Having Smudge castrated...

[Cavy2009]

After reading these boards, I am wondering if having Smudge castrated might be a good idea and then introducing him to a friendly sow?

Chocolate my boar doesn't like Smudge he has clacked his teeth at him. And I can't put him with Patch as she is a sow.

What's people's advice ?x

 

[PopcornPigs]

You'll definately need to find a cavy savvy vet. How old is Smudge? I have heard of older boars being castrated and it being fine, however the older they are generally the longer they take to recover and the more risky. But obviously the operation, even on a healthy piggy does have risks. It's worth a lot of thought, could Smudge not go boar dating?

 

[Cavy2009]

I haven't had much luck with boars living together. I was given Smudge and I need him to have a friend asap. I was going to try him and Choccie outside at the weekend together.rolleyes

 

[Wiebke]

A lot of it depends on how good and experienced a vet you can find and you have to be aware that you can never exclude all risks - I have found that with my own new boar Hywel, whose problems fall into the remaining 2% of cosmic bad luck that can happen even to the best of vets. Thankfully, for most of the time, Hywel is a very happy and busy boar!

You have to face a wait of 4-6 weeks after the op to make sure that all "tadpoles" have dried off.

I cannot guarantee that Patch will actually accept Smudge. Older single sows often don't. So if you decide to go ahead, you may have to find a rescue that would allow Smudge to "date" some sows to find the right one for him.
However, if Smudge can find a girl who likes him, he will be a very happy boar indeed!

Here is a link for exhaustive info about neutering:
http://www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm

 

[Cavy2009]

Luckily I have a very good vet, who did my other boars. I plan to get him a young girlfriend.

Thank you

Cavy2009 x