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To neuter or not?

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Furries

Furries

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At the request of a local rescue, we 'rescued' (yeah, I know) a young boar from our local pet shop who was scabby with mites and very thin.

The rescue told us she would rehome him if we wanted her to and we said we'd think about it and let her know. He's a sweetie, a lovely colour and we've grown rather attached to him. However, we decided that having an intact boar around six girlies was not a good idea and so decided to ask her to rehome him. But when I tried to phone the rescue and say we did want her to take him, I wasn't able to get hold of her (despite phoning many times) and she hasn't responded to any of my texts. I'm just wondering if she's lost her mobile phone and therefore my contact details.

So, we now need to decide whether to risk getting him neutered and put him with the girlies (which would be ideal, if the risk wasn't so great), or find him a male friend. My concern with finding him a male friend is that we'll then have two intact boys in the same vicinity as six girlies. Obviously we'd keep them in separate cages and runs, but I'm just worried that when we go away on holiday, whoever looks after them might slip-up and we'd end up with five pregnant girls who are too old to have their first pregnancy (plus one we got off a friend who's had a litter before).

At the moment (during the day) his run is alongside the girlies' run, so that he doesn't get depressed.
 
ahh dont give him up although the op can be risky it could be the best option as he could live happily with all those girlies afterwards.
 
I would not have him neutered. Find him a male friend, I have no problems with my paired boars who are within a few feet of the sows.
 
Hard decision to make. I tended to pair up males with baby boars, and most of these successfully, but these have not always worked out in the long run, even when no sows around (though the majority do).

Due to a shortage of baby boars in rescue, I have been neutering many more of the single boars in rescue so that they can be paired up and rehomed more quickly. Literally I have only had 12 baby boars in this year, and probably about 30 single boars, so not much choice. This has worked really well, and it has been joyful seeing them in love with their new wives.

But neutering does have its risks. Lost my first one to neutering last week, which was very upsetting, and made me question doing it again. But the other 100 have got through op no problems and with no complications, and ended up joyfully happy with a girlfriend. But still meant one lost his life.

So I find it hard to come up with an easy answer.
 
Its a toughie.. is there any way you could move them to different rooms when you go away? thats what we did when we had the foster girls "just in case"

I would always try and bond with a baby boar like already said, but also having said that you never know if they will remain friendly. I had to re-bond 2 of mine with new friends, which went really well, and I have had no problems, but need to keep this in mind. Also as you will know, boars or sows can fall out with each other its not just a "boy thing"

If you had been able to contact the rescue and have him taken in would you have been happy with the decision? If so, could you not find him a home, perhaps with some-one you know so you can still see him and get updates? x
 
I understand your dilemma. I have two intact boys living above eight girls, and I have to make sure I am very vigilant about who comes out and when for floor time, triple checking all the sows are in before the boys are let out.

Having them living above them all, in a cage they cannot leave themselves, helps a lot - I would be more likely to slip up if it only took a couple of clips being undone to let them out, instead of the performance of climbing in the other cages to lift the boys out.
 
Thanks for all of your replies. If it was just a case of pairing him up with a male friend, with a risk that they may fall-out, I'd have no problems with it. It's the fact that we have so many girls and that come next year, they'll be too old to have a first litter. Even if it was just the risk of having to find new homes as the result of any accidents, it wouldn't bother me quite so much, as I would be diligent about who I rehomed to; I just don't want any of my girls to die from a pregnancy.

My guinea-pigs live outside and the boy currently has a separate hutch and run from the girls (the hutches and runs aren't attached), so I wouldn't be able to put them in separate rooms as kindly suggested (and if they'd been indoors, that would have worked well). Once or twice already I've nearly put Ted in the girls' run, because it's been early morning and I've been thinking about something else. I'm sure I would notice immediately if I did do this and take him out, but if I could make this mistake, then I'm sure whoever takes care of them when we go on holiday, could easily do the same.

Thanks for the suggestion about rehoming him to someone we know; I'll think on this and see if there is someone.
 
maybe if you did get him a baby boar you can get them a very secure cage girls successfully keepare safe,i know half the people i know with pigs have both sexes and them well apart,if you have almost put him with girls it might be wise to rehome him xxxxx
 
I just got a boy neutered to live with a pair of girls and so far (touch wood) it's worked out okay. He had a day or two of low appetite but other than that he's been okay and seems unaffected in his behaviour. I have to say when I went into it it seemed simple and we are lucky enough to have a vet who specialises in small animals so this minimalises the risk.

I would never have taken the boy I have if I wasn't going to neuter him as I simply can't have another cage / pair of guineas. So he would have stayed where he was alone for who knows how much longer (it had already been 3 1/2 months he was alone)

When my boy was due to go in someone on here posted abut complications from neutering and that was quite serious although he's recovering (again thank goodness). But there is a chance it wont work out (the smaller the chance with a very experienced vet). But then again my girls are living next door to my boy and they are all very friendly - I think this is going to make all of them very happy and that's the reason I got him neutered in the first place. Happy trio of guineas.
 
We decided to get him neutered.

He went for his op yesterday and it all went well. The vet gave us a sachet of 'Recovery' and 4-sachets of Bio-Lapis to put in his water (one per day, changed each day). We kept him in the kitchen overnight (which isn't heated), so we could keep an eye on him and he's back outside in his hutch tonight, which is in the shed.

I was concerned last night that he wasn't eating and was all ready to syringe feed him the 'Recovery' - we went to the supermarket to get a pineapple as well, just in case - and when we came back he was munching the hay. So I went out with a torch and found him some dandelions, which he soon scoffed. The vet told me to just put him on newspaper so that the hay didn't hurt his wound, which he's not too chuffed about.

Today I put him out in his run, he started eating the grass straight away and to be honest, I can't tell that he's had an operation (he raced round the run as normal when I tried to catch him tonight). I've checked his wound twice today and it seems to be fine. He's acting the same as normal, which is what my doe did the day after her spay, and she recovered without a hitch.

He needs to go back to the vet in a few days to get his wound checked-out and then again a week later.

If anybody in Derbyshire is thinking of getting their boar neutered, I can recommend 'McMurtry and Harding' in Ashbourne. They only charged 25 pounds too.

So far so good. Before I had him neutered, I did ask about abscesses at the site of the wound and the vet said they rarely get them. Here's hoping she's right. :)
 
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Glad it's gone well and I hope his appetite stays good. My boy lost his the next evening and it didn't come back for about 4 - 5 days.

Over 3 weeks now and you can't tell - he's excellent and can't wait to live with the girls.

:))
 
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