Boars Neutering.

[SarahWonderland]

Hello Everyone
So my partner and I have two boars (Jeffery and Sonic) and 5 sows (Bell, Hazel, Riley, Lucy and Chloe) due to
1. Cage space. (Atm 5 sows in a 2x5 and the boars in a 2x4 not good enough but situations found us with a beautiful 3yr old piggie so, hoping for 1 boar 3 sows in the 2x5 and 1 boar and 2 sows in the 2x4).
2. Guinea pigs natural way of living in a heard of (a boar and some lady friends)
3. But not wanting baby piggies.
We have decided to get our boars neutured, i fully understand the possibilty of complications that comes with surgeries human and animals but believe their long term happiness.

I have read many many threads on here about post op care and neuturing i just have a few questions
....
1. Would it be okay to have the boars in a 2x3 for the first night next to my bed so i can check on them i have anxiety and so would like to be with them for the first couple of nights if possible, if not guess ill camp in the piggie room haha.
2. Do they have disolvable stitches or will i need to return them to the vet to get them taken out?
3. Should i change the bedding (fleece) every day for 1 week or two?
4. How long will the stitches last? Have you experienced ripped stitches or boars pulling them out? What do you do?
5. After the month is up after the surgery I was thinking introducing the boar to 1 sow at a time and seeing how they interact and splitting them this way? Or
Since my sows are split into their clicks should i try putting hazel and bell date with jeffery than try lucy, chloe and Riley with sonic like group dating?
I would follow normal procedures in introducing new guinea pigs (clean cage and hidies and a bath, natural ground etc).
Any other information would be fantastic the surgery is monday 31st; so nervous but i think its for the best.
Picture because they are cute.

 

[Wiebke]

Hello Everyone
So my partner and I have two boars (Jeffery and Sonic) and 5 sows (Bell, Hazel, Riley, Lucy and Chloe) due to
1. Cage space. (Atm 5 sows in a 2x5 and the boars in a 2x4 not good enough but situations found us with a beautiful 3yr old piggie so, hoping for 1 boar 3 sows in the 2x5 and 1 boar and 2 sows in the 2x4).
2. Guinea pigs natural way of living in a heard of (a boar and some lady friends)
3. But not wanting baby piggies.
We have decided to get our boars neutured, i fully understand the possibilty of complications that comes with surgeries human and animals but believe their long term happiness.

I have read many many threads on here about post op care and neuturing i just have a few questions
....
1. Would it be okay to have the boars in a 2x3 for the first night next to my bed so i can check on them i have anxiety and so would like to be with them for the first couple of nights if possible, if not guess ill camp in the piggie room haha.
2. Do they have disolvable stitches or will i need to return them to the vet to get them taken out?
3. Should i change the bedding (fleece) every day for 1 week or two?
4. How long will the stitches last? Have you experienced ripped stitches or boars pulling them out? What do you do?
5. After the month is up after the surgery I was thinking introducing the boar to 1 sow at a time and seeing how they interact and splitting them this way? Or
Since my sows are split into their clicks should i try putting hazel and bell date with jeffery than try lucy, chloe and Riley with sonic like group dating?
I would follow normal procedures in introducing new guinea pigs (clean cage and hidies and a bath, natural ground etc).
Any other information would be fantastic the surgery is monday 31st; so nervous but i think its for the best.
Picture because they are cute.

View attachment 66759

View attachment 66760

If your boars are still bonded, you can leave them together post-op, but ideally in their usual surroundings if they are doing well. Keep them on a light fleece or vetbed surface for the first few days until the wounds start knitting and poo patrol twice daily.

There is a range of operation techniques. Most vets now either use glue or dissolvable stitches (which are now often hidden to prevent ripping open). You are always welcome to ask the vet clinic for their surgical methods and recovery practices beforehand.
Our post-op guide tries to go give you practical tips along the way of recovery and is trying to cover a wide range of situations depending on what kind of vet access you have to help ensure that you can provide the best kind of home care, know what to look out for in terms of bad reactions to GA or post-op complications and in which cases to contact the vets urgently: Tips For Post-operative Care

Check on them during the first night post-op, as that is usually when in rare cases pain can cause them to bite into surgical wounds and or when loss of appetite as a reaction to GA drugs happens, which is more common. While operation success rates have massively improved over the last few years, losses can still occasionally happen even with vets with experience in small furries operations, but the rate of complications (mostly bad reactions to GA, especially with less practised vets, and abscess in the operation area. Hematomas and more rarely hernias can be another cause of lumps in the genital area forming post-op).

