinea pigs should live with thier own kind not rabbits. It is not recommended that they are housed together. Would you like living with a chimpanzee because they are almost human no I do not think so. Rabbits live with Rabbits and guinea pigs with guinea pigs.
 
It's not worth the risk. A bunny could kill your piggies..now, as much as your daughter (and you, I'm assuming) would love a bunny, I don't think you'd enjoy finding a dead guinea pig because it has been kicked by the bunny? :(

If you do want bunnies, get a pair (spayed/neutered female/male rescue pair would be good) of bunnies to live on there own..then, you have bunnies and piggies, but they're no danger to eachother.
 
Guinea pigs can get seriously hurt or possibly killed by just one kick from a rabbit even when the rabbit didnt mean to kick it and its even worse if they are in a small cage/hutch :-\

Glad you are not considering one for a friend for a guinea pig O0
 
Misty1 - I suggest you find yourself a new vet! That kind of advice is completely outdated.
The argument - "we did it and they were fine" just doesn't hold any weight. I would also be interested to know how long your rabbits lived - a lot of people who have their rabbits on poor diets (and I would have to say that cheap guinea mix is a very poor diet for a rabbit) say well they lived to 4 or 5 so that's great! - without realising that a rabbit, if well cared for, can actually live to 8, 10 or even 12.
Sorry to rant at you but it really isn't acceptable when we have the knowledge we now do, to advise people that housing these two species together is OK - it just isn't a good idea.
 
Just for interests sake our rabbits did pass away early but not because they were living with guinea pigs. one died of vhd and the other died of ulcers in his gut which was not to do with the feed. He got a protein infection after an autopsy. We currently house 1 rabbit/guinea pig pair in Buster and Jess. He is currently on the guinea pig nuggets (not museli as thats no good for either species) he goes to the vet with her every 4 months (as recommended) and he always gets a full bill of health. Our vet is one of the best vets we've ever been to and he's always done right by our lot and thats why they're all healthy. We wouldn't listen to just a pet store but we listened to our vet and we took advice from another vet who said it isn't a problem to house them together as long as they get a varied diet which they do. I do acknowledge what you are saying and that it is not recommended for rabbits and guineas to go together but we were told (maybe its false I don't know) that if we got them at the same age and they are approximately the same size and they have a varied diet of guinea pellets, hay and fresh fruit and veg and (obviously) fresh water then we should never experience a problem and we never have. The bond they have is unbreakable, the guineas squeal like mad when the rabbits are taken from them. Silver (bunny) used to clean Scruffy whenever they were together. He misses her terribly now she isn't around. Patch would let Tufty (guinea) climb all over him and he didn't bother. Patch used to clean Tufty too though very rarely. Jess also squeals whenever her Buster is taken away and frets whenever they are apart. Buster also gets upset whenever he is apart from Jess. Its unbelieveable. As I've said I do acknowledge that it is not recommended but we've never experienced a problem, ever and they are very well looked after
 
Loopylou said:
Misty1 - I suggest you find yourself a new vet! That kind of advice is completely outdated.
The argument - "we did it and they were fine" just doesn't hold any weight. I would also be interested to know how long your rabbits lived - a lot of people who have their rabbits on poor diets (and I would have to say that cheap guinea mix is a very poor diet for a rabbit) say well they lived to 4 or 5 so that's great! - without realising that a rabbit, if well cared for, can actually live to 8, 10 or even 12.
Sorry to rant at you but it really isn't acceptable when we have the knowledge we now do, to advise people that housing these two species together is OK - it just isn't a good idea.
Click to expand...

Amen to this. If the guinea pig was purring at the rabbit the chances are it was a sign of displeasure and not happiness. While it's not common for rabbits to give guinea pigs diseases (then again it's not common now for people to house rabbits WITH guinea pigs) they can still harbour dangerous infections that could kill a cavy - Bordetella (rabbits do not show symptoms) and Pasturella are two examples. It's a shame your vet doesn't know this - perhaps you could inform them?

Have a read of http://www.guineapigcages.com/rabbits.htm for just a couple of examples of disaster in housing them together.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...ea-pig-why-not-house-rabbits-guinea-pigs.html for pictures of rabbit inflicted injuries.

We wouldn't house a chinchilla with a rabbit, a hamster with a gerbil or a child with a gorilla so why should it be acceptable to house rabbits and guinea pigs together?
 
You believe what you want, I am not starting an argument but our experience has been great. You think its wrong and I agree in some respects that it is not recommended to house them together but we have not had problems so far. Our animals are very well looked after and we now only have 1 rabbit/guinea pair and the rest are either rabbit/rabbit or guinea/guinea or singles. This argument could go on for ever, so lets agree to disagree. But we would consider another pair without a doubt!
 
I can only assume Misty that you would be buying them from a pet shop as no breeder with a good reputation would consider selling a guinea pig which would be housed with a rabbit or vice versa for that matter.

They is no way that these two animals should be housed together. I have seen the results of this and believe me it isnt pretty.

People have said here that rabbits can inflict injuries on guinea pigs but guinea pigs can do just as much harm to rabbits if not worse.

I am in strong agreement with everyone else on here. Rabbits and guinea pigs together are a huge NO!!
 
i would never have a Guinea Pig/rabbit pair their both diffrent species both need diffrent diets, yes i will admit when i was an uneducated silly girl i did buy a rabbit as a friend for my Guinea Pig 2 years ago. i do sometimes let my rabbits exercise with the guinea Pigs (all supervised though) but its not often.
 
