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What To Do About Kevin

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lauraloveskev

lauraloveskev

Junior Guinea Pig
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Derbyshire
Hello, my first post on the forum so hope I've posted in the correct place.
I'm in a dilemma and looking for advice and/or other owners experience to help me decide what to do for the best.
I had 2 delightful boys living happily together for over a year then bang! Horrible fall out and trip to the vets with one of them for stitches to a very nasty cut mouth. Tried to re bond them 4 times with no luck at all so had to separate them permanently. They lived very happily side by side chatting away while I tried to decided what to do for the best.
Several months later I took on 2 bonded girls from a friend who could no longer take care of them. Perfect I thought...I'll get the boys "done" and try bonding one with the girls and get a new lady for the other boy. Unfortunately although Trevor had a pre op check (I was in knots about putting them through this) and given the all clear things didn't go well. It appears he had kidney stones we knew nothing about and showed no symptoms at all. He went down hill post op very quickly :soz: resulting in him being admitted back at the vets on Sunday evening. By Monday he was in such pain we had to have him pts...I'm heartbroken.
As you can understand I am now not keen to take Kevin to be "done". I know it's probably silly and if he's fit and healthy he should be fine but I just can't go through that again. So what do I do?
Can a boar be bonded with another boar if ladies are in the same area? Or will their flirting from across the room mean the boys will inevitably end up fighting? Are my only options to either have Kevin neutered or leave Kevin on his own. Neither of those options make me happy to be honest! Kevin shows no interest in the girls by the way...Trevor was the one who "loved" them from across the room!
Sorry for the long post but any advice would be gratefully received.
 
I'm so sorry to hear about Trevor.

I can understand why you have reservations about getting Kev neutered. However , I have recently adopted a neutered boar and can highly recommend having a neutered boar with sows.
 
Unfortunately having a pair of boys near females will cause fighting as they compete and try to escape to mate with the sows :( but if you do get your boy done I'm sure he would love two wifepigs! Alternatively if you have the space you could find him another boar buddy and just keep them in separate rooms always handling the boys first so you don't carry any sow scent over to them. Your girls are already bonded so this will suit them just fine as they are happy together
 
Ah I guessed as much. Thank you for confirming that Keiko. Hmm I need to decided then about neutering Kevin...not an easy thing for me after my experience with poor Trevor :(
 
lauraloveskev said:
Hello, my first post on the forum so hope I've posted in the correct place.
I'm in a dilemma and looking for advice and/or other owners experience to help me decide what to do for the best.
I had 2 delightful boys living happily together for over a year then bang! Horrible fall out and trip to the vets with one of them for stitches to a very nasty cut mouth. Tried to re bond them 4 times with no luck at all so had to separate them permanently. They lived very happily side by side chatting away while I tried to decided what to do for the best.
Several months later I took on 2 bonded girls from a friend who could no longer take care of them. Perfect I thought...I'll get the boys "done" and try bonding one with the girls and get a new lady for the other boy. Unfortunately although Trevor had a pre op check (I was in knots about putting them through this) and given the all clear things didn't go well. It appears he had kidney stones we knew nothing about and showed no symptoms at all. He went down hill post op very quickly :soz: resulting in him being admitted back at the vets on Sunday evening. By Monday he was in such pain we had to have him pts...I'm heartbroken.
As you can understand I am now not keen to take Kevin to be "done". I know it's probably silly and if he's fit and healthy he should be fine but I just can't go through that again. So what do I do?
Can a boar be bonded with another boar if ladies are in the same area? Or will their flirting from across the room mean the boys will inevitably end up fighting? Are my only options to either have Kevin neutered or leave Kevin on his own. Neither of those options make me happy to be honest! Kevin shows no interest in the girls by the way...Trevor was the one who "loved" them from across the room!
Sorry for the long post but any advice would be gratefully received.
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I am very sorry for your loss! It is very upsetting if you discover that a guinea pig has an underlying issue only when it is too.:(
I can understand why you are not keen on having Kevin neutered under the circumstances. You are welcome to post a tribute to Trevor in our Rainbow Bridge section if or whenever it feels right for you.

There are some good standard specialist guinea pig rescues that offer boar dating at the rescue.
Depending on where you are in your county and what is available, these rescues should be within your reach:
- Wheek and Squeak is operating from the wider Southampton area,
- Palace Piggie Rescue is located in Crawley (they have oodles of babies from a large rescue coming up to rehoming age).
- Jenny Dorney has just moved from Crawley to the Worthing area, and has/is reopening her rescue there. She also has a number of boars from the large Bracknell rescue which should be adoptable any time now. Her new rescue is called Worthing Guinea Pig Rescue (former Crawley Guinea Pig Rescue). Log in to Facebook | Facebook
Guinea Pig Rescue Centre Locator
 
lauraloveskev said:
Thank you for the info Wiebke :) I know of Wheek and Squeak, they aren't too far from me but didn't know of the others. :) I'll do a bit of research.
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These are the rescues that we can guarantee for on standards and knowledge. Please be aware that - like breeders - anybody can call themselves a "rescue" and the results can be extremely variable as there is no licensing or anything in place. That is the reason why we have started our rescue locator to make sure that our forum members wanting to go rescue have a safe experience. All of our rescues practise a mandatory quarantine and pregnancy watch, are safe hands at sexing and will rehome only healthy piggies. Any rescue born babies need to be a good weight to be sturdy enough to cope with the big change in their life. ;)
 
I'm sorry to hear about Trevor. I haven't had any bad experience of neutering (yet ) but am keeping my eye on all these threads as i recently lost Stan which left lone un neutered Benson. I paired him with baby boar mike but am thinking of getting mike neutered at some point and then when benson passes, mike can live with sows.

clever thread title btw - it's an excellent book (we need to talk about Kevin) nothing to do with pigs but an excellent read just the same!

I hope whatever you decide to do, it goes well X
 
Thank you tablemabel. I honestly have no idea what to do at the moment but will read up on things again and try to come to a conclusion. Have to say neutering isn't something I'm going to rush into with Kevin...such a difficult dilemma. x
 
I'm so sorry about Trevor. And I understand your caution with Kevin. You've really been through it already :no:. I'm sure you will make the right decision for him as you clearly have his very best interests at heart. Look forward to hearing more in time.
 
lauraloveskev said:
Thank you tablemabel. I honestly have no idea what to do at the moment but will read up on things again and try to come to a conclusion. Have to say neutering isn't something I'm going to rush into with Kevin...such a difficult dilemma. x
Click to expand...

I would recommend to ring up rescues within your reach (it may take a bit of time, as most are small and entirely volunteer run) and see what they have got in terms of boars and whether they do residential/full boar dating or quick dating. The first will enable the rescue to bond boars of all ages resulting in a bond that is as stable as a sow bond, provided the boars like each other, but it is very time consuming, so not every rescue can offer it.

This may also inform your ultimate choices, as does the circumstance whether you have got a vet that is well practised with either guinea pig neutered or experienced with small furries ops and that you trust.

Until you make a decision, you can keep Kevin as a next door neighbour to the girls for company and stimulation.
 
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