What size / age before neutering?

[Briony_S]

Hi

Just wondering how old piggies need to be or what size before they are neutered. I am possibly going to have to get my two neutered if they don't get on after next weeks re-bonding session I am planning. I have heard they need to be 6 months is this right? I think george is only about 1 month off that but not sure about tiger. how heavy do they need to be also? george ai currently around 900gms and believe tiger to be about 740gms but would need to check that!

The thing I am worried about is that tiger may never be big enough as he seems to be a naturally skinny pig he is very long but also thinish! He does eat but not as much as george and it is through he own choice as gets fed same amount but isn't that interested

 

[alcesterpigs]

Please do not have your boars neutered. It has no effect on their behaviour. It makes them sterile, nothing else. Just think how you would feel if "anything went wrong"

 

[sccobyandfudgesmum]

I had my boy scooby neutered so he could live with his wife otherwise he would have had a lonely wifeee

My piggie was neutered at 4 months old, the age and price depend on the individual vets.

He was fine but i made sure i found a vet i trusted and had done loads of sucessfully neutering ops. They use a different gas making the animals they operate on come round quicker and have less things go wrong.

I did have a piggie die when gone in for neutering but he was a rescue and had had a dreadfull life his condition was not able to be dedected until he was under. Also he was at a different vets.

I went to Westway Vets for scoobys neutering and would trust them with all my animals

 

[alcesterpigs]

S. I would be interested to see if your sad experience reinforces my comments, especially since neutering has no effect on aggression levels?

 

[sccobyandfudgesmum]

S. I would be interested to see if your sad experience reinforces my comments, especially since neutering has no effect on aggression levels?

it made me warey about neutering but to stop scooby producing babies i felt i did the responsible thing by getting him neutered. it hasnt altered his personality or doing what piggies do best with the opposite sex but it has stopped him fathering any babies .

it is up to the individual wether they do this or not you cant tell people not too you can only give them advice and tell them of your personal experience

 

[sophiew (EAGPR)]

I think the problem is that a lot of vets very rarely have to neuter piggies - bunnies are more common (and I believe easier to do).

My vet is brilliant with cats and dogs but barely knows one end of a guinea from the other (especially with Perus ) and there is no way I would consider getting pigs neutered there. However, other vets are good at it and no probs. Some rescues (Wood Green, for example) neuter all of their boars, regardless of whether they are already living in pairs or not!

There's a risk with any op - all we can do is minimise the risk by asking questions of the vet and in particular, checking how many ops they have performed on guineas

Sophie
x

 

[nutmeg]

Briony, I know this isn't an easy or quick decision for you. As you know your vet really well now, I would expect you could trust his/her judgement as to the health of Tiger and George. Have a chat to your vet, as you can see different people have different experiences with vets but none can give you medical advice better than a trusted vet. Good luck whatever you choose. x

 

[Briony_S]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I am definately not going to jump into neutering lightly I just wanted to know what options I have. I am going to try the re-bonding first and fingers crossed as I don't want the expense or for them to go through anything unnessesary.

My vet said he had done 25 recently at his old practice and they all did well (it was a job lot from a rescue!). So at least I would know they are in safe hands.

Obvoiusly my ideal would be for my boys to be happy together so after the last treatment of mite stuff I am going to work hard at them forging a relationship again. I have bought enough sterilising stuff to do all their dishes and the cage etc.. and i have even bought them new toys and houses for the big day so there is no scent on them! I am also going to buy a new plastic sheet for under the play pen and new fleece for in it.

I have recently switched to megazorb so no worries about the vetbed holding any smell!

I really want this to work but I also want hope that there are other options if it doesn't.

If I did get them neutered and they still did not get on it would not all be in vain as I would then look into getting them a girl each!

 

[misspiggy64]

Smudgie was neutered last August when he was 6 months old but he is now having problems with abcesses where he was operated on.aparently these can occur upto a year after the op. I only had him done because he was sold to me as a female along with his sister.(we only found out he was a boy when he was 10 weeks old & started rumbling & trying to mount Coco.....luckily she didn't get pregnant...They hated being apart for a few months.