Elective ovariectomies

[Emx93]

This is something I've heard a lot of debate over since becoming a piggy owner. I recently had a discussion with my vet about this and we decided to remove Sally and Addys ovaries electively. I was super nervous but honestly I have no regrets at all! They were my 5th and 6th piggy spays.
I've had 4 piggies spayed previously for hormonal behaviour/ cysts. My 1st piggy was a full spay (I would not do this electively personally) and the others have all been ovariectomies. All my ovariectomy piggies have bounced back super quickly.
The factors that influenced my decision were mainly a chat with the vet at Sally's new pet check. But also that my vets are very experienced, they do ovariectomies (I would not do a full spay electively), I've had to spay 4 girls previously 1 of which needed a full spay which recovery is much harder from. The one piggy I didn't spay last year grew a huge ovarian cyst while she was not well enough for surgery and had multiple health conditions- we ended up calling qol sooner because of the cyst- it wouldve happened anyway but we could have maybe had a little more time if not worried about the cyst bursting. Surgery is less risky when young and otherwise healthy and so many sows develop hormonal issues (though not all will be spayed from it). It increases bonding options in the future and there's no 6 week wait. Unlike neutering boars I have also found that spayed sows seem a lot calmer than entire sows.
I was extremely nervous because Sally and addy are rescues who are extremely skittish and not at all used to handling so it took two of us to syringe feed and medicate. But I'm pleased that I will never have to worry about hormonal issues with them in the future!
If I got any more sows would I electively spay? Honestly if my vets agreed it was a good idea and reconmended it, they were healthy and under 4 then yes but we are all different!
(Pics from today and the day of surgery)

 

[piggieminder]

Sending Sally and Addy healing vibes. In your shoes I'd have done the same. Hormonal girls with ovarian cysts sounds like a nightmare for them and their hooman!
I had a chat with a vet at our practise about neutering my young boars last year with a view to bonding them with sows if/when one got left on his own. Her advice was to get young sows and have an elective ovariectomy done for them instead. The vets at that practise are seeing so many sows with problem ovarian cysts they feel this this the way to go to avoid future problems. The operation would be carried out on young fit sows and alleviates all the worry of operating on an elderly sow. An elective surgery on young sows to stop breeding is also kinder to the bank balance than an emergency one as they have a 'special price'. I wouldn't be having both boys neutered when only one would need it, presuming they stay together. These are very experienced vets who do these surgeries every day as referrals from other vets. It certainly makes sense and is food for thought.

 

[Emx93]

Sending Sally and Addy healing vibes. In your shoes I'd have done the same. Hormonal girls with ovarian cysts sounds like a nightmare for them and their hooman!
I had a chat with a vet at our practise about neutering my young boars last year with a view to bonding them with sows if/when one got left on his own. Her advice was to get young sows and have an elective ovariectomy done for them instead. The vets at that practise are seeing so many sows with problem ovarian cysts they feel this this the way to go to avoid future problems. The operation would be carried out on young fit sows and alleviates all the worry of operating on an elderly sow. An elective surgery on young sows to stop breeding is also kinder to the bank balance than an emergency one as they have a 'special price'. I wouldn't be having both boys neutered when only one would need it, presuming they stay together. These are very experienced vets who do these surgeries every day as referrals from other vets. It certainly makes sense and is food for thought.

I definitely agree, while there are always nerves with elective surgery I feel the benefit long term to the sows (providing they are healthy at the time of ovariectomy) is much better than watching a bond fall apart due to hormones (I had this happen with my first two girls) or emergency spays where something is going wrong and there is age or health issues to contend with. If we look at other species (cats/dogs/rabbits) then spaying is reconmended in these animals and with how many sows seem to develop cysts or hormonal issues it just felt like the right thing to do Sally and addy are 3 so not super young but in the prime of their lives and were well enough for surgery we are 1 week and 2 days post op and you cannot tell that anything happened. I would definitely do this again with young healthy pigs

 

[Merab]

Glad the girls have come through surgery well.
Speedy recovery wishes