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Vet Advice?

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 27, 2016
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Location
Lincolnshire UK
I'm currently in a dilemma of which vet to go to, to have my sow spayed (ovarian cysts). I've had one of my other sows spayed by Simon Maddock and everything went well with her, but the journey there and back was horrible and I really don't want to do it again, he's 2 hours away.

I use my local vet who are 10 minutes away, 2 of my past sows went there for surgery, one was for dental and the other was for removal of a mammary tumour, sadly neither of them survived, this caused a lot of anxiety for me using them for anything that requires anaesthesia, however this was years ago and both of the sows were seniors with heart problems. I was scared of this happening again so I went to Simon for the spay.

Yesterday a family member took her 2 year old boar to our regular vet for dental surgery and everything went great with him, so I feel like my distrust in them is perhaps unjustified and they are capable of Guinea Pig surgery. No matter which vet I go to it will still be risky, but I wonder if something was to happen, it could happen with either vet, right? My sow is only 1.4 years old so young and she's healthy in every other way.

I'm not sure what to do. Can anyone recommend a good piggy vet closer to me perhaps?
 
From the Vet Locator:

Animates
Sarah Pellett
2 The Green

Thurlby, Bourne PE10 0EB
01778 420462
www.animates.org.uk/

is the closest to Lincolnshire.

I would always go to Simon whenever I had the opportunity. He's an hour away from me. If the journey is hard could you set off early and have a break in the middle at a service station?
 
Well I have a similar issue but I didn't lose a piggy under a vets care, however I go to my local vet for smaller issues but go to Simon for dental and if required operation. Best of both worlds. I know when I took Captain Jack what they were doing was correct so that puts my mind at rest because I come here for pre-advice/advice. But I would go to Simon for the harder things. It's a 1.5hrs drive for me one way too and usually a whole day off work.
 
are you sure you don't want to go again to the goddess of Simon? I would go there even from Rome if it would be possible...
By the way, when my daughter needed cares and surgeries for a delicate issue I also preferred to drive 1 hour each way (sometimes 2 due to traffic jam) for reaching a certain hospital situated very far from home, although another good children hospital was nearer. And I needed to go there quite often. But I felt safe there...
My advice for you is selecting a vet who can give you serenity that day, because spaying is a major procedure...
 
I would always go to Simon for a spay. He has spayed 2 of mine, well 3 but Sophie was spayed whilst in rescue.
 
I share with you an advice received by my daughters' specialist doctors when it was time to choose a surgeon for her issue: the advice was: "go to the surgeon who does the greatest number of this kind of procedures in a whole year". And this was what I did (and everything went well). At the hospital I was the only one from Rome, there were also children from abroad (and one from UK)... The distance in certain situations is the least of any concern.
 
I definitely would prefer Simon, but I don't drive so I'm relying on other people for travel, it's hard to find someone that is willing to stay in Northampton for the whole day from 5am-7pm no matter how much I pay them! Does anyone know if Simon can do surgeries on the weekend? My brother would likely drive but he works all week, I'm a bit limited for travel options hence my dilemma.
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
I definitely would prefer Simon, but I don't drive so I'm relying on other people for travel, it's hard to find someone that is willing to stay in Northampton for the whole day from 5am-7pm no matter how much I pay them! Does anyone know if Simon can do surgeries on the weekend? My brother would likely drive but he works all week, I'm a bit limited for travel options hence my dilemma.
Click to expand...
I don't think Simon works at the weekend unfortunately x
 
Simon works on alternate Saturdays but he only does consultations and not ops. If you wanted him to operate on your piggy, I would be more than happy for her to stay with me after her op, and you could then pick her up at a time to suit, a day or two later. That would mean you didn't have to hang around in Northampton all day and she wouldn't have to travel home on the same day as her op.
 
That's a wonderful offer from TEAs @CavyConnoisseur :) You should definitely take her up on her kind offer. I have had a sow spayed by Sarah Pellett at Animates too, with no problems, but Simon would always be my first choice if possible :)
 
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