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The Day Has Arrived...

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Flamestriker

Flamestriker

Adult Guinea Pig
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that Snowy gets neutered.

Tomorrow morning to be exact. He is currently staying overnight at the vets so he can have the op early tomorrow. I couldn't take him in due to work, but I can pick him up after 2pm. I'm hoping that I can get cover in the evening so I do not have to finish at 7.30pm!

The issue is I have training on Friday that I have to attend, but the vet told me that Snowy will need meds twice a day. I can give him one dose in the morning and another at night.

I will never are his hay tray out of the cage so he doesn't have to climb over the lip but is there anything else that I can do to make things more comfortable for him when he returns?

He is not here at home and the house seems empty and quiet. All because of one little, cuddly piggy.
 
All the very best wishes for Snowy's surgery tomorrow.

I think just a nice warm snuggle bed and hay, food and water all near to hand are all he should need. And a stash of his favourite herbs to tempt his appetite. I'm sure he will be fine x
 
The vet is an exotic specialist and is experienced. He even gave me a guided tour of the place, and by the time I left Snowy was munching on hay.

But I will admit that I am nervous...none of my pets have had an operation for 35 years ever since my cat was spayed!
 
Flamestriker said:
The vet is an exotic specialist and is experienced. He even gave me a guided tour of the place, and by the time I left Snowy was munching on hay.

But I will admit that I am nervous...none of my pets have had an operation for 35 years ever since my cat was spayed!
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Have faith in your vet. I have faith in mine and she's spayed 3 of my sows. All 3 have survived and done well after surgery. Your vet is experienced and understands piggies. And you are prepared. It's natural to worry, because you love him and want the best for him. And he will have the best life when he is 6 weeks post op.....
 
Yeh, but I really think that the cage is too small. It's only 8x2 grids with a 2x2 grid loft for five sows and a boar (6 week post op).
 
Flamestriker said:
that Snowy gets neutered.

Tomorrow morning to be exact. He is currently staying overnight at the vets so he can have the op early tomorrow. I couldn't take him in due to work, but I can pick him up after 2pm. I'm hoping that I can get cover in the evening so I do not have to finish at 7.30pm!

The issue is I have training on Friday that I have to attend, but the vet told me that Snowy will need meds twice a day. I can give him one dose in the morning and another at night.

I will never are his hay tray out of the cage so he doesn't have to climb over the lip but is there anything else that I can do to make things more comfortable for him when he returns?

He is not here at home and the house seems empty and quiet. All because of one little, cuddly piggy.
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Best of luck!
Here are our detailed post-op care tips, which you may find very helpful: Tips For Post-operative Care
 
Good luck Snowy and hope you have a speedy recovery.
 
Good luck Snowy!

I usually have a small hospital cage, a 1x2 or a 2x2 set up for them. A piece of Vetbed so they're nice and snuggly. Food, hay and water scattered around and a SnuggleSafe for them to sit next to.

I usually have some syringe feed food just in case too.
 
I picked up Snowy at 5pm. I had phoned at around 3pm because no one had contacted me, and I was told that he was doing fine. He was feeling sorry for himself. His undercarriage has shrunk. A lot. Even the vet told me that he had big peanuts! (Not the vet, Snowy that is). He showed me The insision because i would know what is normal, and to look for bleeding, swelling, etc and get him back ASAP.

He is currently in his cage eating hay, cucumber and peppers. He cannot get the food down him fast enough. Whilst the vet was showing me the operation, he produced a poo which made me happy. As soon as he went back in to his cage he had a pee, which I checked and there is no discolouration. He is moving around OK, and I am sure that he gave a mini popcorn earlier.

He has eaten a bit of mint, and he licked my finger in the car. He is on 0.2mm of Metacam which I give at 7am and 7pm. He has no antibiotic as the surgery was done in sterile conditions and he doesn't need them unless there are signs of infection.

Although I already have probiotic and vitamin C already at home, i have the syringes for feeding if I have to, and I have favourited and copied the guides just in case. I will weigh him tomorrow and then daily, as I do not want to disturb him any more today.
But Snowy hasn't stopped eating yet. Which is good. I will be monitoring his poos and pee closely.
 
