New GP with dwarf rabbit

Lee1981

Hey there,
My son got a new gorgeous dwarf rabbit and a guinea pig for company. The pet store said it was ok to house them together and they look to be getting on great but the rabbit seems to now have some bald patches read on the net it could be caused by the guinea pig if he is nibbling her fur. Also read it can be caused by mites.
Any advise on how I know what the cause is? Should I seperate them? If so is that permanent or temporary? Wud just love nibbles and fu fu to stay together but not if fu fu is a bully

godtabh

Lee1981 wrote: »

Hey there,
My son got a new gorgeous dwarf rabbit and a guinea pig for company. The pet store said it was ok to house them together and they look to be getting on great but the rabbit seems to now have some bald patches read on the net it could be caused by the guinea pig if he is nibbling her fur. Also read it can be caused by mites.
Any advise on how I know what the cause is? Should I seperate them? If so is that permanent or temporary? Wud just love nibbles and fu fu to stay together but not if fu fu is a bully

They shouldn't be housed together

meow

need to go to a vet for the hair, take both

Lee1981

godtabh wrote: »

Lee1981 wrote: »

Hey there,
My son got a new gorgeous dwarf rabbit and a guinea pig for company. The pet store said it was ok to house them together and they look to be getting on great but the rabbit seems to now have some bald patches read on the net it could be caused by the guinea pig if he is nibbling her fur. Also read it can be caused by mites.
Any advise on how I know what the cause is? Should I seperate them? If so is that permanent or temporary? Wud just love nibbles and fu fu to stay together but not if fu fu is a bully

They shouldn't be housed together

Why would the pet shop advise me to though? And I double checked with another pet shop too who said it was ok

Rommie

Lee1981 wrote: »

Why would the pet shop advise me to though? And I double checked with another pet shop too who said it was ok

Because most petshop workers dont know their own arse from their elbow, and this is from someone who worked in one! And we were constantly getting people coming in who were told the wrong info; petshops are there to sell pets, and make money. Most dont care too much about the welfare of the animals, unfortunately.

Rabbits are a lot stronger than guina pigs, and even a dwarf rabbit could do incredible damage to a guinea with a single kick. What a rabbit sees as play could break a guineas neck.

Rabbits and guineas have completely different dietary needs; guineas have to have vitamin C, too much vitamin C will make a rabbit sick, so they have to be fed seperately. Rabbits can also horde food, which will leave your guinea malnourished.

Both are territorial animals; I would not trust that the petshop properly sexed these animals if they had them housed together, so you could end up with two extremely territorial males, and the rabbit will come out on top there.

Rabbits can also carry some diseases that guinea pigs cannot be vaccinated against and it will kill them.


So your best option is buy another cage for the guinea. Maybe buy a small run so you can let them out together now and again, but they definitely should not be housed together

ashlingm

I cant see your rabbit putting up with being bitten and bullied and as your guinea pig is new and came from a pet shop it would make me think its mites (you don't know the breeders conditions and what other animals he was mixing with). When they have mites they get itchy and can bite and pull their own hair out. A quick trip to the vets and an injection should do the job. Don't bother with mite/flea/etc treatments from the pet shop they are very weak and tend not to work...the only thing guaranteed to work is at the vets!

Sigma Force

Seperate them straight away and go back to the pet shop and tell them they don't know their backside from that knobbley thing on their arm. As others said they should never ever be kept together no excuses whether they get on well or not.

Hair loss can be due to barbering or mites or fungal infections or ringworm so until you know for sure what it is avoid handling the bun too much and wash hands after and change the buns bedding daily. Use newspaper and hay on the base of the cage/hutch it's the cheapest and healthiest way woodchips can cause allergic reactions and are expensive and messy to clean up.

Keep an eye on the pigs skin as well, check out the gorgeous guineas website anyway for info. on skin care ..plus their products are brilliant have used them loads over the years with great sucess.

Seperate them either way a rabbit can kill a guinea pig even by accident, if you have felt a rabbit ..even a small one..kick their back legs just imagine what that can do to a guinea pig who is pretty delicate. Plus their diets are different..guineas require more fibre and their dry food is different.

