Guinea pigs and rabbits can seem like similar animals, but housing them together is not recommended.
Firstly, despite some of their similarities, they are quite different animals and as a result both guinea pigs and rabbits have their own specific welfare needs.
This is an important one, from the perspective of your guinea pig’s health and safety:
Rabbits can introduce bacteria to guinea pigs that rabbits naturally carry. The bacteria may not be harmful to the rabbit, but it can cause respiratory problems for guinea pigs. This issue alone is reason enough to never keep rabbits and guinea pigs together. If you want to keep both types of these beautiful animals as pets, ensure you have a suitable separate housing set up for each species.
It is not a good situation when people might think about (or not even think about it) putting one rabbit and one guinea pig together. Both of these animals need companions of their own kind. A guinea pig is not a companion for a rabbit, and a rabbit is not a suitable companion for a guinea pig.
If you have found yourself with one single guinea pig, the best thing you can do is this:
Adopt or otherwise acquire another guinea pig so the pair have all important companionship.
If you can’t, or don’t want to get another guinea pig then it’s in the best interests of your existing single guinea pig to be rehomed – preferably through a rescue organization or animal welfare group to ensure the best new home for the animal.
