To Spay Or Not To Spay?

[Cuddles With Cavies]

Amber went to the vets this morning after I noticed her looking a bit bloated and off colour last week. Nothing major, still eating drinking, pooping and peeing normally. She just seemed a little off.

The vets found a large lump in her tummy and want to do a scan to confirm it and then a spay operation to remove it.

So I’ve come home and explained it to my family (even though I’m the owner and 21, my parents still think they have the right to tell me how to live my life). My mom basically thinks I’m Satan for even considering putting her through such a major operation because in her opinion it’s too much for a smal rodent and she’ll die anyway. We’ve had experiences before where pigs have died after surgeries but that’s because they were already very weak and sick before the went in. Amber on the other hand is still quite healthy.

But I’m struggling because my family keep saying I’m doing the wrong thing. That I should just leave her along until she’s too ill then have her put down. She’s only 4.

What are people’s experience with spaying operations? How did your piggies cope? Do you think it was the right thing to do or if you had the choice all over again would you choose to leave well alone? And how can I help my parents understand? (even though at the end of the day it’s not their decision, I just hate being made out to be the bad guy.)

 

[Wiebke]

Amber went to the vets this morning after I noticed her looking a bit bloated and off colour last week. Nothing major, still eating drinking, pooping and peeing normally. She just seemed a little off.

The vets found a large lump in her tummy and want to do a scan to confirm it and then a spay operation to remove it.

So I’ve come home and explained it to my family (even though I’m the owner and 21, my parents still think they have the right to tell me how to live my life). My mom basically thinks I’m Satan for even considering putting her through such a major operation because in her opinion it’s too much for a smal rodent and she’ll die anyway. We’ve had experiences before where pigs have died after surgeries but that’s because they were already very weak and sick before the went in. Amber on the other hand is still quite healthy.

But I’m struggling because my family keep saying I’m doing the wrong thing. That I should just leave her along until she’s too ill then have her put down. She’s only 4.

What are people’s experience with spaying operations? How did your piggies cope? Do you think it was the right thing to do or if you had the choice all over again would you choose to leave well alone? And how can I help my parents understand? (even though at the end of the day it’s not their decision, I just hate being made out to be the bad guy.)

Hi!

Veterinary medicine has made huge strides in the last few years. The vast majority of spays is now successful. It is a major operation, which is the reason why it is usually only performed for medical reasons.
If your internal lump is an ovarian cyst, then the prognosis with a good vet with experience in operating on guinea pigs and small furries is not bad. If the lump turns out to be a tumour or an internal abscess, then it is another ball game altogether, especially if they have spread.
Generally, the vet will ring you with their findings from the scan before they start the op; so you can make an informed decision re. go ahead. Anyway, you can request a phone call before the op.

We have got several members in your area that could give you vet recommendations if you wish to.
Here is our forum link: Guinea Pig Vet Locator

Here are our post-op care tips: Tips For Post-operative Care

This is my tiny 700g Cariad, who needed an emergency spay for a womb gone wrong as well as some nasty looking cysts on 18th April 2013, pretty much 5 years ago to the day.
She sailed through her op and never lost more than 30g (the weight of her removed organs) despite having undergone surgery for a large bladder stone only 6 months earlier and despite being on the frail side; she also had another bladder flush for her sludge build-up at the same time.
Cariad lived for another year to the age of 5 when she became too frail for any more procedures to cope with her ongoing bladder issues.

Here she is the day after her op, showing off her operation scar and in the hospital cage with Bryn Oscar, who was with her the whole time until I was sure that her eating was stable enough for them to go back to the full elderlies group on day 2 after the op.


And here is Iola. She was spayed last May at 5 years of age when her cysts grew very quickly and one of them started to adhere to the guts. It was a bit of a race against time to save up as her op had to be postponed until the next paycheck because of a costly emergency op on another piggy as well as an out-of-hours emergency pts in April. Iola is still with me, now aged 6 years.

Iola with her two huge cysts before the op


In the evening after her op with her also spayed same age companion Hafren (who is also still around, aged 6 1/2 now), Hafren went with Iola to the vets and stayed with Iola during her recovery.


