Need advice …..about finding a friend

[Roselina]

My lovely Geoff is a bereaved piggy ( he’s 4 yrs and 8 months old) he was bonded with Bobby( who died this week)from the beginning and I rehomed them in April 2020
Geoff is very gentle and was the submissive piggy.
I need to get him a friend, he is coping but I don’t want him to be lonely
There are no approved rescues near me - there is a Guinea pig rescue about 1 hour away - they do play dating which I assume is letting a piggy chose a friend and then I would do bonding at home and they do have baby piggies……
I’m just very nervous about it - I’ve read all the guides and am aware of what I must do but I’m not sure I have the confidence to do it.
Does everyone feel like this when they are bonding piggies …..do I just need to put my big girl pants on and get on with it ?
I’m a bit of a worry wart and I do have anxiety issues so that is not helping
Any thoughts or advice would be very welcome
Geoff eating his grass today

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry for your loss

Yes you are right in that the speed dating only allows you to see that they like each other but doesn’t last long enough for anything more. You would bring them home separately and then do the bonding yourself at home.

Bonding is a nerve wracking time, anxiety or not.
Being able to speed date first will help and we will all be here to support you

 

[Wiebke]

I’m sorry for your loss

Yes you are right in that the speed dating only allows you to see that they like each other but doesn’t last long enough for anything more. You would bring them home separately and then do the bonding yourself at home.

Bonding is a nerve wracking time, anxiety or not.
Being able to speed date first will help and we will all be here to support you

Speed dating sorts out the most obvious fails. But you have to then conduct the bonding from scratch at home.

I would give them a few days next to each other first to help the new boy settle and to allow them to get to know each other a bit better before the full-on bonding. That will take out some of the extraneous stress factors.

 

[JaseChase]

I understand your pain, having just been in a similar situation my anxiety has been through the roof through it all but the support from the forum has been incredible and we’ll all be here for you too

It’s important to give yourself time to process and soothe as well as taking care of Geoff’s needs

Speed dating does sound like a good beginning and we will all support you through the bonding at home. You can do this and you won’t be alone

 

[Roselina]

I understand your pain, having just been in a similar situation my anxiety has been through the roof through it all but the support from the forum has been incredible and we’ll all be here for you too

It’s important to give yourself time to process and soothe as well as taking care of Geoff’s needs

Speed dating does sound like a good beginning and we will all support you through the bonding at home. You can do this and you won’t be alone

Thank you - I loved hearing about Tofu and Patches (Sidney) and it gave me lots of encouragement
It’s so sad to say goodbye to one piggy but realising that the remaining piggy needs a new friend fairly quickly.
I’ll let everyone know how I go forward

 

[weepweeps]

Good luck with the bonding. I hope Geoff finds a new friend soon. I always do the bonding early in the day and always leave them in the bonding pen overnight. The longer the better.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Good luck with finding Geoff a new friend. It is nerve wracking, sometimes you can tell in the first few minutes things are not going to work out but if done via the help of a rescue and the great advice on here then that makes a huge difference

 

[Merab]

Hope you can find Geoff a lovely companion.
As others have said, bonding is stressful for us but forum support can help so much.