This is going to be a very potted history (on my phone typing this!).
I have 2 pigs, Silvio is about 4yrs old, pickle is 2.5yrs old. They used to live together but fell out almost a year ago, resulting in a nasty scrap and Silvio getting badly bitten. They have now been separated. They spend some time together supervised which is okay and they can even be quite nice but they cannot be left alone together. Pickle went on a boar date last year with awful outcome (badly bit his date). Pickle is lonely and wants a friend. I don't think Silvio is bothered.
About 10 months ago pickle got a fatty lump on his back. When it didn't go down and got a bit squishy I took him to the vet, who stuck a needle in to see if it was fluid. It wasn't, however 2 days later it burst nasty gunk all over him
. I kept it cleaned up but it became apparent a couple of weeks later that it wasn't going to close - it also began to smell. So back to the vet we went.
She squeezed lots of gunk out which smelt awful and turns out its a blocked pore filling with grease. It's about the size of a 1p and the hole is about 1cm in diameter. I scrubbed it with hibiscrub daily but it made no difference, it smells and fills up regardless and the cleaning just distresses him. So I left it. It stays the same and the hole won't heal over - so the vet says only option is to surgically remove it. He is now worrying me too by drinking a LOT. It has been hot recently but he is drinking way more than Silvio, and peeing a lot too (his cage gets dirty way faster). Last time I was worried about this I took him to the vet and ended up getting the hibiscrub as the vet thought he might have a slight infection, but I'm not sure. Now I'm worried he's diabetic to top it all off!
Stress!
I'm now thinking this lump removal will have to be done. My question is - should I have him castrated at the same time? The vet suggested this as then we can do it all under one anaesthetic, but is this a lot to expect him to recover from at once? What is better, 2 ops at once or 2 anaesthetics?
Once he is castrated the intention will be to find him a girlfriend with (hopefully!) much better success than he has with boy pigs... With his age and the amount of time I'd like to give him to recover from the lump bring removed, would he be too old? To be accurate, he was born July 12th so is 2yrs and 2months ish, so nearer 2 actually, now that I think about it !
Advice very much welcomed.
x
I have 2 pigs, Silvio is about 4yrs old, pickle is 2.5yrs old. They used to live together but fell out almost a year ago, resulting in a nasty scrap and Silvio getting badly bitten. They have now been separated. They spend some time together supervised which is okay and they can even be quite nice but they cannot be left alone together. Pickle went on a boar date last year with awful outcome (badly bit his date). Pickle is lonely and wants a friend. I don't think Silvio is bothered.
About 10 months ago pickle got a fatty lump on his back. When it didn't go down and got a bit squishy I took him to the vet, who stuck a needle in to see if it was fluid. It wasn't, however 2 days later it burst nasty gunk all over him
. I kept it cleaned up but it became apparent a couple of weeks later that it wasn't going to close - it also began to smell. So back to the vet we went. She squeezed lots of gunk out which smelt awful and turns out its a blocked pore filling with grease. It's about the size of a 1p and the hole is about 1cm in diameter. I scrubbed it with hibiscrub daily but it made no difference, it smells and fills up regardless and the cleaning just distresses him. So I left it. It stays the same and the hole won't heal over - so the vet says only option is to surgically remove it. He is now worrying me too by drinking a LOT. It has been hot recently but he is drinking way more than Silvio, and peeing a lot too (his cage gets dirty way faster). Last time I was worried about this I took him to the vet and ended up getting the hibiscrub as the vet thought he might have a slight infection, but I'm not sure. Now I'm worried he's diabetic to top it all off!
Stress!
I'm now thinking this lump removal will have to be done
. My question is - should I have him castrated at the same time? The vet suggested this as then we can do it all under one anaesthetic, but is this a lot to expect him to recover from at once? What is better, 2 ops at once or 2 anaesthetics?Once he is castrated the intention will be to find him a girlfriend with (hopefully!) much better success than he has with boy pigs... With his age and the amount of time I'd like to give him to recover from the lump bring removed, would he be too old? To be accurate, he was born July 12th so is 2yrs and 2months ish, so nearer 2 actually, now that I think about it !
Advice very much welcomed.
x
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, thanks.