Neutering headache!

[pigginrescue]

A thread earlier from Claire about her neutering nightmare prompted me to speak to you guys about this.
My vet reccomends a 6 week period before a neutered male can be paired up with a female.
I thought this to be a little excessive and that the usual advice is 4/5 weeks.
Also, I have my thoughts on how old a sow is when she sexually matures, but what are your views?

The neutered piggie in question is waiting to meet his new almost 7 week old female companion.

Your thoughts on the neutering timescale debate and also the age of maturity for sows please!

 

[sue 1974]

well my vets used to tell me 2 weeks before putting the neutered boar with females, they now say 4 weeks.

I have put the boars in after 2 weeks with no problems but i do now leave about 4 weeks just to be safe.

Not sure when a sow is mature!

 

[stargrrlclaire]

when sonny's done, i'm leaving it 8weeks to be sure as i haven't seen any boy juice so far so want to wait til the river runs dry so to speak

 

[MemberY]

I know Karen at Reading Guinea pig rescue pairs her boars up with sows after 2 weeks and as yet, has not had any accidental pregnancies. Maybe she is lucky but she does have an extremely competant vet, so this might be why.
I left Georgie for a full 4 weeks, I had it written on the calendar when he could go with my sows and all was fine. I would say though, longer is better and maybe playing safe with 6 weeks is best.

Not sure about sow sexual maturity but I personally think 7 weeks is a bit young to be sexually harrassed by a rampant boar who hasn't realised he has no nobbies

 

[kittyla]

I was advised 3 weeks, I waited 3 & half before putting Squeekypete & Crystal together - not long enough now we think she's pregnant! so would definately advise
waiting longer than that, also depends when the female is in season of course.

 

[Niki]

I had Toddie neutered on Friday & my vet said 6wks too, i said how i thought that was a long time but was told they used to say 4wks until one boar was put with 2 girls & got both pregnant.

I'm going to wait 5wks because Maddie is almost 5 & can't get pregnant altho' i have wondered if fertility decreases as they age - does anyone know?

 

[rebecca79]

i had one of my boars neutered about 2 1/2 weeks ago now and my vet advised leaving it 4 weeks before putting him in with my sow but i think after reading all these post I'm going to leave it 6 weeks just to be on the safe side.

With regards to the sexual maturity of sows. i got my first guinea pig from a pet shop at 8 weeks and she was already about 2 weeks pregnant, so this may give you a bit of an idea.