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GusGus

GusGus

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We picked up our new 8 month old piggie GusGus yesterday and when we chose him and even on the 3 hour journey home he was the worlds happiest and friendliest guinea pig. He wanted his carrier open so he could have as many fusses as possible, he was playing in his box and was even tried to popcorn in it.

As soon as he came in the house he was not a happy boy. He has moved in with a number of cats so if I were him id be nervous but they couldnt be less interested in him.

Before I collected him I gave the pet store a peice of fleece to put in with him for a familiar scent, he then travelled in the carrier with it. When he arrived I popped it in with him but I have had to remove it as he was just wa ting to hide the whole time. I went out a bought him a slipper bed and cut a peice of fleece to go around the matress part but he doesnt seem interested in it at all.

He is eating and although he was struggling to get water from his bottle he is now drinking but most of the time he is just laying in his cage looking depressed.

He is a solo pig because the pet store said he refused to bond with any of the other pigs or even a rabbit (I wouldnt put him in with a rabbit anyway) but he loves people - or should I say did :-/

He was such a confident pig I'm surprised he is struggling so much and really not sure what else to do with him. I dont like the idea of just ignoring him for a couple of days when I know how much he likes company.

Just looking for advise really on what to do with him to help him settle?

Also is it possible that he is always going to hate other guinea pigs and wants to live as a solo pig when they are normally such social creatures? He wont struggle for company as we have the cats and I am home most of the day most day and then there is my husband and children but I want him to be a happy boy now he has a forever family
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Your piggy is gorgeous. Pet shops have little knowledge about guinea pigs and will not bond them correctly so conclude the poor piggy must always live alone. There are a few guinea pigs which do need to live alone but this is rare. If a boar has been tried with several other boars and did not click then he can be neutered and paired with one or more sows.

Bonding piggies is not straightforward in the sense you can get another guinea pig and put them together. The best thing to do is to take them to a rescue were they can choose their own friend.

You did not state were you are but try the rescue locator to see if you have a rescue near by to find Gus Gus a friend. Guinea pigs are social animals and do need company of their own kind.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/pages/guinea-pig-rescue-locator/

His nervous behaviour is perfectly normal. He is in a new environment with new smells,sounds and people. It is best to let him settle in. This link will explain more
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/faq-how-do-i-settle-shy-new-guinea-pigs.36239/

Please ensure he has a hidey to feel safe in. His drinking is a good sign. I think the best thing for him will be having another guinea pig for company.
 
He has a slipper bed he could hide In but he doesnt seem to want to go in it. I could put his fleece blanket back in to bury himself in again?

We dont seem to have any local rescues - I normally get all my animals from rescues but when we found GusGus he was being over looked and unwanted in a pet shop. The woman who owns it has been a breeder in the past so I would think she has some experience with bonding, he was certainly well socialised and very very tame.
 
Fleece is a great bedding with an extra one to hide under. Do you have a cardboard box he could use?

Please do not be fooled into thinking breeders have knowledge about guinea pigs. Sadly many do not.
 
Well they certainly seemed happy to see the back of him, another reason why I took him - its not his fault everyone wants baby babies!

For now I'm not changing his food because he has only just arrived but he is on the rubbish musili rubbish and his urine is quite dark - I asked the vet and he think the food is colouring his urine and its so dark because he didnt drink for over 12 hours. By the weekend I plan to slowly start giving him pellet food. I also want to start fresh veg tonight because I doubt he has had any in the past 8 months.

We have popped his fleece blanket back in for him. At the moment he is on an almost toilet paper based bedding, he was previously on sawdust. Once I have upgraded his cage to a larger one and he has settled in I will put in a litter tray and put him on full time fleece.
 
Aww poor thing. It is wonderful you found him. Gosh no vegetables! Please start him on them slowly to avoid a stomach upset. It is good you will slowly change him over to pellets too.

Vetbed is my favourite bedding so you may want to look at that but fleece is good too. You will need an absorbent layer underneath. I use towels.
 
When we saw him and decided to take him we were unable to collect him for 2 days as we were staying with my mum and live 3 hours away on the outskirts of london. My son decided he wanted to take him a present and so we took him a cucumber and apparently he went nuts for it and made the chunk they gave him disappear very quickly.

The guy in the store said "dont bother giving him nuggets, hes never had them so he wont switch" - I felt like saying to him "well maybe if he had been feed a decent diet from the beginning he wouldnt need to be switched.

My rabbit Gracie was REALLY reluctant to change but we got there in the end
 
It is so sad how he had such poor care. You sound so caring. He will flourish in your care.
 
I really hope so. The only thing we are falling down on at the moment is the size of his cage as it is very small. It belonged to Grace before she passed away (she had a dental abcess and didnt recover from surgery; she was 7 but had no dental issues) she was a lot bigger than him but her door was never closed, she was free roaming and pretty much out most of the time getting up to mischief and laying in the living room on the rug so she only needed a small area to eat and pee.

I intend to get him a larger environment but at the moment hes still settling. I did see a bridge that goes from one side of the cage to the other which would give him free access to the kitchen but I dont know how feesable that is with a guinea pig.
 
