A guinea pig in the bath
Losing a pet can be upsetting and painful for both owners and the companions left behind. There are steps you can take to grieve properly for your pet and also to help remaining companions to adjust to life without their friend. This is a sensitive subject, so please read with care.
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Helping the companions left behind | Helping yourself




Some guinea pigs grieve when they lose a companion and because they are sensitive creatures this needs to be handled carefully. Siblings and guinea pigs who have spent a lifetime together especially may feel the loss quite acutely.

You can identify grief by the following signs:

What you can do
There are a few very important things you can do to make the loss of a companion easier for your guinea pig. The methods below work equally well for boars and sows, although for anti-social, grumpy or elderly guinea pigs of both genders you may not succeed in finding them a new companion. Boars can also sometimes be difficult to put into pairs and groups due to their territorial nature.

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At the time of writing this article I am perfectly placed to give you advice because I have recently lost Sprout, a guinea pig who was very special to me, and I am still grieving. I cry a lot and spend a lot of time looking at photographs and talking about him. It's difficult to write about him because I still miss him terribly, but when I feel able to I will put a framed photograph of him up in the house. Sometimes it helps to go outside and talk to his burial pot.

When I lose a guinea pig I prefer to bury them as soon as possible. We buy a pretty ceramic plant pot from the garden centre and a little evergreen plant to put on the top. Evergreen plants work well for this because they are good all-year plants and hopefully shouldn't need replanting soon after the burial of your pet. I make sure the ceramic plant pot is large enough to lay my guinea pig inside comfortably and the pot is placed in a sheltered area of the garden.

If you have many pets, turning a corner of the garden into a beautiful area with flowers and somewhere to sit is a nice way to remember them. I have a decked area behind the guinea pig shed where I can sit and relax. This could be a long term project, something you add to whenever you lose a dear pet, and somewhere you can bury them or scatter their ashes.

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