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rabbits and guinea pigs

hemee

New Kit
just brought rabbit and guinea pig, feeding them both guinea pig food. is the rabbit getting the Vits that it needs because i heard that it could not get enough VIT D, is this true? also the Guinea pig doesn't seem to want to eat any greens, any idea why?
thanks hemee xxxx
 
Hi Hemee.. glad you found your way over here :D
I'm afraid i dont know anything about guinea pigs but just wanted to say hi
There are quite a few members on here who keep guinea pigs too so im sure someone will give u advice soon. :)

I know generally people say not to put guinea pigs and rabbits together as they can hurt each other. :?
 
Hiya!

Welcome to the forum!

It is generally a bad idea to put them together, as Diddeen said. Rabbits can injure guinea pigs, and vice versa. I saw a piggie in a pet shop with huge scabby sores on it's behind, and a rabbit chasing it around, so it was obvious where the sores came from. :(

I personally think that all animals should eat food which is made for them. Piggie food for piggies, bunny food for bunnies. As for dietary requirements, piggies HAVE to have vit. C in their diets, as their systems can't hold onto it like ours do, and rabbits do. It goes straight through, so they've got to continuously have it in their diets. I'm not totally up on the vit. D for rabbits which you mentioned, hopefully someone will know more on this?

Both rabbits and guinea pigs should eat veg, so I'm not sure what's up with your piggie. Have you had them generally checked over by the vet?
 
Rabbits should eat rabbit food and guinea pigs guinea pig food as they have different nutritional requirements. Some guinea pig food also has coccidiostat added which although alright for gpigs isn't for rabbits.

I'm presuming at the moment they are both quite young? You'll need to watch out as the rabbit grows up. Females can become very territorial once they start to mature and males tend to start mounting things if not neutered.

Really nowhere should be selling guineapig/rabbit pairs.

There are several things you can do to solve this, return one of them to where you got them and get another of the same type animal. Guineaa pigs can be kept in same sex pairs, with rabbits opposites work best but in this case it would be better to get you current rabbit neutered first to prevent babies. Or you can seperate them and get another friend for each of the same type.

For both animals good quality hay is very important for their diet.

Tam
 
no i haven't had them checked over by the vet yet, only got them yesterday! i guess i'll have too see how things go as i'm not prepared to give up the rabbit and my sis would be heart broken to give up the piggy. if worse comes to worse we'll have to seperate them! mum did have a piggy and rabbit together before and they both lived for years on piggy food. They are still both babys, yes.
the guy at the store said to feed them piggy food because of the piggy not getting enough vit C if we feed them rabbit food. and i shouldn't be giving the rabbit greens yet because of it getting the runs!
now i'm even more worried than ever!
could the rabbit really hurt the guinea pig? its only a dwarf so i thought it would be ok!
one more thing (sorry dragging this on a bit) is it normal for piggys to be jumpy and nervous we can't seem to get him to settle!
thanks you ever so much
hemeexxxx
 
Hiya Hemme and welcome to the Forum - Love the pickie you posted.

Whe I first started out I made the mistake (As I didn't know any better then) of keeping my bunny Buffy and my piggies together. Buffy my bunster was only 3 months old at the time - At first Buffy got on really well the the piggies but as she grew and her hormones started to kick in she started to bulley the G.Pigs really badly and I think If I'd have left her with them then serious injury would have happened.

I found out early on I'm glad to say that GP's and Rabbits diet needs are completely different and I think you may run the risk of all kinds of Gut problems for your bunny if you continue to feed on GP food. Also with vegetables - GPigs are pretty resiliant little critters and can have a much more varied diet - mine love Kale and Cabbage for example - these two veggies are not good for bunnies in high amounts - so both have their own individual and specific needs.

The good news was that in separating them it made me arrange a Pal of her own kind for Buffy and she was then much happier - there's nothing quite like two bunnies snuggleing.

Hope this helps - Oh by the way your last question re how quickly will they settle - you don't mention how old the guinea pigs are - I suspect young if you've only just bought them but they can take a while to settle in a new home - if they are eating, drinking and pooing o.k - might be worth giving them time to adjust to their new environment and see how they go.
 
I know you shouldnt keep rabbits and piggies together for lots of reasons,but my mum has a dwarf lop alfie and a guniea pig scruff living together they have been together since about 3 months old,they get on lovely,and snuggle up together.
my mum feeds them that burgees supa guniea pig (orange bag) as it says on the bag that its ok for rabbits and guniea pigs living together,they both get lots of vegs daily and lots of scrummy hay.
There is no bulling from either
im not saying yours will get on you will just have to wait and see
 
hi hemee,
I keep both rabbits and giunea pigs, altough i do have a rabbit and giunea living very happily together and have been for a long time now its not somthing i would recomend generally.
I have one giunea who whenever faced with one of the rabbits, will mount them and gets very aggressive if the rabbit objects, resulting in nasty nips all round, as well as a lot of ear pearcing squeaking and chattering from the guinea.
I find guineas do take a while to settle down in their new home(at least mine did) but with lots of love patience and the right veggie tit bits they soon became lovable chatter boxes with bags of personality.
donna
 
Tamsin said:
Some guinea pig food also has coccidiostat added which although alright for gpigs isn't for rabbits.

Actually it is the other way round. Cocidiostat is added to some rabbit food and is definitely NOT alright for piggies. Rabbits are fine eating guinea food, but piggies can not have rabbit food.
 
doorkeeper said:
Tamsin said:
Some guinea pig food also has coccidiostat added which although alright for gpigs isn't for rabbits.