How about a c and c cage? They are great as you can make them any size. I made mine big enough so I do not need to give floor time.
 
We had 2 separate c&c cages for louis and Grace before they bonded and we moved. We just dont have the physical space for a proper c&c at the moment but I still have a the peices, I think grace and louis cages were 2 floors 2x4 but i really cant remember now

We are hoping to move again soon and when we do we will have loads of space for him in the meantime we certainly have enough room for a bigger cage though
 
Well we have a much happier piggie this evening. He is much more active and seems unfazed by the cats, even when they sniff him.

He doesnt seem ready for people fusses yet but he been eating and drinking a lot, had a bit of cucumber. He seems to try and put the whole water spout down his mouth when he drinks, is that normal? Just wondering if he would be better off with something different but don't know what.

He has requested his door open so that progress and seems to very much enjoy t tunneling under his blanket to get to his hay and then tunnelling back just for the sake of it.

Hopefully tomorrow he will be read for fusses again
 
Don't worry about the water spout,one of my guinea pigs Cousin Amelia does this.She is a very messy drinker lol
 
Well today he had a quick sniff around outside his cage but then hopped back in but he didnt come out looking terrified and didnt try to hide.

He is still turning his piggy nose up at human company, a minute ago I came home and as soon as he saw me he went under his beloved blanket - charming!

Ive just sat hand feeding him bits of carrot that he really enjoyed. I picked up some peppers for him as well when I was in tesco but as he is unlikely to have ever really had fresh veg before I am concerned about overloading his system with too many new things.

At the moment I am trying to find a good timothy hay supplier for him online as they seem to want to charge ridiculous amounts in the shops - I found one that will deliver 3kg of hay for £15 but I dont know if one piggie will get through that much quick enough for it to still be fresh enough for him at the end of the bale.

His water bottle seems to be going down mpre now and so I am much happier that he can access water and is drinking.

So far so good on day 3 I guess.
 
I buy ings hay from hayforpets. The hay is a lovely quality and reasonably priced.
 
I just has a look and that sounds ideal - what sized bales should I order for a solo pig?
 
Thanks for all your advise its really helpful x x

I was thinking Gus was a happier piggie but ive been looking up his noises and he keeps teeth chattering at us so basically hes a peeved off piggie *sigh*

I guess we are bothering him too much. Do I just tell everyone to ignore him for a day and see if his mood improves?

He was such a happy affectionate piggie I would hate to think he has lost that now he is away from a horrible environment even if it is the only one he has ever known :-(

The one positive at the moment is that his urine has stopped being so dark we were worried he had blood in it. His healthy diet has at least turned it to a nice milky white the way it should be so even though you wouldnt agree Gus-Gus yay us!
 
It really is best to let new piggies settle in and get used to a new environment. Your changes to his diet are really helping him to be healthy.

Have you thought about getting him a friend?
 
Hi! It's great that you are giving GusGus a much better life already! My pigs roam around the house (I don't have stairs but I'm sure they would try to navigate them) They have never been stood on and they also join me in the kitchen when I am cooking human food to demand veggies. When I first got them I didn't have a cage. They had hideys in the corner of the room and their water bottles were hanging off an unused radiator. They seemed to enjoy this. I now have a c&c that they can access whenever they want.
 
Thanks everyone.

Been looking at piggie friends for him although with his history and no local rescues its proving somewhat problematic. Until we upgrade his accommodation we cant do anything about adding to our numbers and then my husband is going to need to be increased.

I thought I had read up on pigs before gus came home but apparently not. I have read that piggies who arent making any noise at all - like gus - are actually petrified of their surroundings, which is worrying me. We do have a number of cats but they are very disinterested in him.

Not sure if there is a short term solution for him, I so dont want him cooped up in his cage all the time, he could have practically the run of the downstairs if he wanted it :-(
 
GusGus said:
Not sure if there is a short term solution for him, I so dont want him cooped up in his cage all the time, he could have practically the run of the downstairs if he wanted it
Click to expand...

It did take my boys a few weeks to be comfortable with coming out whenever they pleased. I hope that helps x
 
Ive been leaving his cage closed in the majority of the time unless I am sitting with him, which I am starting to think just annoys him - however he did give my hand a good sniff earlier after I had been feeding him carrot, I am however under no illusion that he was doing anything other than look for more carrot!

I think if he is terrified of being eaten a door closed approach is necessary to keel him feeling safe.
 
Can you keep the cats out of his room? As a prey animal the cats could be scaring him.
 
Not really as he is in the kitchen. If he doesnt perk up by tomorrow I may have to move him to my bedroom for a few days which isnt brilliant
 
Today he is showing an interest in me if he thinks I have veg but if he knows I have nothing he just scoots off and goes under his blanket. Tried stroking him a little on his back and he just grinds his teeth.

Starting to feel very disheartened by the whole thing.
 
It is still very early for Gus Gus to bond with you. It took mine months before they were used to me and they still run when I approach the cage. Just take it slowly. The quicker he has a friend the quicker he will perk up but I understand that has to wait.
 
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