Looking for a little advice for a greiving guinea

[ItsaZoo]

My condolences on losing your guinea pig. That’s always so difficult.

I hope your remaining girl perks up and adapts to the change. You seem to be doing all the right things to get her interested in what’s going on and to keep active. I’ve had a few single pigs and I always change up their cages and move the hay pile, pellets, and water bottles around. I also had a couple of pigs that enjoyed cuddling with a stuffed toy. The ones safe for infants are best - no plastic parts like eyes or nose and no pellets inside that can be chewed.

[vasquez_se7en]

@Itsazoo

Thanks for your message, you're right It is hard but so far aside the initial weight loss she seems to be doing ok, and coming around. I switched up her cage, gave her a new food bowl a new litter tray is arriving thursday, I ordered her some new chew toys and a mirror (can't wait to see what she thinks) I also picked up a little pet safe (she's a chewer so i made sure!) snuggle buddy (a really cute capybara) but she's not into it at all which is fine, it's there if she needs it. I'm still torn about a new cage mate, I've been looking around but all the new babies seem to be boys atm (which seems to happen every time I lose a baby, only the opposite sex are available) I kinda feel like we may have turned a corner though, she's definitely more interactive with me and I just caught her nibbling on some oat hay so maybe she just needed last week to process :)

Weight update ...

Yesterday AM 1086g (16g gain)before veggies
Yesterday PM 1097g

Today AM before veggies 1081g

I'd love for her to return to her usual weight, but I'm guessing it's gonna take a while since it always fluctuates anyways

Thank you all for your kind words and support, this is a fantastic group full of great people with great advice!

[vasquez_se7en]

Just a little update, Thistle still got a way to go before she's back at her usual weight, but thankfully not everyday is a loss now and she has started to gain weight again. She's still enjoying our snuggles but she just seems so heart broken by the loss of her friend, so Friday I found a little lone piggie looking for her forever home and thought she may be able to heal the parts of Thistle that my love and care alone cannot. I would upload pic's but I don't know how to :(

[mmeadow]

I am glad she has a friend again.

[Lynx]

That was a kind thing to do. I hope all goes well and that both the new little guinea pig and Thistle thrive.

[ItsaZoo]

I hope they become best friends.

[vasquez_se7en]

Thanks everyone, It was a tough decision. Thistle is four, but I didn't want her to be alone for years, that's just too sad! The new baby has already got her acting more like her old self, so I think it was the right choice to make. Fingers crossed it continues as good as it's started and she's back to her chunky self before too long :D

[Renonvsparky]

The best cure for a guinea pig grieving the loss of a buddy is other guinea pigs. Every time one of mine loses a partner, I try to make sure to put them as close to one of the younger ones as possible before getting a new guinea pig for them. Thing is that other than Grady and Muffin, who is the lone female, every one of mine was 4-5 years old. They all responded well to the youngsters next to them and did fine after a day or two of minor grieving. I didn't see the need to put older pigs through the stress of bonding with a new pig. Of course mine are all boars, who typically don't pair with each other as easily as the girls. At least not in my experience. I'm very happy that your little ones are doing well.

[vasquez_se7en]

Thanks @Renonvsparky, they seem to be getting on just fine, the little piggie is so confident and Thistle is just a chilled out little lady, theres been a few rumbly noises but that's just her way of saying, 'hey i'm the one in charge here' to which the baby has no cares in the world haha, they're both eating and drinking fine now and i often catch them following each other or snuggling close by, although not together yet (the baby will climb all over Thistle though

I'm still concerned about Thistles weight though, I mentioned before she was always over 1000g but she lost a chunk during all this, her weight has always been up and down, i'm just worried about how low it's dropped, don't get me wrong, she's still a chubby little girl, does it just take a long time to regain the weight?

Weighed at 10am before fresh hay and veggies - then re weighed at 8pm

Mon 14 - 1123g gained 32g from previous day
Tue 15 - 1120g loss 3g (cage mate died)
Wed 16 - 1112g loss 8g
Thu 17 -1110g loss 2g
Fri 18 - 1106 loss 4g
Sat 19 - 1080g loss 26g
Sun 20 - 1070g loss 10g

WEELKY LOSS 53g

Mon 21 - 1086g gain 16g (re weighed at 8pm 1097g)
Tue 22 - 1081g loss 5g (re weighed at 8pm 1121g)
Wed 23 - 1078g loss 3g (re weighed at 8pm 1121g)
Thu 24 - 1097g gain 19g (re weighed at 8pm 1104g)
Fri 25 - 1067g loss 30g (got new cage mate) (re weighed at 8pm 1077g)
Sat 26 - 1059g loss 8g (re weighed at 8pm 1067g)
Sun 27 - 1076g gain 17g (re weighed at 8pm 1095g)

WEEKLY LOSS 10g

Mon 28 - 1087g gain 11g (re weighed at 8pm 1089g)
Tue 29 - 1074g loss 13g (re weighed at 8pm 1078g)
Wed 30 - 1060g loss 14g

Any thoughts would be helpful!

[Lynx]

Though they are getting along quite well, I think change alone can be stressful. And Thistle may also be getting more exercise.

There may be a stabilization point lower than you would like.

I would also read the description of "condition" on this page that a vet wrote up for me to help one evaluate weight in a guinea pig:

Determining The Correct Weight For Your Guinea Pig
https://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html

[vasquez_se7en]

@Lynx Yeah I have thought about all that, i mean she barely ate hay for a week so that caused the drop but she's back at it now, eating and drinking fine, I guess it's like me in reverse, i lose weight slowly but can gain pounds just glancing in the direction of a cake! Thanks for your advice and the link, that's really helpful!