rabbits and guinea pigs?

[luvthempigs]

I was wondering if anybody knows of any reasonthat it would be dangerous to a rabbit to be turned out for play timewith a guinea pig?

I have heard that a large rabbit could possibly injure a guinea pigwith their hind legs (by accident of course) most guinea pigs arebetween 2-3 pounds.

I have also read that there is a disease that rabbits can have that canpass to guinea pigs but for the life of me I can't remember what itis.....I assume it's only if the rabbit is ill it self andthata healthy rabbit doesn't carry something that could makea guinea pig sick although I'm not 100% sure.

My little lionhead Malley is only 1 pound (weighed him today) I haveseveral guinea pigs and was wondering if it would be a good or bad ideato put Malley and one male guinea pig in the pen for some play timetogether?

Guinea pigs are very social animals, I'm not sure aboutrabbits. Dorabbits do better in pairs orgroups? Their not considered heard animals are they?

Thanks for any comments or ideas

 

[Maureen Las]

Rabbits do not haveto be ill withcoccidia for a guinea pig to catch it as a rabbit could carry theillness without symptoms.

Rabbits are social animals and need a lot of 1:1 contact with theirowner to be happy. If you can successfully bond a pair of rabbits youwill not need to woryy about the rabbits being lonely when you aren'tthere so 2 rabbit is a great idea ( if they like each other.)

I kept a rabbit and guinea pig together once in life. Therabbit was totally blind and very old and the guinea pig was theremaining pig of a family of 4. I was very worried that she wouldsuffer being alone. They had free-roam in my kitchen at that time butsince the rabbit was blind he stayed in a certain area of the room allthe time with the guinea pig beside him. She absolutely adoredhim..grooming and fussing over him all the time.

Both of them had a lot of room.

I (personally) would allow a healthy rabbit and a healthy guinea pig tointeract together in an x-pen or some larger area (never a cage) but Iwould not leave them unsupervised nor I would I house themtogether.Others may disagree but I am talking about maybe 1-2 hrs. perday supervised only.

Since my first experience with my blind rabbit I have introduced myguinea pigs (now only one) to several of my rabbits out of curiousityto see how they would respond.

I have consistently found that the pigs are more interested in therabbits than vice-versa and to be honest I could foresee a guinea pigannoying a rabbit.

You could try a playtime but your rabbit may enjoy another rabbit companionrather than a pig.

 

[tinac]

I used to house a guinea pig and rabbit togetherbut the guinea pig would nip the rabbit and the rabbit ended up pullingthe g/ps fur. ALot of people house them together no problem but iwouldnt reccomend it. And if u think your rabbit need a friend then iwould get it nueterd and get a friend of the opposite sex. A rabbit andguinea pig cant communicate with each other so im not sure they couldreally be friends? SOmeone correct me if im wrong but they both preferthe company of their own species

 

[Sharron]

We had Angelo bunny and Tommy the piggie at thesame time for a while. As the previous poster observed, thepiggie was much more interested in the bunny than vice versa.However, Tommy did get very excited whenever we would get he and Angeloout for "play time" together. Angelo did think Tommy wasinteresting, so it was worthwhile for both. It was alwayswell supervised and for a limited duration. Angelo has sincepassed on...

Currently, Tommy the piggielikes his buddy Cocoa the cat, butCocoa gets a little nervous when Tommy starts talking to him!We let them interact only on a very limited basis...

Now, we have just acquireda girl piggie, and once she's outof quaranteen, we're going to introduce her to our holland lop,Precious. Hopefully, they'll be friends. We haveanother bunny, Violet, but she's much bigger (9 pounds) and likes tosit on her friends. She could very easily injure Rachee, thegirl piggie, whereas when she inadvertently sits on Precious, Preciousjust gets annoyed. Violet can't seem to differentiate betweensitting onand snuggling with her human friends and realizingthat it isn't appropriate to sit on your bunny friends!

Here's a picture of Cocoa and Tommy, just for "cute factor!"

 

[Maureen Las]

Sharron ..that is "cuteness" overload

 

[bunnysmom]

OMG! Thats precious!!!

