• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Neutering, Your Experiences.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jeniva

Jeniva

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jul 3, 2013
Messages
226
Reaction score
79
Points
265
Location
Hertfordshire, UK
Hey all. I just wanted some people's experiences with getting their boars neutered.
I am on the fence about getting mine done so he can hopefully find a girlfriend. However when he was a baby he suffered abscesses, it took months and two operations to get rid of them.
I do have a good guinea pig vet locally which I would use for neutering.

Just wanting to know everyone's experiences, the good the bad - all!
 
:D I have had three boars neutered in the past,all without any problems. As long as the boar is strong and healthy and your vet is competent and experienced, it should go smoothly.
 
I can't help but would be interested to hear - I know some piggies on here (Milan and Hugo to name two!) had no end of issues.

I have two boars who live together, aged about 3. I plan to have them neutered in the next few months (before they get too old) because when the first one to go, well, "goes", I'd like to be able to bring in a sow to keep the remaining one company.
 
I had my boar neutered as he failed attempts to bond with any other boar in the past. So he's now neutered and living with a group of girls (and loving it!)

As long as the vet is good with pigs, and he's healthy fingers crossed you shouldn't have any problems. My boy was back to normal pretty much straight away. He did develop an abcess afterwards but it was quickly spotted and sorted out.

He got through it really well. I was really happy. :)
 
I had two boar's done in March both sailed though the neutering, one developed a small infection but that cleared with a course of antibiotics and the other you wouldn't have even thought he had an operation given how well he handled it.
 
I don't really want to get into detail but my two boys were neutered 7th march and we've had back luck after bad luck post neuter. Both of my boys developed abscesses and my beautiful Hugo sadly lost this life just over a week ago. We spent a long time weighing up with the pros and cons of neutering and at the time I was happy and confident in my vet so decided to go ahead with it. I'm devastated as Hugo would still be here if I didn't make that decision. My other piggy Milan still has a lump which were not yet sure is the abscess returning so he may require the surgery that caused Hugo to loose his life. I know a lot of people neuter their boys with no problem but it's something I personally would never ever ever do again unless medical emergency
 
My boar was neutered at 6 months. The surgery was done by an experienced surgeon, but he developed haematomas. The haematomas resolved over time, and it is my understanding that the development of post-op haematomas depends on the piggy's own constitution and tendency to get them.

3 months after the surgery, Rosie developed an abscess. Now, we don't know if the abscess resulted from the surgery or not, as the abscess was around his belly button, far from the incision sites. The abscess was surgically removed, and everything seems to be fine for the time being.
 
it's interesting to hear about everyone's experiences with this as i don't really want to be in the lone boar situation again, but I'm not too sure if I've room to set up a cage with another boar pair next to benson and mike.

Can i just ask - mike is only 7 weeks old just now and there's no hurry at all to get him neutered whilst bensons still with him (benson is 4 at the end of this month)

The vet (who is a recommended one on here but not my local vet so i haven't met him yet) says he can neuter from 4 months. That seems really young!

Given that i am keeping everything crossed that benson is here for at least another year, does anyone know when the best time would be to neuter mike please?

Apologies if i should have started my own thread for this question. Wasn't sure.
 
Our boar was neutered at 2 weeks old, and this is standard practice here in Switzerland, so 4 months is certainly not to young.
 
I had my boy Chewy neutered at 6 months and after the operation he was very well - he did get a bit of infection in the wound but this was easily treated by the vet and he is well. It was the only option for me as he was up for adoption alone as he fought with other males and so a wife was what he needed. :)
 
My boy was neutered about three months ago.He was about 7 months I think.Everything went brilliantly and he is now a very happy boy with five wives
 
Um I do not know how any vet can neuter a male animal at 2 weeks old?

Generally speaking with any animal it is important that the male is fully developed and that the testes have dropped fully before neuturing. Like human children animals can also develop at different rates so while one may be fully developed and ready at a certain age another may not be.

It is widely accepted that most animals unless there is a medical reason are neutered or spayed from 6 months onwards.

It is always good to have the animal examined by the vet prior to doing this operation to check development as they will tell you if it is too early. Also they can check that the animal appears healthy for the operation which of course is also important.

I have had my male piggy neutered and my male rabbit and they have both come though with no problems. My boar was around 8 months old and my rabbit about 9 months old.
 
Caron's Cavies said:
Um I do not know how any vet can neuter a male animal at 2 weeks old?
Click to expand...

