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To spay or not to spay

Black piggies

Black piggies

Senior Guinea Pig
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Lightning, 3.5 year old sow, met vet Simon Maddock yesterday for the first time. She has noticeable lumps on her sides. These are apparently fluid filled ovarian cysts. They don't seem overly hormonal, to be confirmed.
She has a long standing problem with fatty lumps, and has new small lumps on her tummy.
Simon said a spay would be easier while the cysts are this size but there is a risk with spaying. My gut feeling is that she seems to get things wrong with her and better be spayed the age she is than later, but I don't know.
Where she had a lump removed and the fur hasn't grown back, he's trying mite treatment and if that doesn't work, then things may be more hormonal looking. Nipples aren't crusty.

Any thoughts on having the spay? He seemed to see it as an owner decision at the moment.
 
Every decision is the owners decision, you just have to weigh up the pros and cons, which is what you are doing. Having her spayed now will be easier than a couple of years down the line, when recovering from anaesthetic may be harder for her. I have had one older sow operated on (bladder stones) and whilst she did recovered from the op, she didn’t thrive and slowly lost weight. This was many years ago and guinea pig vets have moved on in leaps and bounds since then, thank goodness! I hope someone with experience of speying can help you with deciding what’s best for your girl.
 
KathT said:
Every decision is the owners decision, you just have to weigh up the pros and cons, which is what you are doing. Having her spayed now will be easier than a couple of years down the line, when recovering from anaesthetic may be harder for her. I have had one older sow operated on (bladder stones) and whilst she did recovered from the op, she didn’t thrive and slowly lost weight. This was many years ago and guinea pig vets have moved on in leaps and bounds since then, thank goodness! I hope someone with experience of speying can help you with deciding what’s best for your girl.
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She does always seem so hapless that I can imagine her needing the op at some point and better now. Thanks for sharing your experience.
 
KathT said:
Every decision is the owners decision, you just have to weigh up the pros and cons, which is what you are doing. Having her spayed now will be easier than a couple of years down the line, when recovering from anaesthetic may be harder for her. I have had one older sow operated on (bladder stones) and whilst she did recovered from the op, she didn’t thrive and slowly lost weight. This was many years ago and guinea pig vets have moved on in leaps and bounds since then, thank goodness! I hope someone with experience of speying can help you with deciding what’s best for your girl.
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Sorry about your older sow.
 
Black piggies said:
Lightning, 3.5 year old sow, met vet Simon Maddock yesterday for the first time. She has noticeable lumps on her sides. These are apparently fluid filled ovarian cysts. They don't seem overly hormonal, to be confirmed.
She has a long standing problem with fatty lumps, and has new small lumps on her tummy.
Simon said a spay would be easier while the cysts are this size but there is a risk with spaying. My gut feeling is that she seems to get things wrong with her and better be spayed the age she is than later, but I don't know.
Where she had a lump removed and the fur hasn't grown back, he's trying mite treatment and if that doesn't work, then things may be more hormonal looking. Nipples aren't crusty.

Any thoughts on having the spay? He seemed to see it as an owner decision at the moment.
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My Heini died a year ago at the age Lightning is now when a not too large fluid-filled ovarian cyst unexpectedly burst that Simon hadn't been too concerned about, and while I had other sows in the non-emergency operation waiting line whose cysts were of more immediate concern. It is one of the things I will always rue, even though I was (and am) still going through my spaying op list of sows in the order of urgency and whenever I have the spare funds for another one.
It is however the first time this has happened to me out of around 50 sows I have had/am currently having. I have so far not lost any sow (and many of them older with either cancerous or large non-hormonal cysts) that have been spayed by Simon despite pretty much all of them either being older or on the frail side.
My currently 3 1/2 year old Hapus is booked in for her spaying op at the start of March as the one next in line since she has definitely got disruptive hormonal issues.

However, at this stage it is entirely up to you; it often comes down to a weighing up of factors if it is not an emergency operation.
The cysts can stay like they are for a goodly while/the rest of the life or they can suddenly start blowing up rather quickly (which happened to Iola and Mererid, who both needed an emergency spay aged 5). There is always the risk, if not a very huge one, that a cyst could burst. And the risk (as with any op) that your piggy may not make for some reason or other.
I am not having all my sows spayed, but I am certainly keeping a closer eye on any that are at particular risk and am going to be more proactive in the wake of losing Heini.

At this stage you have the leisure to think things through. A propensity for harmless fatty lumps is a genetic issue and no concern for any operation.
 
Oh poor Heini, that would have been unexpected and very upsetting. Well that's made my mind up thanks!

Can I ask how you knew what happened to her?

Reassuring about the fatty lumps.
 
Black piggies said:
Oh poor Heini, that would have been unexpected and very upsetting. Well that's made my mind up thanks!

Can I ask how you knew what happened to her?

Reassuring about the fatty lumps.
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Heini's whole reproductive tract did swell up really badly very quickly; the odds were on an ovarian cyst rather than pyrometra (infection of the womb lining), which is generally not as quick and causes more symptoms of not feeling well earlier on, which was definitely not the case.