It sounds like it couldn't have gone any better! Here's hoping that the healing goes just as well.

Eat lots Snowy, like the shops will be running out of food soon, get it all into your tum!
 
Flamestriker said:
I picked up Snowy at 5pm. I had phoned at around 3pm because no one had contacted me, and I was told that he was doing fine. He was feeling sorry for himself. His undercarriage has shrunk. A lot. Even the vet told me that he had big peanuts! (Not the vet, Snowy that is). He showed me The insision because i would know what is normal, and to look for bleeding, swelling, etc and get him back ASAP.

He is currently in his cage eating hay, cucumber and peppers. He cannot get the food down him fast enough. Whilst the vet was showing me the operation, he produced a poo which made me happy. As soon as he went back in to his cage he had a pee, which I checked and there is no discolouration. He is moving around OK, and I am sure that he gave a mini popcorn earlier.

He has eaten a bit of mint, and he licked my finger in the car. He is on 0.2mm of Metacam which I give at 7am and 7pm. He has no antibiotic as the surgery was done in sterile conditions and he doesn't need them unless there are signs of infection.

Although I already have probiotic and vitamin C already at home, i have the syringes for feeding if I have to, and I have favourited and copied the guides just in case. I will weigh him tomorrow and then daily, as I do not want to disturb him any more today.
But Snowy hasn't stopped eating yet. Which is good. I will be monitoring his poos and pee closely.
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It sounds really good! my Nye didn't haven any antibiotic, either, and 7 weeks on is still doing fine. You will find that you boy is feeling it a bit in the next 2-3 days, but he should continue to behave as normal and have a normal appetite.
 
I'm on training that I cannot get out of tomorrow, but I'm home for the weekend (I am working Sunday) but he has a check up on Saturday.

He is still eating. I will top up his hay later and he can eat whatever he likes tonight! He loves the dry Dandilion packs in P&H...and I cannot believe that he has been done! This was originally booked in for just before Christmas!

Snowy is such a cuddly piggy
 
Flamestriker said:
I'm on training that I cannot get out of tomorrow, but I'm home for the weekend (I am working Sunday) but he has a check up on Saturday.

He is still eating. I will top up his hay later and he can eat whatever he likes tonight! He loves the dry Dandilion packs in P&H...and I cannot believe that he has been done! This was originally booked in for just before Christmas!

Snowy is such a cuddly piggy
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This is how it should be. Of course, when you come to place like this forum or do some online research, you get to read all the ops that have gone wrong and all the horror stories as people are coming online for advice or want to warn others!
 
I did do some thinking about getting him a 5x2 C&C cage and getting him a friend (or boar dating) but I want to stick to the original plan of putting him with the five girls in 6weeks time.

I am seriously considering changing the 8x2 C&C to a 8x3 C&C to give them all even more room... No cage is ever big enough!
 
I've only ever had boars, in pairs or trios and although they've been happy with each other I do think they benefit more from being in a larger group. It's natural to them. He'll love being with his ladies.

And you're right, no cage is big enough. My 2x5 slowly crept up to 2x7 and I'd love it bigger.
 
Wiebke said:
This is how it should be. Of course, when you come to place like this forum or do some online research, you get to read all the ops that have gone wrong and all the horror stories as people are coming online for advice or want to warn others!
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If you can have him living alongside his future ladies with a grid divider, this will make acceptance and bonding easier as they know each other by then.
 
Sounds like Snowy is a trooper. Hope all continues to go swimmingly.
 
Snowy has had metacam this morning and is currently scoffing his veggies. I am sprinkling probiotic and vitamin c over the veggies, as I don't like adding it to the drinking water.

I have changed his cuddle cup as he had peed in it. I will change it daily. He also has a snuggle pouch with a Snugglesafe under it, so he has a choice of what to use.
 
Great news :) I bet the next six weeks won't come around fast enough!
 
Glad the surgery went well and he is recovering nicely.
 
Glad the surgery went so well. He looks so small and sweet sitting in his cage with the lovely green hay.

I know exactly what you mean about cages never seeming big enough. My two sows are in a 150 x 70cm cage and it just seems tiny. They dont like out of cage time very much so I am currently researching some kind of diy cage.
 
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