Australia Is desexing a guinea pig dangerous?

Guinea pigs can be spayed or neutered (I've got two spayed females, and one neutered male), but the success of the operation is really dependent on the vet. A vet with no experience with guinea pigs is a dangerous place to take a guinea pig to be spayed or neutered.

I am very apprenhensive abut operations especially when it is not essential for the health of a piggy. Even then I am only happy if its a knowlegable vet.

Is it possible for you to get two more? one each of the seex to put with the existing tow? This is probably not possible for you in terms of space and possible vet bills etc but is something to think about.

If you are confident in your vet then by all means get him 'done' as it is a shame to have piggies on their own. I will just point out that it is not 100% guaranteed they'll get on, most likely will but nonetheless.

Hope this helps in some way and doesn't confuse matters further!

You can read up on the issues and procedures on this page: www.cavyspirit.com/neutering.htm

thanks for everyone's help.

I've thought about getting another 2 to accompany with them too but really restrainted by the place I am living now. May be I would do that later as I am moving soon.

Again thanks for everyone.

If you need vet recommendations I know a few excellent vets in Brisbane. Where abouts are you?

Also the Australian Cavy Sanctuary has adoptions if you were looking.

I don't know if I can put the link in here, but you can google it.

kathrynj said:

If you need vet recommendations I know a few excellent vets in Brisbane. Where abouts are you?

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I live in Eight Mile Plains. Can you recommend any good vets in or around this area? Thanks a lot for your help.

I have 2 girls and 1 male. The girls fight over the male.... Is this normal? Will they stop it if I desex him and spay them????

shermn said:

I have 2 girls and 1 male. The girls fight over the male.... Is this normal? Will they stop it if I desex him and spay them????

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You are aware that males and females placed together will breed right? It is a really bad idea to have them together. Separate them immediately! The damage is probably already done but there is always a chance they are not pregnant yet.

here is a link higher up in this thread about neutering GPs. I recommend you read it and get your male neutered as soon as possible.

Don't panic, I know that they would breed so I have ALWAYS kept them sepperate. lol.
I'm not that silly :crazy:
They have sniffed each other, and thats about it...

O.K...
I'll explain what happened.
Brego and Marilyn, their hutches were side by side outside, so they formed a bond..
Then I bought Maxine home, and I did the proper introduction between Marilyn & Maxine (in a large, neutral ground area etc etc) and they were fine together.
But then I put them both outside into Marilyn's hutch (freshly cleaned), & Maxine was sniffing Brego through the bars of the hutches and Brego was sniffing her, & it was like Marilyn was jealous & she was putting herself between the two so they couldnt smell each other. & then she started attacking Maxine.
The two girls haven't been housed together since.
Maxine wants the love and the attention from Marilyn, but Marilyn attacks her if she gets anywhere near her...
I have tried introducing them a few times. Each time Marilyn stays away from Maxine, but if Maxine comes too close, Marilyn attacks her...

But I have not housed either of the girls with the boy. The two girls are both way too young for breeding anyway...
ALL 3 of my pigs are housed alone :sad:

Bonmy,
If you do have a good vet, and you're certain you can't adopt two more pigs, I would recommend getting your male neutered. The chances of something going wrong with a cavy savvy vet are slim, and it is very important for pigs to live with one another. I recently had my boar neutered and he was home within five hours or so, and has been fine since. The vet I went to specializes in guinea pigs, and he does neutering almost weekly. Start by doing some research if you don't already know of a good vet.

If you go to post #6 on this thread - https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/introductions/27515-hi-i-need-piggie-name.html#post299836 - it is a story of how my friends pig died during getting desexed.

Given the quality of care you describe of your guinea pig and rabbits in your other thread, I have to doubt that your friend's guinea pig had proper post-surgical care.

Jennicat said:

I have to doubt that your friend's guinea pig had proper post-surgical care.

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My friend went to a cavy specialist. It just happened to be unlucky. And how can you judge my friend by the way I keep my pigs. If you re-read my thread you would know that I have found an old cage that is currently housing my pigs.

"Something got inside him and got infected" sounded very much like infection set into the wound at the surgical site. Being in a toweled cage which was changed daily, along with antibiotics would definitely help prevent that, but it's extremely unusual, regardless, for a pig to get an infection from a neuter wound and die with pallative care such as handfeeding, antibiotics, and vet intervention.

Though my pig had a fairly difficult neuter with several abscesses, due to timely vet intervention during the post-surgical period, along with handfeeding. An infection would have to be very serious for a pig to die of it, and it's unusual for them to develop such an infection with preventative measures.

The guinea pigs we've lost to neuters all had problems with herniation (though we have saved many of those with followup care) and issues with anesthetic.

This is me saying it not my friend. He told me about it about 2 years ago. I am not sure if they are the exact words and how am I meant to know what treatment the pig got. All I know is that a bug or something got inside the operation place and got inside the pig. Maybe the docter didn't reseal the wound right. I don't know.

Then that sounds more like a vet error than proof that the operation is dangerous.

Jennicat said:

Then that sounds more like a vet error than proof that the operation is dangerous.

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It just proves even if the operation set up is perfect there is not a 100% chance your pig will live.

sticky dude said:

It just proves even if the operation set up is perfect there is not a 100% chance your pig will live.

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In order to prove that, the operation would have to have been done perfectly. You said the vet didn't seal the wound correctly. I don't see how a botched operation proves that an operation is unsafe. It does, however, prove the importance of seeking a competent vet who knows what they're doing and is not just a "cavy specialist" in name.