Simon is a vet who very much prefers spaying (and he is a very good operating vet indeed); but if you are worried about an operation risk, you have two alternative (but not necessarily cheaper options):
- hormone (chorulon) injections, which work better for hormonal cysts but can also reduce an non-hormonal cyst
- draining, which Simon prefers to do under sedation with ultrasound. this method is not permanent although it usually last for a good number of months.

Here is more information on ovarian cysts and your options: Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
 
Gosh they really are complex. Many thanks, helped me decide.

With needing to book annual leave/childcare to see Simon, I'll opt for a planned spay sooner than later.
 
My sow was spayed by simon age 3 In may last year . she had a cervical mass. so he did the full spay. She sailed through and ate straight after the anasthetic had worn off.
 
Been reading about the lump you said on the side, Dot had one small lump on her left side aswell, it was gone after the op, makes me wonder if it was the same as your sow
 
That great Dot woke from the op her usual self! Maybe she had the same type of lump as Lightning.

Is the op covered by insurance? If not, any rough idea on cost?
 
About £200 give or take £10, but you might need to purchase some painkiller aswell. and you get a post op check up a week later included in the price. I already had painkiller at home for Dot.

So if or when you book for it, you will need to be able to make it in a week's time after for a checkup 👍.

I don't know is insurance covers it, I don't have it though
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
About £200 give or take £10, but you might need to purchase some painkiller aswell. and you get a post op check up a week later included in the price. I already had painkiller at home for Dot.

So if or when you book for it, you will need to be able to make it in a week's time after for a checkup 👍.

I don't know is insurance covers it, I don't have it though
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That's a good price. Local medivet tried to charge me £700 for Lightning's lump removal and I got them down to about £500. Maybe time to look for a new local vet!
 
If you give the practice a ring, they will give you an idea of price for a spay. Simon is such an amazing surgeon, the piggies recover from surgery so quickly. If we could afford to do it, I would get all the sows spayed before rehoming, but unfortunately it would be too costly for the charity. We do get all boars neutered before rehoming though!
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
If you give the practice a ring, they will give you an idea of price for a spay. Simon is such an amazing surgeon, the piggies recover from surgery so quickly. If we could afford to do it, I would get all the sows spayed before rehoming, but unfortunately it would be too costly for the charity. We do get all boars neutered before rehoming though!
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Yes he told me his success rates of late and very reassuring. It's great you get the boys done.
 
Honestly with a good operating vet I would spay! I'm fully considering keyhole spaying all sows under the age of 3 when finances allow just because these ovaries and hormones can be a nightmare! 2 out of 4 of mine are already spayed for hormonal dramas! 1 via full spay 1 via keyhole ovariectomy, one can't be spayed as she's too old and has a tumour stuck to everything but as I have a good vet I'm considering getting little marshmallow done when finances allow! 😊
Best of luck and healing wheeks whatever you decide! 😁
 
Black piggies said:
That's a good price. Local medivet tried to charge me £700 for Lightning's lump removal and I got them down to about £500. Maybe time to look for a new local vet!
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To me that shows lack of skill in the vet themselfes and a rip off lol, sod that, unless half that price is them wanting to to keep the Guinea pig in for a few days
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
To me that shows lack of skill in the vet themselfes and a rip off lol, sod that, unless half that price is them wanting to to keep the Guinea pig in for a few days
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Yikes that is expensive! I think my spays cost around the £100 mark and that included metacam and as many post ops as they needed 😊
 
I have to say, I wouldn't want to get a pig spayed again, even though dot came through fine, it was scary. I'm sticking with boars from now on.. I do get nervous though so that's probably why
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
I have to say, I wouldn't want to get a pig spayed again, even though dot came through fine, it was scary. I'm sticking with boars from now on.. I do get nervous though so that's probably why
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I worry too 😊 I wouldn't get a full spay again but I wouldn't hesitate with the keyhole one it's much less invasive 😁
 
Thanks this is all helping confirm my gut feeling to get it done.
Can't believe how much I think I've been paying my local vet versus prices others pay :yikes:
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
I have to say, I wouldn't want to get a pig spayed again, even though dot came through fine, it was scary. I'm sticking with boars from now on.. I do get nervous though so that's probably why
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I had my boar neutered and Lightning just had lump op. Always scary but hopefully usually all ok.
 
Black piggies said:
Thanks this is all helping confirm my gut feeling to get it done.
Can't believe how much I think I've been paying my local vet versus prices others pay :yikes:
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I focus on the vet themselves rather than the cost 😊 my vets aren't the cheapest for everything there's other local vets much cheaper for some things but I wouldn't trust anyone else 😂
 
But with the cat and rabbit care clinic being one of the best in the UK, ( and I'd say this whether I lived round the corner to it or not) I don't see how anywhere else has the rights to charge loads more than they do. Say £50 fair enough... But hundreds 🤔
 
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