Why Rabbits and Guinea Pigs Do Not Mix

Diet

Guinea pigs cannot create their own vitamin c, therefore their pelleted diet needs to enriched with vitamin c. Rabbits can produce their own vitamin c so the diet is lacking extra vitamin c therefore it is unsuitable for guinea pigs. Both rabbit and guinea pig pellet diets are made to suit the individual diets of both different species, therefore, mixing these diets or feeding to the wrong species will mean the diet then lacks vital vitamins and minerals.

Language

Guinea pigs use both body and vocal language. Rabbits cannot understand the vocal side of things, therefore the rabbit finds this frustrating. Rabbits are not very vocal at all, and they rely on body language to communicate. A lot of this is shown with the ears. As guinea pigs ears are not as big, or flexible, the piggy cannot understand the rabbit. This leaving the pig frustrated.



Fighting

This is often the result of the communication difficulties between the two species. They simply cannot understand each other. The frustration can then lead to fights. These fights are not all one sided. Both the rabbit and the pig could end up bitten or scratched and seriously hurt. If a wound turns into an abscess it can be fatal, as can bites and scratches.

There is also the fact that rabbits have strong hind legs. When a rabbit gets excited, it performs an act called a "binky" (the equivalent of a guinea pig "pop corning") where the rabbit bounds to the air and kicks out. Rabbits also kick out on the take off to run fast. An unsuspecting piggy can get caught in the way and receive a nasty blow. This can seriously injure or kill the pig.

Sexual Frustration

While rabbits are not sexually attracted to guinea pigs, it does not stop them trying to hump the pig. This can be very annoying to the pig, as it is a form of bullying. When sexually frustrated, rabbits often nip and bite the victim of their frustration. A sexually frustrated rabbit will find anything suitable as a mate, a human, and guinea pig, a cuddly toy. Even furniture. It has been known for a rabbit to harm a guinea pig

Rabbits can harbour a bacteria which is fatal to guinea pigs. ’Bordetella bug’

Can you stop any of the above?

The only prevention is not housing your rabbit with a guinea pig. There is no fix to all of the above problems that will almost definitely occur.

Conclusion

Don’t do it. Guinea pigs live with guinea pigs, rabbits live with rabbits.

Prevention is better than cure, therefore, prevent fatal accidents and huge vet bills by keeping these species separate.

great stuff - deserves a rep point!

xx

I know this is all good and well, and we should do it. But we used to have a bunny and piggy who slept together, followed each other about, never humped each other, and were lovely and healthy! We used to find them snuggled up together quite happily.

I would not get either again in the near future though - just personal preference..

And of course, we should do what is best by our furry mates

We used to have 2 Rabbits and 3 Guinea Pigs living together in one HUGE hutch and they had the run of the garden during the day. They got on really well together in fact when one of the pigs died the rest of the bunch pined and didnt eat for 3 days!!!

Yes I used to have a big white rabbit with 2 or 3 piggies with it and they used to love each other - the rabbit used to wash the guinea pigs and the guinea pigs used to sit on the rabbits head - and he didn't mind a bit

I then had a dwarf rabbit that attacked a guinea pig and cut it badly and so I have never put a guinea pig with a rabbit since then

my rabbit was put in with my piggy because he ate his hutch!
but now they are seperated because my did love the piggy but bullied it as well.
they are both very happy!

Well you learn something new everyday Cheers MB.

What concerns me however is that so many pet shops still put them together