 

[luvthempigs]

Thanks for your thoughts and comments

The picture of your cat hugging the guinea pig is absolutelyprecious! Wish I could trust my cats like that but I don't lol

 

[lagomorphs]

Hi,

I had guinea pigs in my life for 10 years and now recently have becomea rabbit mom following a rabbit rescue I helped with.

Ironically, after thisa little gp alsocame into my lifeagain, that also needed rescuing.

From prior experience I was aware that you need to be very carefulasunintentionally the strong back feet of a rabbitcanseverely hurt a gp, so Iknewkeepingthem in the same cage was unwise. I also was aware that one of theseanimals could pass onPastuerella to the other. WhatI was not aware of but found out after discussing it with a veryexperienced exotic vet isthat even healthy gp's and healthyrabbits can make the other sick, because they can be the carrier ofPastereulla and Bordatella. I even asked if there couldbe test done to determine if an animal was a carrier, butunfortunately it's not easily detected.

The bottom line advised to me is that there should be no contact whatsoever.

I know that many people still house these animals together or let themhave supervised play time, but sadly it appears to have the potentialto put both animals at serious risk for an awful illness. Inaddition, I am aware that in gp's Bordatella is extremely contagioustoother gp's.

My little rescue girl will be going to a forever home soon with other gp's to play with.

In the meantime, they are in the same room and I talk toeveryone, but I wash my hands between handling each species andhold them in places where the other did not have contact.

 

[Maureen Las]

I didn't realize that it was that dangerous...Iguess that I felt that if the animal was very physically lonely that itwould be better to take the risk than otherwise.

 

[lagomorphs]

I certainly understand your reaction. Before Igot this information I would let the little gp I am fostering have alittle play time with my gentle male rabbit Poe. He loved to kiss herbehind her ears (where gp's have a bald spot) and she seemednot to mind it at all. In turn she would try to follow himaround, but of course he would out jump her. I wish I could let theminteract still, but think it best not to take the risk. Ibelieve you can find some information on line regarding this topic aswell.

 

[Maureen Las]

I know that you're right ..but I just didn'tthink that it was as serious as that but I do agree with you...so Iwouldn't do it again.

 

[naturestee]

I have heard of the problems with carryingdiseases, but I haven't heard of anyone actually getting a sick animalfrom it. I think my biggest concern would be the rabbitinjuring the guinea pig. Even if they are the same size, arabbit is so much stronger. And if the rabbit gets scared anddashes away, it could seriously hurt the piggie if it happens to be inthe way of escape.

Also, rabbits mount for dominance. Even spayed/neuteredrabbits can still do this a bit. I've heard of guinea pigs'backs being broken from this because rabbits are so much stronger.

 

[undergunfire]

I was wondering if rabbits and piggies can pass on illnesses through the air?

I have two piggies and three bunnies who share a room together.





- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[Maureen Las]

I'll try to find that one out.
At our shelter we house the rabbits in the same room as the guinea pigs and no pig ever caught anything
Right now at home I have my remaining pig in the same room with a shelter rabbit
I have had pigs and rabbits in the same room before so I am not goingto freak out right now and go change rooms around. ...but I'll find outand post it.

 

[undergunfire]

Thank you. Is it just that they can get sick when they are living together due to the ingest of poo or pee or saliva?

I am kind of curious about this:tongutwo:.



- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[Maureen Las]

I just posted the question on the medical forum of a guinea pig website similar to this one.

Unfortunately people who are primarilyinto guineapigs seem to go to bed earlier than those into rabbits so we may haveto wait until tomorrow for an answer.

 

[undergunfire]

Hehe, fine by me. I sometimes as these types ofquestions even though I can go and look it up on a website. I like tosee what other people know first though.



- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[Maureen Las]

I started going on a guinea pig website when Iwas trying to get two sick guinea pigs our of my shelter and into arescue. The people were very helpful and I did get the pigs into arescue...so it was easy for me to ask the question.

 

[undergunfire]

Which site is this? Is it a forum? You can PM me the website if you'd like.




- Amy (Mallory, Morgan, and Madilyn-Mae):hearts

 

[Maureen Las]

Goodnight undergunfire..you go on that site and I'm going to bed :sleep:

Some of these emoticons are dying or something