Gayles Piggies
New Born Pup
I had three piggies until about 3 weeks ago. Our older lady is Coconut (spayed) who we tried to bond to a young male. It went well until he was neutered and then she tried to kill him. So, we put them in an 8 foot C&C kennel that was split in half with a fence between them. They got along famously - through a fence. Grooming each other's ears. Muffin (the male) developed a urinary tract stone and we lost him. We adopted a bonded pair in January - who are in my avatar - they loved each other and the three of them got along well - again with a fence between them. Nutmeg - the multi-colored with Fig (black one) had some GI issue that the exotic vet thought had to do with bad microbiome. He ordered some probiotic that he thought would help, but over the weekend Nutmeg developed intestinal torsion and we had to humanely euthanize her.
It took Fig about 2-3 days to realize that Nutmeg wasn't coming back. She had a problem with her teeth as well so we had to separate them twice a day for an hour for fresh food because Fig ate all of Nutmeg's food -she couldn't eat very quickly. So Fig was used to Nutmeg coming and going.
She seems to be recovering and I was hoping to get her a friend or two (I can extend her part of the cage) but after the failed bonding with Coconut, I'm a bit unsure of this process. I've read through most of the posts about bonding after bereavement. The place where we originally adopted Nutmeg and Fig is a vet assistant school. They routine get guinea pigs surrendered to them and they work hard to find them good homes. The head of the program is willing for me to bring in Fig for a "date" to see who she seems to get along with - but I'm confused as to how we should go about this.
I'm sorry about the long post! I want to do what's best for Fig because without Nutmeg, she doesn't seem interested in Coconut at all. The picture below is after Nutmeg was gone for most of one day for an ultrasound. The dog is laying there too
It took Fig about 2-3 days to realize that Nutmeg wasn't coming back. She had a problem with her teeth as well so we had to separate them twice a day for an hour for fresh food because Fig ate all of Nutmeg's food -she couldn't eat very quickly. So Fig was used to Nutmeg coming and going.
She seems to be recovering and I was hoping to get her a friend or two (I can extend her part of the cage) but after the failed bonding with Coconut, I'm a bit unsure of this process. I've read through most of the posts about bonding after bereavement. The place where we originally adopted Nutmeg and Fig is a vet assistant school. They routine get guinea pigs surrendered to them and they work hard to find them good homes. The head of the program is willing for me to bring in Fig for a "date" to see who she seems to get along with - but I'm confused as to how we should go about this.
I'm sorry about the long post! I want to do what's best for Fig because without Nutmeg, she doesn't seem interested in Coconut at all. The picture below is after Nutmeg was gone for most of one day for an ultrasound. The dog is laying there too