Rabbits are fine eating guinea food, but piggies can not have rabbit food.

Yo Folks - Tams/Louise - could we have some definate clarification for us novices please re this area - My Bunsters have Science Selective and personally knowing what I learn't from the Forum and other bunny mad folks I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with them eating Guinea Pig Food - especially some of the general off the shelf brands which encourage selective feeding.

There could be folks who read this and take the information here as "Gospel" so just though it might be good to get some clearer guidelines.
 
Guinea pigs and rabbits together

I personally wouldn't recommend putting guineas with rabbits, whilst some may get on, many don't. Most rabbits do not intentionally injure piggies, however when faced with danger rabbits have strong back legs and a strong kick which can injure if not kill a guinea pig. I am involved with a rescue and deal with the rehoming of guinea pigs. We get a number of calls from people who have kept guineas and rabbits together and cannot understand why their guineas have sustained broken backs and now cannot walk or have got obviously broken limbs. when I was younger I kept a rabbit with a guinea but knowing what I do know I certainly wouldn't rehome a guinea pig to live with a rabbit.

I would also agree with the other people who say a good quality rabbit food to rabbits and a good quality guinea food to the guinea pigs.
 
At this point, I just want to reassure Hemee that she's not done anything wrong! There's a lot of opinions being fired at you, and I have a feeling they might be a bit intimidating!

Lots of people do what you're doing, keeping a piggie and a bunny together. We're crazy about these animals, so we advise not to do it. But it is done, and it is done successfully. I still don't advise it, but have seen people who've done it without a hitch!

If you can, I'd suggest seperating them and feeding them food which is designed for their species. At the very least, perhaps you could feed them seperately, unless someone knows more about this Supa Excel Guinea forumula?!

There are lots of rabbits on RR looking for homes, perfect to keep your bunny company, and there's been recent posts about piggies looking for homes, too. Might that be an idea for you?
 
i aree with the last post but if u do end up splitting them dont forget that pigs hate living on there own. U can buy a mix that is for both rabbit and piggy dont know the name im afraid, the piggy sounds nevous lots of handdling will cure him. It would be a good idea to remove the rabbit for a while the piggy has its greens. I think it would be wise to get the rabbit done this may go a long way to stopping any problems in the future. best of luck . val
 
Hi and welcome to our world!!

I once kept a rabbit and guinea pig together they got on fine they were all cuddley together :oops: . But i would not go on keeping guinea pigs and rabbits together now that i know more (I was once young and naive) as you cant tell how the rabbit will react to the guinea pig once they hit 'the dreaded teenage years' (Yes they are really have these and the act just like us when we hit puberty :shock: ) or they could get on fine but thats not a risk everybody wishes to take as the guinea pig will always come off worse. As for feeding i say just stick with rabbit food for rabbits and guinea pig for guineas, rabbit can't have too much Vit C and guinea cannot eat rabbit food as it can be dangerous for them and they need Vit C :). You can always look through Rabbit rehome and see if theres (Which i don't doubt) a bunny that needs a home and a guinea pig from Guinea pig rehome, and get them new friends of the same speices,

*Just realised i didnt add many smileys so will ad them here :) :D :shock: :? 8) :p
 
i thinks its safe to say i'm even more confused now, but thanks for all your help! i don't want to seperate them and get more as we have quite a few animals and theres no room for an extra cage, they do seem to be getting on ok and have started to feed the piggy greens seperatly but what ever i feed him he just won't take it, i'll keep trying though. he so scared its untrue as soon as you walk in the room he stands stock still and is clearly shaking! thanks for the food tip! i'll have to try that brand!
thanks
 
My GP's faves are celery and broccoli and they go nuts for peppers especially the sweet ramiro (sp?) ones. My rabbits on the other hand don't touch peppers :roll: !

Have you tried those? Veggies like iceberg lettuce (which is bad for them) tend to be ignored they love anything dark green!

I am sure they just need a little time to settle in as all the sounds and smells etc will be very different to where they came from.

Caz
 
When I said rabbits can have guinea food, I meant it won't hurt them. They are better off having rabbit food of course. But if someone does have a rabbit kept with a guinea, it is important that the pair are fed guinea pig food as a guinea pig can not have rabbit food.

I would not keep a mixed pair like this though. There is a risk of the rabbit turning on the guinea and doing serious harm, or of the guinea giving the rabbit a nasty bite wound which would almost certainly get infected. Also they do not speak each other's languages and so won't be nearly as happy as if they had companions of their own species.
 
I wouldn't keep them together either, G. Pigs love to communicate with others and as mentioned above they don't speak the same language.

Bunnies and G. Pigs can get on, but what happens the day the rabbit is startled and kicks out or stamps its foot and accidently injures the G. Pig?

Not having a go but surely you have to think of what's best for the animals rather than the owner?

You say you haven't got room for another cage, what will happen if they don't get on?
 
I kept my rabbit with my 2 GP's for a short period of time. Ollie is a dwarf rabbit and is half the size of my pigs, but still managed to scare them rotten. She would mount them and generally terrorise them! It was all dandly for a while but the trouble started after about 4-5 months.
I seperated them and they are happier than I have ever seen them. I put them together when they are supervised and they seem to get a long ok.
Seperating them would be a good idea, and at the end of the day - your animals have to come first!
 
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