How do you all find companions for bereaved guinea pigs?

[onlychildandhamster]

I am confused about 1 thing. When 1 guinea pig dies, the consensus is to get said piggy a new companion, preferably from an established rescue (most pet shops and breeders sell them in pairs anyway.so not workable unless you have the space for 3 guinea pigs). However, most rescues around me (London) seem to have very few single piggies (most are paired up) and most of them are boars at any given time. Doesn't that mean it is difficult to get them a new companion and what do most people do?

 

[Freela]

I am confused about 1 thing. When 1 guinea pig dies, the consensus is to get said piggy a new companion, preferably from an established rescue (most pet shops and breeders sell them in pairs anyway.so not workable unless you have the space for 3 guinea pigs). However, most rescues around me (London) seem to have very few single piggies (most are paired up) and most of them are boars at any given time. Doesn't that mean it is difficult to get them a new companion and what do most people do?

There are very few rescues in my province/country and it's very rare to find guinea pigs in a standard animal shelter (and those are often paired up before being put up for adoption.) For this reason, all my pigs have been pet store pigs and we've had to make several new pairs, since out of our first same-age pair, one succumbed to an infection at 2 years old. We've basically had to go to the pet store knowing our pig's personality, looked at the groups of available pigs, and tried to observe whether they were bossy or passive, leader or follower, and try to pick a good match. Fortunately we've had good luck making pairs and haven't yet had one that didn't work out (knock on wood!)

 

[onlychildandhamster]

There are very few rescues in my province/country and it's very rare to find guinea pigs in a standard animal shelter (and those are often paired up before being put up for adoption.) For this reason, all my pigs have been pet store pigs and we've had to make several new pairs, since out of our first same-age pair, one succumbed to an infection at 2 years old. We've basically had to go to the pet store knowing our pig's personality, looked at the groups of available pigs, and tried to observe whether they were bossy or passive, leader or follower, and try to pick a good match. Fortunately we've had good luck making pairs and haven't yet had one that didn't work out (knock on wood!)

They sell single pigs? In the UK, even pets at home only sell pairs

 

[Siikibam]

The other thing you have to be aware of is that rescues don’t tend to show single piggies that are available for adoption. I’ve thankfully not yet had to find a friend for a bereaved piggy. When the time comes I hope it’s not too difficult.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I know the shops local to me will sell single piggies but only if you already have a piggy needing a new friend.
As siikibam has said, rescues don’t always advertise single piggies, only pairs, so you would need to get in touch with them when the need arose.

 

[*kate*]

I lost 2 piggies during Lockdown and had to buy from a breeder.

I don't regret what I did as my lone girls needed a companian.

 

[Claire W]

I’ve always been lucky and got my single pigs from rescues, one is a member of this forum and she advertised them on here. As Siikibam has said, rescues don’t tend to put their single piggies on their website.

My current two came from a member of this forum and now I have four piggies x

 

[Guineapigfeet]

I’m currently looking and am on a waiting list at three different rescues for a older single girl or older neutered boy. It’s been about a month now as nothing’s come up yet

 

[weepweeps]

They sell single pigs? In the UK, even pets at home only sell pairs

I had this same issue three days before the November lockdown. Pippin had passed away and I needed to find Percy a new buddy. Pets at home would not sell me a single piggy even though I explained it wouldn’t be living alone. In the end I found Pepper from a small hobby breeder. But I know that wasn’t ideal but Percy needed someone to love.

 

[Free Ranger]

I've found singles at rescues by phoning up but it has just been chance - a pair of sisters came in with a single baby who auntie picked on too much, or in George's case (my avatar) the third boar in a trio of brothers was having a hard time. Single boars have always turned up more frequently than single girls. I also used the 'adoption centre' at PaH which does two things as far as I can gather... one is genuine re-homing of rescued pets and the other is to provide somewhere for 'left-overs' when a new batch comes in. We got one lovely girl like this as she'd been in isolation in the back of the store for some reason and by the time she got the all-clear the others had all moved on. I don't get babies, but have only had two piggies as adults from breeders and to be honest both had a common feature of being super-confident with the resident pig and particularly wary of me - presumably because they'd spent their lives up till that point in a herd environment. The first boy was a bit gutted that his new companion didn't seem to like him (although it turned out she would only live with us a few months because of aggressive cancer) and George was horrified by confident Rosie and went for her in no uncertain terms - bless her, the only piggy we've ever 'sent back' but her previous owner was a kind lady and a single girl living next door to a grumpy boar wasn't going to be her best life.

I've also regularly mopped up leftovers from friends or friends-of-friends locally... we've met some lovely piggies this way But you do take your chances with the vet bills when you collect vintage!

 

[VickiA]

I'm part of a rescue and can tell you that single piggies rarely get advertised for adoption. That is because there is usually a waiting list of approved adopters who are waiting for a companion. However, although as a forum we advocate rescue as first choice (for a healthy properly sexed vet checked piggy and a supervised bonding session), the reality is that if you have a desperately grieving piggy who is not coping on their own, you have to be pragmatic and put the interests of the surviving pig first and finding a companion from wherever you are able to do so.