The Oldest Guinea Pig

[lisajaneh]

After reading the sad news about Powell, it started me wondering about ages and reasons for GP passings.

So far, I havent had piggies long enough for any to expire on me, but probably naively I have been expecting them to all live til about 8 years old. Am I being really dense here?

So I have a couple of questions:

1. Whats the oldest pig you've had
2. do you think male/female live longer
3. does breed make any difference to how long they live.
4. do you think indoor/outdoor makes a difference?

I know this seems a bit sad, but if they really do only live a year or two then I want to prepare myself.

Please all tell me most live for ages.

[eppingstrider]

Well, I'm with you in the naivety stakes, and I came into GP motherhood with a general expectation of five to seven years. I've learned that whilst that might be the 'three score and ten' of humans, some live longer and some live shorter....

There seems to be a danger area between 2 and 3 years old - there is a thread on that in the Piglopaedia section pigpog.proboards91.com/index.cgi?board=piglopaedia&action=display&thread=391
Given I have had a load of friends and relatives die in their mid-40s I suppose this is an equivalent.

Like every other animal or human I would expect it to be something between nature and nurture - i.e. the genes you're born with and the way you are brought up and kept. Good food in the first few weeks usually helps..... sometimes hardship can make you stronger, sometimes it makes your health fail. My Georgie had a really hard summer and I really thought he was dying a couple of times. He's now looking the picture of health, so I hope it hasnt left him with a weakness. But I always take heart from my dad - who had his first heart attack at 53 and lived to be 89, active right up to the end.

That didnt answer your question, but I needed to say it!

Reason for Editing: linked thread

[PigPog]

1. I have two sows called Holly and Silvia who came to me when they were roughly four years old. I think they must be about six years old now, but I'm not 100% sure of their history. I have a boar called Vladimir who I know for sure will be four years old on Tuesday.

2. I don't think male or female generally dictates lifespan, although I've lost more boars than sows.

3. Again, the breed doesn't generally make a difference except in certain cases, such as Skinny Pigs (hairless) who seem to have a shorter lifespan than their hairy counterparts. I estimate this is probably down to the breed not being quite as hardy for various reasons. My experience leads me to find that Rex can go down quickly when they're unwell but this might be a problem confined to the breeding in my local area.

4. I would think that a properly housed outdoor pig can live as long as a properly housed indoor pig. There are several factors in housing both inside and out that can contribute to comfort, such as temperature, humidity, draght, etc. So for example, a pig in a house that has a stuffy atmosphere and lots of radiators might become unwell, while a pig living in the fresh air in a well insulated hutch might remain healthy. It's a difficult one to quantify because there are many factors to consider.

[Hugs-Cavies (Doris)]

Our eldest to pass away was Lily, at 4 and a half, she was a petshop pig, so could of been either a pet, or a mismarked purebred passed on by a breeder (I am fairly sure she was the latter) This said, usually the mixed breeds tend to last a bit longer.

Eight years old is a extremely good age for a guinea. The average is between 4 and 6.

A guinea pig is considered veteran at the age of 3 for showing purposes, so this gives some indication that 8 really is optimistic, although I do know of someone who had one such boar live this long

I think its like humans, some live a long time, some don't. Its all down to weather they have pre existing conditions that we don't know about/see, and to a certain degree down to how they are kept, and down to the genes they carry. As long as we keep our pets as best we can, the rest is down to them (so to speak). I don't think keeping them outside either prolongs or shortens life, but this said I do know someone with a herd of sows, and one of these sows is 6.

For a ball park figure of age, times a guinea's age by 14.

[snailspace]

Very good and well thought out questions Lisa. It's the kind of thing we should all be prepared for.

Although of course we can never really prepare can we I still cry about our doberman and he died at the age of 14 several years ago.

It's never going to be easy is it but the main thing is the happiness of the pigs while we have them, and we all have happy pigs

[guineapigqueen]

My oldest piggy who is with me is called Fred aka Winfred. She is a Golden Agouti Ridgeback and came from Pets At Home. She will be celebrating her 7th birthday in January, I estimated the 4th

Fred started her life with me living within my shed and mothered a litter of 4 babies, one was just like her, I have her daughter Solar. About 6 months after the litter Spike(mams guinea) lost his brother Tiger and I introduced Fred in with him, as with Fred being a previous mother I thought it wouldnt harm if she got pregnant again. This never happened it seemed that Spike was infertile due to him never being with a sow for the 3 years of his life (dont think that of all boars, I had a 5 year old boar father 4 healthy bubs).
Spike died a few years later and she came back to live with me, and went back into the shed and now lives in my house with 6 other guinea pigs!

She has been fed on a mixture of diets and I have never noticed any medical complaints until recently, she is bald in her armpits but I have put that down to hormonal inbalance due to her age. She is no spring chicken and isnt as fit as I like but she still rules the roost and noone gets on the wrong side of her.

This is Fred


Emma x

[meggiepiggy]

She is just too gorgeous Emma

And what a grand old age too.......good for Fred