Advice on post spay aftercare

[Nettie2209]

Hi everyone. So my little girl Swiss Cheese (10mo) is going in for a spay surgery tomorrow and I'm not entirely sure how to manage the initial aftercare because it feels like every option has a downside.

Currently, Swiss is part of a trio of sows and she is the bottom pig in the hierarchy. She is a long-haired piggy with a dense coat, living with Crunch (a 4yo coronet matriarch) and Oreo (a 12mo Abby). They share a two-level 6x2 hutch (which they all use enthusiastically) with an adapted tunnel ramp between the two levels in an integral basement garage. The garage isn't heated, but it is attached to the house so gets indirect heat. When it's 10–11°C outside, it's usually about 15°C inside. All the piggies are happy in it, Crunch actually struggles way more with warmer indoor temps than garage temps as her coat is extremely dense, and they are provided with blankets, snuggle pads, and a ton of hay on cooler days. I've read the helpful guide and I'm still not sure what to do.

Basically, my choices are:

• Option 1: Isolate Swiss indoors for a day or two. Gives her space to recover, keeps her warm, and stops her being bothered by cage mates putting her in her place (as bottom pig). It also makes it easier to keep an eye on her and step in with interventions. Downsides are the increased stress from being isolated in a new environment, and the possibility of disrupting their bond.
• Option 2: Move all 3 piggies indoors together in a C&C pen (with or without a divider). Keeps them warm indoors while maintaining the herd. Downsides are increased stress for all piggies being in a new setup. Crunch also has health issues (inoperable ovarian cysts and on full-time motility/pain meds until she is no longer comfortable) and her smaller poops would make it hard to parse out Swiss's output. Plus, a new environment can trigger dominance behaviors, which isn't great for a piggie recovering from surgery.
• Option 3: Keep all 3 in the garage, but close off the tunnel so Swiss has one level to herself and Crunch/Oreo have the other. Keeps Crunch and Oreo completely undisturbed in their familiar home, and protects Swiss from ramp-climbing or being bothered by her cagemates. They won't be able to see each other, but can hear and smell each other across the levels. Downside is that with garage temps this weekend likely around 14°C (maybe slightly cooler), it’s not ideal for surgical recovery with a bald, freshly shaved wee belly!
• Option 4: Keep all 3 together on a single 6x2 level in the garage with the tunnel blocked off. Eliminates the risk of Swiss using the ramp while keeping the herd together in their familiar garage space. The downside is that while 6x2 (12 sq ft) is technically enough space for a trio, restricting them to a single level could increase stroppiness/dominance behaviors or result in cagemates bothering Swiss while she is sore and vulnerable. Plus, it makes it impossible to isolate Swiss's food/poop output. And same issues with temps.

How would anyone else handle this situation, has anyone ever dealt with a similar issue? Getting a heater for the garage isn't an option currently.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

It’s advisable to keep bonded piggies together post surgery as much as possible.
I would either bring them all inside in a pen together or keep them in their hutch (as it currently is) together and make sure she is kept warm enough by offering a heatpad

You need to keep her warm but you also don’t want them getting too used to indoor temperatures as it’ll then be a hard adjustment to go back to the garage

If you do decide she needs a night to herself and choose to separate them then they should be kept side by side (so closing off the ramp and keeping them in up and down respectively wouldn’t be the best option - they lose all meaningful communication and interaction in an up/down set up - they can hear each other but cannot see or even smell each other properly. Most communication is via body language so as soon as they can’t see each other the largest chunk of interaction is lost), making bringing them indoors and in side by side c&c’s the most appropriate measure for warmth, monitoring and bond protection .

Any separation of more than a couple of days means a neutral territory reintroduction would need to take place.

The daily weight checks are your guide to whether she is eating though. Poop output is 1-2 days behind food intake so only gives out of date information.

Best wishes for her surgery

Tips For Post-operative Care

 

[weepweeps]

Good luck Swiss Cheese

 

[Nettie2209]

Welcome to the forum

It’s advisable to keep bonded piggies together post surgery as much as possible.
I would either bring them all inside in a pen together or keep them in their hutch (as it currently is) together and make sure she is kept warm enough by offering a heatpad

You need to keep her warm but you also don’t want them getting too used to indoor temperatures as it’ll then be a hard adjustment to go back to the garage

If you do decide she needs a night to herself and choose to separate them then they should be kept side by side (so closing off the ramp and keeping them in up and down respectively wouldn’t be the best option - they lose all meaningful communication and interaction in an up/down set up - they can hear each other but cannot see or even smell each other properly. Most communication is via body language so as soon as they can’t see each other the largest chunk of interaction is lost), making bringing them indoors and in side by side c&c’s the most appropriate measure for warmth, monitoring and bond protection .

Any separation of more than a couple of days means a neutral territory reintroduction would need to take place.

The daily weight checks are your guide to whether she is eating though. Poop output is 1-2 days behind food intake so only gives out of date information.

Best wishes for her surgery

Tips For Post-operative Care

Thank you! Would you close off the ramp for a couple of days or leave the set up exactly the same but with extra heat sources? x

 

[Nettie2209]

Good luck Swiss Cheese

Thank you, I'm so nervous for her, but it needs to be done

 

[Piggies&buns]

Close the ramp until the vet says she can use it again. It may well annoy the others but you don’t want Swiss overexerting herself.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you! Would you close off the ramp for a couple of days or leave the set up exactly the same but with extra heat sources? x

See how she is when she comes home and if needed close the ramp and make sure that she has access to some warmth or bring her in the carrier with you into bedroom if she is poorly and needs checking/feeding support, especially during the first night. It saves you from having to get up big time in the middle of the night.

Later on, even if you need to continue with feeding support, you want to rather feed before you go to bed and then first thing in the morning but you want to make sure that you have your 6 hours sleeping time and are not exhausted yourself by the support. The feeding amounts cited in our guides are for 24 hours.

Please take the time to read our guide links in this thread because they contain all the detailed practical advice that we cannot repeat in full each time.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well.

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
First Aid: Immediate Care Measures and Non-medication Products