rabbits and guinea pigs

aaronlynch01

Hi recently one of my two rabbits had passed away and we are worried of him getting lonely as im not at home with him most of the day. we got them as brothers and have been together since birth. The rabbit that passed away was "The Alpha" and was nearly pushing him around.
Would a guinea pig go well with the rabbit as he is a verry timid rabbit and we would be worried another rabbit would push him around.

OpenYourEyes

Mod Note: Moved to animal and pet issues.

Silverfish

No, they're not the same species, and have different dietary needs. Also they can pass diseases guinea pigs are not immune to.

Best thing you can do is try and introduce him to a spayed female rabbit.

Knine

Please do not keep Rabbits & Guinea Pigs together ever.

Guinea Pigs can catch Bordetella from rabbits. As mentioned above they have different diets with Guinea Pigs needing Vitamin C in their diet & a lot more greens & veg then a rabbit would tolerate.

They have totally different communication methods & rabbits are easily capable of injuring the piggies fatally.

Any petshop I see keeping them together tells me all I need to know about their animal welfare & staff knowledge.

mistybluehills

aaronlynch01 wrote: »

Hi recently one of my two rabbits had passed away and we are worried of him getting lonely as im not at home with him most of the day. we got them as brothers and have been together since birth. The rabbit that passed away was "The Alpha" and was nearly pushing him around.
Would a guinea pig go well with the rabbit as he is a verry timid rabbit and we would be worried another rabbit would push him around.

Guinea pigs in my experience are one of the loveliest cutest small flurries you can own, really gentle animals.
Can't answer your question though I suspect the answer is no

aaronlynch01

thank you so much for your answers, you've really helped me and said more then i could find cheers

murphf

So sorry to hear about your bunny as above, guinea pigs aren't great with piggies (although when we started having pets we did have two together, long before there was so much info about their different diet needs, and the rabbit who was female mothered the piggie and they were great friends for years. A male rabbit will also hump a poor piggie! It's lovely to see two rabbits together, and as said above a spayed female would be best, but if your buck isn't neutered he will pester her. If your guy is neutered, in some way it won't matter so much if the female is spayed, although she may well be placider if she is. Last Hope Charity in Meath, is great for rehoming rabbits, they really know their stuff and are full of advice re bonding two rabbits together. If you don't want to go down the route of a rehome, I can recommend mini lops, we breed pure bred ones and they are so relaxed and placid, and should get on with most other rabbits. Unfortunately, with any pair of rabbits, one is dominant and one is submissive, but you often don't see this displayed once the initial bonding is done, and as long as both are happy in their roles, it works for them! One of our rabbit boarding customers recently bonded a very dominant female to a placid male she adopted, and he is perfectly happy being bossed around!