It is standard practice here in Switzerland to neuter all males before they reach sexual maturity at around 3 weeks old (unless a breeder is looking for a male for breeding).
This means that immediately after the operation they can be placed back into the family group with no risk of unwanted pregnancies.
It is extremely difficult to get an un-neutered male here, and this is one of the reasons there are very few guinea pigs in rescue.
Accidental pregnancies as a result of inexperienced owners and pet shop workers simply do not occur.
 
I've only ever had boars and despite that I've only ever had one neutered. That was when I first had pigs and I was told it would calm down his dominance issues but it didn't.

I've always thought that it was an unnecessary operation, and I don't want to put my pets under anaesthetic unless it's a necessary operation. But, I'm kind of on the fence now about it.

Last year I looked after my friends pigs for her when she went on holiday. She's always had a combination of sows and neutered boars. She had a new boar and he's just had his operation before I was due to have him. So, he still had his stitches when he came to stay. There was a bit of an issue when he was with me, and a few days in he started to bite me whenever I went near his stitches. Then he removed them overnight. I called her vet and followed the instructions given and thankfully he was okay. He now lives with his two wives.

One of my boars, Jon Snow, has been very difficult to pair. I was very tempted to get him neutered but I have persevered and he now lives with Podrick Payne. I have since found out from his vet that Jon is not a good candidate for surgery and so if I had gone through with it then he might not be here today. But on the other hand he might have been paired with a wonderful wife already without me having to persist for a year trying to bond him with another boar.

It's a hard choice to make and I think it really depends on how competent you think your vet is. I completely trust my current vet so neutering is something I would consider these days.

One of my friends has access to one of the best vets in the UK, and she goes so far as to have her sows spayed. She's prefer them to go through an operation when they're younger and healthy instead of risk them with hormone and cyst issues later in life.
 
I have every sympathy for San - I too have had boars develop abscesses after they were neutered . I was very new to owning guinea pigs and very new to this forum . I went to a local vet . I had 2 boars - 1 (Month ) developed an abscess within weeks of their neutering and the other (Max) 6 months after . Poor Month had to be pts . I had found a better vet by the time Max developed his abscess and he recovered with treatment. This hasn't put me off having a neutered boar - but I would only ever go to a recommended vet.

I have recently rescued a neutered boar ( Reuben) and I check his undercarriage regularly
 
Interesting to hear from everyone.
The thing with my piggie is he often gets soft poo's and sometimes almost runny and can get mucky. I'd have to constantly clean his bum but he will happily sit in a big squish of soft poos - obviously will cause an infection if he has a fresh wound!

Right now i have one private rescue left to try. All my fingers are crossed that he gets a male friend.

Sian25 said:
I don't really want to get into detail but my two boys were neutered 7th march and we've had back luck after bad luck post neuter. Both of my boys developed abscesses and my beautiful Hugo sadly lost this life just over a week ago. We spent a long time weighing up with the pros and cons of neutering and at the time I was happy and confident in my vet so decided to go ahead with it. I'm devastated as Hugo would still be here if I didn't make that decision. My other piggy Milan still has a lump which were not yet sure is the abscess returning so he may require the surgery that caused Hugo to loose his life. I know a lot of people neuter their boys with no problem but it's something I personally would never ever ever do again unless medical emergency
Click to expand...

I'm so sorry to hear that :( that's my worst fear. was your vet a gpig specialist if i may ask?
 
Jeniva said:
Interesting to hear from everyone.
The thing with my piggie is he often gets soft poo's and sometimes almost runny and can get mucky. I'd have to constantly clean his bum but he will happily sit in a big squish of soft poos - obviously will cause an infection if he has a fresh wound!

Right now i have one private rescue left to try. All my fingers are crossed that he gets a male friend.



I'm so sorry to hear that :( that's my worst fear. was your vet a gpig specialist if i may ask?
Click to expand...
She is a guinea pig specialist and was highly recommended by the forum
 
I have all boars neutered before rehoming and have never had a problem. They have all sailed through the op and have been completely back to normal immediately post op. I also had a sow spayed last Wednesday and she was bright and eating immediately post op, although a little quieter than normal. By the next day you wouldn't have known she had had surgery unless you turned her over and saw the very neat wound on her tummy.
 
My boar was neutered along with his brother as an "early castration" so done very very young. They were both fine and had no complications. We only have the one boar, the brother went to another home :)
 
thank you all again for the replies. I think I will make an appointment with the vet and discuss neutering Han. Unfortunately he has now had 5 failed bondings with boars and it looks like he needs a woman in his life.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top