Confused by the Vet.

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lynda1

lynda1

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I seem to be confused all the time with everything relating to these piggies babies.
I was slightly concerned about one of the babies eyes...a slight opaque glaze over it....so I thought I would take he/she to the vet. Having called my usual vet they recommended another one, not too far away, who treats a lot more piggies, got an appointment for this morning, all good so far. Packed up mum and babies and off to the vet, I had only booked in the baby as all the rest were fine and was going to take them all next week for sexing but the vet decided that they all needed to be checked today....4 consultation fees 'at a reduced rate'...she then proceeded to sex them for me and said she thought 2 boys and 1 girl but to come back in 3 or 4 WEEKS time as it would be easier to tell, I said that they would need to be split up at about 3 weeks old but she said GPs were not sexually active until about 10 to 12 weeks old and that I had plenty of time.
I also asked about castration for daddy and was told there wasnt much difference between dogs cats and guinea pig castration so shouldnt be any problems, I know the actual act of castrating would be similar bur I thought the anaesthetic, recovery etc was a lot more of a risk?

Sorry for going on a bit but the questions I have are:
1. do I split boys and girls at 3 weeks or wait until 10 weeks as per vet advice?
2. Should I get my boy castrated? He is really missing his piggie pal loads and loads (he doesnt like the boar that is keeping him company at all)
 
My advice would be to go to a new vet, that is ridiculous, and the face they charged you for 4 consultations just for sexing which they couldn't do properly anyway,

yes they need to be separated at 3 weeks unless they are under 250g then boys may stay a little longer until they show signs of humping mum or sisters then remove.

I cant believe they have treated you this way.
 
My advice would be to go to a new vet, that is ridiculous, and the face they charged you for 4 consultations just for sexing which they couldn't do properly anyway,

yes they need to be separated at 3 weeks unless they are under 250g then boys may stay a little longer until they show signs of humping mum or sisters then remove.

I cant believe they have treated you this way.
 
Hello and welcome :)

Any baby boys need to be separated from the girls at 3 WEEKS as they are sexual mature at this age.

I can't offer advise regarding the neutering but I do know it is more complex than cats and dogs due to the risk of GA and the guinea pig.

I advise that you do not use this vet again.

You have came to the right place for good advise :)
 
Thats ridiculous 4 consult fees and the vet don't even seem to know what they were doing! I wouldn't go back and i would advise your vet to not reccomend them in future,maybe even complain as advising you to keep them together is extremely irresponsible/ignorant, Keep listening to your common sense it's much better informed than that vet!
 
If you post clear close up pics of their bits someone on here will be able to advise you straight away of their sexes.
 
well it seems you have not been given adequate advice from the vet at all and maybe your regular vet needs to be made aware of this if they are referring loyal clients to them. I would not feel comfortable allowing a vet who was unable to sex piggies to undertake a castration. There is always a risk putting a piggie under GA and it might be worth considering whether you are able to keep any of the babies at all... whether you bond daddy with one of the baby boars when they are old enough to leave mum rather than put him through the op.

I have had a piggie castrated as he was bullied by all the other boars he was tried with so I rescued him at the time with the intent of him living with my girls, it was horrible having to leave him at the vets knowing I was putting him under what could be unnecessary operations but luckily he was fine, came round, had to have the mush food that night as he was a bit dazed but started to eat normally very shortly after and recovered well with no post op difficulties.

If you look through a few threads on here though you will see some of the unpleasant difficulties that can happen post neutering and its something if you do go through with you will have to keep an eye open for
 
Thanks everyone, you have confirmed what I thought. Just came back from the vets and needed to rant, everybody here just looks bored and nods/grunts occasionally to keep me happy.

The reason that I was asking about castration is that if I have all girls dad gets castrated and goes in with girls, 2 baby boys I will keep as a pair and castrate dad to go with girls, if I have 1 baby boy he will be paired with his dad and no need for castration and I dont know what I will do if they are all boys.( I only have room for 2 cages of the right size)
 
The little one I had originally gone to the vet with had a poorly eye, she gave me drops for its eyes, I know that your supposed to read the leaflet first but I didnt, it says it 'contains a well known antibiotic', its called *Fucithalmic Vet for dogs cats and rabbits* has anyone used this is it ok?
now I think I'm paranoid.
 
lynda1 said:
The little one I had originally gone to the vet with had a poorly eye, she gave me drops for its eyes, I know that your supposed to read the leaflet first but I didnt, it says it 'contains a well known antibiotic', its called *Fucithalmic Vet for dogs cats and rabbits* has anyone used this is it ok?
now I think I'm paranoid.
Click to expand...

I have been prescribed this a few times for hay pokes
 
4 consultation fee's - no no no!

You didnt have four consultations you had one with 4 animals, not the same thing.

If it were me I would be demanding a refund for the cost of the three consults, especially as she couldn't sex them and gave you inaccurate advice. rolleyes

I used to work at a vets and would never have dreamed of charging someone 4 times for one visit - disgusting.

Yes those eye drops are fine to use with your guinea pig

HTH

x
 
Definitely ask for a refund and let your original vet know not to refer people to them. There will be other people who don't have the resources you do (ie this forum) and will listen to this bad advice and end up with pregnant piggies that they don't know how to deal with.

As someone else has said, if you post some pictures of the babies bits someone will be able to sex them for you.
 
Definitely ask for a refund and let your original vet know not to refer people to them. There will be other people who don't have the resources you do (ie this forum) and will listen to this bad advice and end up with pregnant piggies that they don't know how to deal with.

As someone else has said, if you post some pictures of the babies bits someone will be able to sex them for you.
 
claire8234 said:
4 consultation fee's - no no no!

You didnt have four consultations you had one with 4 animals, not the same thing.

If it were me I would be demanding a refund for the cost of the three consults, especially as she couldn't sex them and gave you inaccurate advice. rolleyes

I used to work at a vets and would never have dreamed of charging someone 4 times for one visit - disgusting.

Yes those eye drops are fine to use with your guinea pig

HTH

x
Click to expand...

I'm afraid I disagree, if someone brings two animals with two different problems needing two lots of treatment it takes twice as long, hence two consultations. I have worked in several vet practices and that's how it usually works. However in this case, insisting on examining the animals that were just brought along for company then failing to sex them and charging a fee does sound like taking the mickey!
 
I wouldnt have minded paying for everything if I had either booked the animals in or asked her to sex them, I just asked about when the best time to sex them was and she got them out of the bag, listened to their heart and tried to sex them. (I would have thought that checking their teeth and ears would be in an examination?) I hadn't been to this vets before so wouldnt ask them to sex them for free.
 
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