Please wait the full 6 weeks. You cannot prevent mating when it happens, it is too quick. The little baby in my avatar is the legacy from a supposedly safe and vet cleared over 5 weeks post-op boar, just to prove that point. While it is rare, it has happened not just with her. There is a crucial difference between 99% and 100%, and especially if you have older sows, it is simply not worth risking it. Sows can come into season spontaneously in the presence of boars when they are close enough to it.
What you can do from 3-4 weeks onwards if your boys are well, is to keep them in a small pen each on each side of the larger sow pen, so they can make friends through the bars before you try any introductions. That takes out some of the additional stress factors during bonding.

My tip is to try your most dominant sow with all her companions first with your more submissive boy, as that is going to be the trickier bonding. This gives you an idea on the various sows cope.
You may rather want to try your bottom sows with the dominant boar. Don't have any pre-formed concept about group size and formation, whether you end up with a group of four sows with a husboar and a mixed gender couple or two more evenly numbered groups - in the end it is all about who is getting on best with who. The dominance sort-out travels down the hierarchy. it is always the lead sow where initial acceptance needs to happen while it is much easier to re-bond submissive sows.
Please change the underlay between dating different boars. They will react much more strongly if the can sniff another boar. Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

If you have doubts about your vet or any part of the bonding success, as long as your boys are getting on as they are, I would not necessarily risk it.

 

[SarahWonderland]

If your boars are still bonded, you can leave them together post-op, but ideally in their usual surroundings if they are doing well. Keep them on a light fleece or vetbed surface for the first few days until the wounds start knitting and poo patrol twice daily.

There is a range of operation techniques. Most vets now either use glue or dissolvable stitches (which are now often hidden to prevent ripping open). You are always welcome to ask the vet clinic for their surgical methods and recovery practices beforehand.
Our post-op guide tries to go give you practical tips along the way of recovery and is trying to cover a wide range of situations depending on what kind of vet access you have to help ensure that you can provide the best kind of home care, know what to look out for in terms of bad reactions to GA or post-op complications and in which cases to contact the vets urgently: Tips For Post-operative Care

Check on them during the first night post-op, as that is usually when in rare cases pain can cause them to bite into surgical wounds and or when loss of appetite as a reaction to GA drugs happens, which is more common. While operation success rates have massively improved over the last few years, losses can still occasionally happen even with vets with experience in small furries operations, but the rate of complications (mostly bad reactions to GA, especially with less practised vets, and abscess in the operation area. Hematomas and more rarely hernias can be another cause of lumps in the genital area forming post-op).

Please wait the full 6 weeks. You cannot prevent mating when it happens, it is too quick. The little baby in my avatar is the legacy from a supposedly safe and vet cleared over 5 weeks post-op boar, just to prove that point. While it is rare, it has happened not just with her. There is a crucial difference between 99% and 100%, and especially if you have older sows, it is simply not worth risking it. Sows can come into season spontaneously in the presence of boars when they are close enough to it.
What you can do from 3-4 weeks onwards if your boys are well, is to keep them in a small pen each on each side of the larger sow pen, so they can make friends through the bars before you try any introductions. That takes out some of the additional stress factors during bonding.

My tip is to try your most dominant sow with all her companions first with your more submissive boy, as that is going to be the trickier bonding. This gives you an idea on the various sows cope.
You may rather want to try your bottom sows with the dominant boar. Don't have any pre-formed concept about group size and formation, whether you end up with a group of four sows with a husboar and a mixed gender couple or two more evenly numbered groups - in the end it is all about who is getting on best with who. The dominance sort-out travels down the hierarchy. it is always the lead sow where initial acceptance needs to happen while it is much easier to re-bond submissive sows.
Please change the underlay between dating different boars. They will react much more strongly if the can sniff another boar. Illustrated Bonding / Dominance Behaviours And Dynamics

If you have doubts about your vet or any part of the bonding success, as long as your boys are getting on as they are, I would not necessarily risk it.

This has been wonderfully helpful!
It has taken me awhile to find a vet in my area that is small animal verified and feel very confident with him.
My other un-noted reason for neuturing is the boars as of late have been rumble strutting on the occasion.
I will take into consideration everything said.

Thank You so much !