Is there ever any reason to spay a girliepig? (apart from ill health)

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Pigglywig

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Am trying to rescue a boar who is neutered, but tonight was told that they would prefer to have his wife to be neutered. I really don't want to do that and the breeder who is giving her to me (very nice, caring man) wont let me have her if I intend getting her spayed so I wouldn't do it behind his back.

The lady at the sanctuary said there is a risk of the girl getting hormonal and bullying the boar. Any experience advice??/
 
from what i have read on here it is a lot more risky and invasive to have a female spayed not heard of any reason other than ill health apart from the obvious no baby thing certainly not heard of females getting hormonal and bullying boys? only in same sexed pairs maybe someone on here may have more advice?
 
Bo has two un-spayed wifes and they don't bully him... :)). Sure they pee in his face sometimes, but only after he has forgotten his manners... :)

Um, honestly... I never heard anything like that before. I would assume most people know what a risky and invasive surgery it is to spay a guinea pig sow?
 
I too was under the belief that spayed females are quite unusual.

Certainly for males (although I don't know if this effects girls in the same way) neutering has no to very little effect on behaviour and character - unlike dogs for example ;)

Although I don't speak from experience as my trio are all ladies, mixed sexed pairs are believed to be the most peaceable arrangement with the least amount of bickering.

If your boy is already neutered, I wonder why the rescue is insisting upon spaying your girl tool? Are they just being over- cautious maybe?

As for peeing in the face - my girls do that between themselves! rolleyes :))
 
Little Piggles said:
I too was under the belief that spayed females are quite unusual.

Certainly for males (although I don't know if this effects girls in the same way) neutering has no to very little effect on behaviour and character - unlike dogs for example ;)

Although I don't speak from experience as my trio are all ladies, mixed sexed pairs are believed to be the most peaceable arrangement with the least amount of bickering.

If your boy is already neutered, I wonder why the rescue is insisting upon spaying your girl tool? Are they just being over- cautious maybe?

As for peeing in the face - my girls do that between themselves! rolleyes :))
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Yes he will be neutered in the shelter on Thursday and then I think I can't have him for 4 - 6 weeks after that. I think they are being over cautious. Am going to ring them tomorrow, now that I have some advice to go on and see if they will change their minds.
 
Spaying is a very invasive and rather risky operation that really should only be undertaken for the sake of severe cases of ovarian cysts. I lost one of my sows in an operation in March for exactly that reason.

I have a neutered boar living happily with eight sows and he can stand his ground, thank you!

There are some fairly rare cases of sows not accepting males (or females at that) but that usually shows right at the beginning if a bonding won't work out; it has nothing to do with spaying! Most young sows, however, will happily accept a neutered boar.

The shelter is not overcautious - 4-6 weeks is the normal rate you have to wait for any sperm to dry up. The odd "golden shot" is known to have been fired at five weeks after neutering.
 
I wouldn't spay a sow (unless they needed it for health reasons), it just seems too risky.

Maybe if you explain to the rescue that it is not what is normally done and it is very risky then they will change their minds. I wonder why they're being so cautious, you're obviously not a breeder otherwise why would you get the neutered male at all.

I doubt they would bully the male. I've heard that unspayed rabbits are hormonal and moody sometimes (though mine haven't been) but not guinea pigs. Sure they bicker a bit between the girls, but nothing serious at all.
 
Wiebke said:
The shelter is not overcautious - 4-6 weeks is the normal rate you have to wait for any sperm to dry up. The odd "golden shot" is known to have been fired at five weeks after neutering.
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I think that she meant they're being over cautious about the girl being spayed. She's not planning on introducing them until after 6 weeks.
 
Wiebke said:
The shelter is not overcautious - 4-6 weeks is the normal rate you have to wait for any sperm to dry up. The odd "golden shot" is known to have been fired at five weeks after neutering.
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I meant with them requesting that both the boy and girl are neutered ;)
 
No. I don't want to spay her. I'm going to talk to the rescue now that I've spoken to you guys (the breeder, if you could call him a breeder - he keeps all his piggies, doesn't sell to petshops or public and doesn't have very many. He won't even take any money for her - he wants me to have her because he has made some enquiries about me and he is happy that I'll give her a good home). He says the same as you folks - that it is a needless, risky operation.

Hopefully they'll see sense.
 
I hope that they do - if a boar is neutered and has had the appropriate wait after the op, there should be no reason why a sow has to be spayed.

PS: About old sows bullying neutered boars - my neutered boar was most in love with his two old girls, his first wife Dizzy who died aged five and Fflur who joined my group aged four years old; both ladies couldn't have been less aggressive or more snuggly with him!
 
PS: Of all the many guinea pig rescues that we have in Britain, there are only a couple that spay sows as a matter of policy (and most of those sows go on to live with unneutered boars), but many will neuter boars that cannot be paired up with other boars to be rehomed or paired up at the rescue with unspayed sows.
 
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