Castration

[JayceeStar]

My little Spud is off to be castrated soon, as I can't stand to keep him away from the girls much longer! His companion went to Rainbow Bridge on Christmas day and since he has been alone, having supervised floor time every day with my two girls. However, I'd like them all to have the hutch together now as they get on so well, so I am sending the poor guy off to get the snip.
The cheapest I have been quoted is £41, is that the normal price? This is from an exotics vet so I know my boy will be safe.
Does anybody have any tips for post-surgical care for Spud? What sorts of bedding to use, etc? He lives outside and is currently on shavings, but I guess they won't be great for after his op?
Any help will be greatly apppreciated. Thankyou

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Hi Jaycee, welcome to the forum.

That price sounds about right, certainly the average price quoted around UK. I've been quoted £38 - £48 from the CCT.

Post-operative care should be fairly straight forward provided you are prepared for the most common eventualities.
- Make sure you have pain relief to hand just in case he displays signs of pain (either Metacam or Rimadyl from the vet, or children's Nurofen/infant Calpol).
- Make sure you have the syringe-feeding basics to hand just in case he is not eating for himself - 1ml syringes and either a plain nugget feed to soak and mash, or a preparation like Critical Care or Science Recovery.
- Bedding to use is fleece or Vetbed, both wick urine away from the surface so it stays dry, and obviously there are no pieces to stick to the wound. Bedding should be changed 2x daily for the first couple of days, then once daily.
- Keep indoors for at least a few days after the surgery.

There shouldn't be any need to clean or apply anything to the wound. Do be preared for it to look a bit inflamed/"baggy" at first, I have a photo of a pig the same day of neuter if you want to prepare yourself. It does heal up very quickly though. Only thing then is to watch out for signs of infection or post-neuter abscess, which may include heat coming from the area, redness or swelling, or pus leaking from the wound.

And finally, he's not to meet the girls at all for 6 weeks post-op; a few sperm can hang around for some weeks after the surgery and golden shots have apparently been fired as much as 4-5 weeks after surgery...

 

[Saysie]

Hi Jaycee,
I had one of my boys *done* about 3 weeks ago. £41 sounds like a good price, I paid £52.50 and that included a pre-op check and two post op checks. So might be worthwhile checking with your vet to see if these are included.
Once he comes home I was told to keep him indoors (he lives indoors anyway) and to use newspaper as bedding, this is just for a couple of days to prevent any bedding getting into the stitches. Also to offer him lots of veg/hay etc so to encourage him to eat. You will still need to keep him separated from the girls for another 4 weeks after the op. They do like to pick at the stitches, mine did so its best just to keep an eye on that area, your vet will hopefully offer a post-op service for any problems like this, otherwise the stitches are dissolvable ( but may be different at your surgery).
Hope this helps a little
Saysie

 

[Furries]

We had our boar castrated last November.

He chewed his stitches (which is apparently very common) and we had to go back for antibiotics; the vet said that once they start chewing the stitches it can be difficult to get them to stop. I therefore put some Lavender essential oil on his wound which not only stopped him from chewing them (guinea-pigs hate the smell of lavender), but it's also an antiseptic and aids healing.

He went off his food and lost quite a bit of weight (this may have been caused by the antibiotics), so we had to syringe-feed him Oxbow Critical Care and some poop-soup (mushed-up poops from a healthy pig) to recolonise the gut.

Guinea-pigs regularly go off their food when they're castrated, even if they're not on antibiotics, so keep an eye on him and syringe-feed him if necessary to avoid gut-stasis.

 

[Wiebke]

I wish you the best of luck for your boy! Thankfully, most ops go well. There is a problem that abscesses can pop up, even months after the op. A good vet is already half the battle.

Make sure that you get some probiotics together with any anitbiotic you are given in order to keep the guts going.

Here is a collection of experiences:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31509