Can you pm me the name of the pet store?

loveisdivine

I just wanted to emphasise everything said above. They cannot be housed together.

Also, guinea pigs need other pigs for company. They don't tend to do well on their own. They naturally live in groups so you really need a pair. Otherwise your piggy will probably become quite docile and you wont get to enjoy watching the natural behaviour of piggies playing and living together.

Lastly, and I don't mean this to sound condescending, but I always find it best to research any potential pet myself first. You really can't rely solely on what pet stores say. Some are knowledgeable but most are not. Just a simple bit of digging around the Internet usually gives you the most important facts to note before getting any new pet.

Lee1981

Thanks everyone, I had looked it up online and you have some posts who swear that they are great to mix and others who say they cant mix so I thought the safest thing to do would be to ask the pet shop who said that they would get on well.
I seperated them straight away anyway and will take them to the vet tomorrow to get them checked for mites or any other cause for the hair loss.
I actually bought them both together and it seems to be the GP that is the one that is barbering the Bunny.
Raging now as my kids have bonded with them both, I cant keep them together yet they will both be lonely alone and getting another pet would be too much. Will be going back to the pet shop but Im sure they wont care what ppl say online.
Thanks again for ye'r help everyone

loveisdivine

I think a lot of people say its ok, because to look at them they probably get along okay behaviour wise. It's more the different dietary requirements, and strength of the rabbit that's the issue.

Could you possibly get a larger cage, then put a divide down the centre. So they can still smell and see each other for company, but the guinea will be safe, and they can both be fed the food they need?

They could still have floor time/outdoor time together aslong as they are supervised.

Lee1981

Brought them to the vet and he said the same that they need to be seperated and the hair loss is down to the GP barbering the bun. Poor Nibbles. Good news is all are healthy though and I can keep one upstairs in the hutch and one downstairs with a little mixed supervised play each day

Tks everyone for the help and advice

Sigma Force

I know there's a lot of confusing information out there but if you look up experts like the late Peter Gurney, any dedicated guinea pig sites and companies e.g. Gorgeous Guineas and I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) the CCT in the UK.

Most pet shops don't know what they are talking about, sadly even some books you get will tell you it's ok to house them together and many vets think it's still ok as well. But it's not it's an outdated practice and we know a lot more about both creatures now than we did even 10 years ago.

Please don't put them together even if supervised it's just not a good idea. Rabbits can be carriers of Pasteurella and this can be passed on to guineas. They are better off with their own kind, one option maybe is to pair them up with their own kind there are buns and guineas in rescue or getting them from a responsible breeder instead.

Lee1981

Thanks Sigma,
I would be willing to pair them up with one of their own but am worried incase they do not both turn out to be female like the petshop said. ( I should have asked the vet this today but forgot as I was trying to get so much other info from them and I think when they are that young its very hard to be 100% sure). It was the vet who suggested supervised and limited play to be ok but I can also put some mesh between them so they can see and smell each other but not touch. That might be the better option. Its a learning curve that maybe I should have posted about before I got them. The joys of hindsight eh

loveisdivine

Sigma Force wrote: »

.

Please don't put them together even if supervised it's just not a good idea. Rabbits can be carriers of Pasteurella and this can be passed on to guineas. They are better off with their own kind, one option maybe is to pair them up with their own kind there are buns and guineas in rescue or getting them from a responsible breeder instead.

I wasnt aware of this. I retract my earlier statement about letting them have supervised play. Thanks sigma force

Sigma Force

There's another option Lee if you pm me I can give you the details of a responsible breeder or if you'd like the wait until the rabbit is 6 months of age you can have him (or her) neutered and then once the bun is over the op introduce the rabbit to a new one. Some rescues rehome neutered/spayed rabbits and there are sometimes guinea pigs looking for homes as well so you could go the rescue route rather than pet shop.

If you want any contact details of rescues or responsible breeders just send me a pm.

It's not your fault entirely people rely on pet shops and trust they are giving the right information because they are 'in the buisness' but sometimes I think that a packet of biscuits on a supermarket shelf has more care given to it ..people know how to shelve it, store it, handle it etc. They're trained to do so, but it seems anyone can open a pet shop and not have the first idea what they're doing.