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can guinea pigs be alone

Can Guinea Pigs Be Alone? 6 Tips to Help Your Guinea Pig

We’re looking at the question, ‘can guinea pigs be alone?’

It is well known that guinea pigs are better when they have others to be around. Guinea pigs are naturally sociable animals and so require company.

But what if you just have one guinea pig, and can only have one guinea pig at this precise time? Is that bad, and what can we do to make its life more bearable.

It is fine to just have one guinea pig.

Although they are social animals it wont kill them to be alone, it just wont be that pleasant for them.

So here are some 6 things we can do as lone guinea pig owners to make their lives a bit more interesting.

1. As they don’t have regular company make sure that you spend regular time with your guinea pig. Experts say spending around 2 hours a day with it will do it a lot of good. If you can spend more, then that’s better.

2. Give them things to do to keep them occupied. A great article on this is this one

can guinea pigs be alone3. Let them run around in a room in your home is great for them. I often isolate a room in the house for them to do this, and he loves running around and letting off steam. Do guinea pig – proof the room first and you do have to watch it doesn’t start chewing things you don’t want it to. It is also likely to poop and so tissues, anti-bacterial spray and rubber gloves are necessary as well.

4. Consider bringing the guinea pig inside and putting it in high traffic areas so it feels part of the family. It will appreciate being part of the family and the attention that it brings.

5.  If you have a garden, let it loose and follow it around once a day. You will need to watch it doesn’t escape through hedges but guinea pigs are natural explorers and they love to run around and find new things. Don’t get a leash for it though as this can be cruel for the guinea pig.

6.  Guinea lynx suggests keeping an eye on its weight as it may start to lose weight due to not eating. Depressed guinea pigs can get like this. If your guinea pig is just sitting in one spot all the time, and not eating and drinking it’s a sign that they aren’t doing good. Spending time with them is great therapy for them, so give them as much time as you can.

So, can ‘guinea pigs be alone?’

Guinea pigs can be alone, however it is not advisable to let this happen for a prolonged period unless you have the time to spend with them to give them the company they need.

A guinea pig will always prefer the company of another guinea pig and then a human’s, however if that is not possible it will enjoy whatever affection you can give it.