And a much slimmer Iola post-op... She had a slightly rougher revovery because of the (rare) gut adhesion complication due to the wait and needed more painkillers and for longer than Cariad, but her appetite didn't suffer at any point!

 

[Wiebke]

PS: It also depends on what kind of ovarian cyst you are dealing with. Iola's were non-hormonal, very dense cysts that required an operation. With hormonal ovarian cysts hormone injections (usually chorulon but there are other brands especially in different countries), which are a lot less invasive are now a valid alternative to a spay, but you may need to see an exotics vet for them.

I would strongly recommend to at least have a scan done so you can make a more informed decision.

I have had one 5 year old piggy, Tanni, whose supposed ovarian cyst turned out to be an internal tumour. On my vet's recommendation during the risk/success assessment for a potential op, we decided to not operate. The tumour was thankfully slow growing and Tanni enjoyed another 15 months of life, passing away aged 6 1/2 in January 2017 after a few weeks of the tumour starting to increasingly affect the guts. She died from a sudden heart attack coming within a few days of my having to make the decision to have her pts.

There is no one solution fits all; you have to assess each case on its own merits.

But with improved operation techniques and more experience with small furries operations, it is not quite the high risk gamble that it used to be 10-20 years ago.

You will want to have trust in your vet, though!

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

There is not much I can add to the advice above. There is always a risk with any opp and maybe your parents are trying to protect you from any guilt you may feel if she dose not survive the procedure. The most important thing is to make sure the vet (and nurses) are cavy savvy and that the vet is a skilled small furry surgeon.

Over the years I have had 4 sows spayed all with very good outcomes. Two were young healthy sows I had spayed so my special needs boar could have companions ( he was too high risk for an anaesthetic himself)
Then I had Ruby spayed aged 5 due to a large ovarian cyst. And finally Songbird who was nearly 6 when she was spayed, She had a mass in her uterus right next to her bladder. Her opp was very tricky and she lost a lot of blood and the vets were very cautious about their prognosis as to how well she would recover, but she bounced back in just a few days and lived to be 7, she was always such a superstar.

 

[Merab]

I can’t add to this but just wanted to offer you support

 

[Eriathwen]

I had one of my sows spayed about 10 years ago, she was over 3 but she did fantastic. She was a little incontinent for the rest of her life but a slightly leaky Patch for the following 5 or 6 years was a good trade off for her t o keep her life! I would absolutely do it again if needed, it greatly improved her quality of life and the recovery was fairly straightforward

 

[Abi_nurse]

Great advice from all. Spaying always carries risk but if you have a good team and experienced vets/nurses then the risk is minimised. I have had good success but have had a couple of complications and losses from spays. This should not put you off. If she is well and you have a good vet then I would personally still be going for surgery. I've taken some of mine to surgery who are well past 5 or 6 year old and done fine.

Hope this helps a little.

 

[Cuddles With Cavies]

Okey thank you all. Ambers book in for next Wednesday to have an ultrasound firstly and then we’ll take it from there.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Fingers crossed for amber. I think my bumble was about 5 when she had her emergency spay and she recovered really well. She had the op through the flank rather than the tummy which minimises the risk of infection through walking through dirt etc. Personally I would have always gone through the op unless my vet recommended alternative treatments first. Living in pain until you can't take anymore is not a life and I would always go for quality over quantity. Sometimes we have to not consult parents as they just don't understand. My mum knows I would move heaven and earth for a better quality of life for my pigs and this has cost me hundreds of pounds. My dad on the other hand couldn't see why I just didn't leave them to die and buy another one as they are only £20. The bonus side for me was that I haven't lived with my folks for over a decade and have been well versed in ignoring my dad's opinions since I was a teenager

 

[Dill&Pepper]

I’ve not got such a positive anecdote, I had a sow spayed for large ovarian cysts 5 years ago and lost her a month later when her kidneys and liver failed as a side effect of the op. However, this is unusual - I spoke to my current exotic specialist about spaying, they do approximately one a month so about 30 in total since she’s been there. Of these, they’ve lost a couple to gut stasis but the rest were successful.

I would hesitate about a routine spay, but for a medical reason I think it’s the right choice. In the month between my girl’s op and when the new symptoms started she was noticeably happier and more comfortable than she’d been with the cysts.