[Gpdd] HEALTH: Quarantine Newcomers?

[Evin Hil]

Hi guys,

I’ve been a lurker to the digest for at least a year and would like to
ask for your collective input to my question. I currently have a male
guinea pig approx a year old and I’ve been looking for a pal for him. I
saw an absolutely adorable little skinny pig located in an adoption booth
and can’t stop thinking about the little guy. I plan on going back
tomorrow for adoption details (today I just lurked and kept stalking past
the booth) and to see what his personality is like but me being the
paranoid type wondered what type of quarantine routine you guys follow,
if any, before introducing your current pigs with any newcomers? Two
weeks sounds like a safe minimum to me or even longer like a month? When
I've added new chickens to our flock I've always quarantined them at
least two weeks depending on where they were coming from and more often
3-4 weeks just to ensure biosecurity so I don;t introduce any unknown
nasties to my known healthy flock I know people handle livestock quite
different from companion pets but to me the same health principles should
apply.

In addition to length of time before mixing, is there any sort of
distance between cages? I only live in a one room apartment so I can’t
have them in their own separate room since I am limited in what I can do
but what communicable diseases would be airborn and even remotely
possible to be transmitted if there is no physical contact during the
quarantine period?

I know I may be coming off a bit paranoid but I have had a bad experience
with a pig coming from an unknown background. On all outward appearance
she was an extremely active and the picture of a healthy young pig with
excellent appetite, no sneezing, discharge or the faintest hint of a
problem until she collapsed one afternoon after a frolicking session.
After rushing to the vet she was diagnosed as having most likely a type
of viral pneumonia, although of course at that stage it was too late for
the vet to be any help.

Due to this I am afraid of potentially introducing a carrier pig who on
all outward appearances is healthy but which only after a short time
introducing the two I would find myself of having two pigs requiring
veterinary care and being heartbroken and worried sick.

I intend to carry-out quarantine with their cages separated by several
feet, I just wondered for what length of time is appropriate and if I
should be concerned with the distance between their pens. After
quarantine I will then set about introducing them and I have read quite a
bit about that already, it just is I had never come across the discussing
of quarantining new members of the herd who appear healthy, only pigs who
develop symptoms.

I look forward to you experiences and advice,

Thanks,

~Evin

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