Please believe me when I say that we do look after our animals and if anything did happen we would immediately separate them. We do keep a close eye on them and we would never do anything that would intentionally hurt them. We have tried to separate them already based on what others have told us in the past but Jess gets so distressed when her buddy is taken from her I cant do that to her its not fair
 
Misty1 said:
Please believe me when I say that we do look after our animals and if anything did happen we would immediately separate them. We do keep a close eye on them and we would never do anything that would intentionally hurt them. We have tried to separate them already based on what others have told us in the past but Jess gets so distressed when her buddy is taken from her I cant do that to her its not fair
Click to expand...

Exactly, why wait till something happens?

Which one is Jess, is that the guinea pig or the rabbit? If its the guinea pig then why not give them another guinea pig friend. If its the rabbit then why not get a neutered rabbit of the opposite sex to live with them. Surely that would be better.
 
Jess is the piggy. After listening to what you all have said we're going to try and bond her with our other single girlie Misty over the weekend. Maybe we will have some joy there. We also have a female house bunny that is getting neutered next week so we may try him with her. Will see how they get on. Everyone wins lol
 
I can understand what you are saying misty1 I used to show a few years ago the bunnies that were alone (preggy) were always paired up with a piggy for company they used to litter with the piggies in with them and I can honestly and truthfully say I never had 1 problem the bunnies were born with the piggies and formed a friendship (I started showing with my aunt when I was about 9 she used to do it ). Maybe I was lucky but have never come across a bunny hurting a piggy But there is new legislation out now which has been passed by the rspca saying the animals are different species and should be not housed together as diets, habits etc are different.

All mine are now seperated into single groups the bunnies have one shed with a built on run and the piggies have another shed

I can see your point though its like saying you cant have a cat if you've already got a dog mine eat each others food even though they shouldn't. I used to work at a stables there was a horse that had a goat companion the goat would go everywhere with the horse even in the same partition in the horse box if they were travelling. Is that still allowed now?
 
Cats and dogs generally have the run of a house and horses and goats the run of a field. It is not the same as caging two different species together where they cannot escape one another.

The new legislation (which is passed by the government as law, by the way, not by the RSPCA, they are just following the legislation) states clearly that animals needs should be recognised to include the need to "be housed with or apart from other animals". It's open to interpretation but the RSPCA have quite rightly interpreted it, with relation to piggies, as the need to keep them apart from rabbits.

Misty - I'm glad you're considering seperating them, sounds like you have the solution to hand!
 
Will see how we get on. Misty has been on her own for a long while though she was with a guinea before so maybe we will have some luck. If not then maybe we will get another little girl for Jess as she is still young herself. Will see how we get on :D
 
I use to keep a rabbit and pig together before i knew better. Once i found out i seperated them and it was a really hard thing to do at the time. My rabbit and pig adored each other the pig use to sleep on the rabbits back, follow her everywhere and the rabbit was fantastic with him. We got my rabbit spayed and introduced her to a buck and got my male pig a male friend. At first it was hard because both introductions took time and effort and the animals seemed miserable without each other and not very accepting of there new companions but now its a few mths on and both animals love there hutch mates and are inseperable. I believe they are much happier with there own species in the long term even though in the short term they missed each other terribly. Now i think they have the best of both worlds because they have a same species companion to live with and when we put our pigs out in the run and they can see the rabbits and they do cuddle up still through the bars of the run.
 
Vicky(Smudger) said:
Misty1 said:
Please belie goove me when I say that we do look after our animals and if anything did happen we would immediately separate them. We do keep a close eye on them and we would never do anything that would intentionally hurt them. We have tried to separate them already based on what others have told us in the past but Jess gets so distressed when her buddy is taken from her I cant do that to her its not fair
Click to expand...

Exactly, why wait till something happens?

Which one is Jess, is that the guinea pig or the rabbit? If its the guinea pig then why not give them another guinea pig friend. If its the rabbit then why not get a neutered rabbit of the opposite sex to live with them. Surely that would be better.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% with Vicky :) Its good to hear your going to put the piggies together now take the introductions slowly and you will have two very happy piggies :)
 
Hi i quickly read through the first few replys and the answer has to be no again =] My Mopsy is extremely powerful with her back legs and if that hurt the piggie then there would be no chance. The RSPCA don't allow it ever apperantly because the rabbits can ill the gp =] xx Hope that helped xx
 
My friend had an angora rabbit that lived very happily with a guinea pig, she groomed him & loved him & they lived together for approx 4 years until one day my friend noticed something "strange."
On further inspection she found her rabbit sitting on top of her piggy who was squashed to approx 1" thickness - he just looked like he'd been steamrollered  :(
She did think that Cubby (piggy) had died of natural causes & that Gizmo (bun) had tried to revive her friend & bought her another piggy friend thinking she'd be lonely.

How wrong she was - less than a month later she was looking out of her kitchen window & saw Gizmo starting to jump up & down in her hutch - poor Tekno (piggy) had been killed  :'(  he too was squashed in exactly the same way as Cubby had been.  She learnt a very hard lesson, got no more piggies & to this day does not understand why Gizmo did what she did  :(

Just to add: Whilst you try to "keep a close eye" on things, it takes seconds - my friend's back garden isn't huge, it took her approx 20 seconds to get to the hutch but she was too late :( 

I too had a piggy/bun couple many years ago, my netherland dwarf macheted my piggy from shoulders to rump & underneath -thankfully he made a full recovery, this happened during the night when i was fast asleep in my bed, they'd previously been fine together
 
i dont wanna be awkward but why do pets at home still house rabbits with guinea pigs, surely this is setting a bad example?
 
Well not all of them do but sadly some just don't care. I would go to head office and inform them....change could happen :-\
 
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