General Spaying+Vet Experience

Katie Vetter · Aug 25, 2015

Hey guys! A few of you may have seen my post a few days ago about the hairloss on my guinea pig Caddy. I am now quite certain that this is due to ovarian cysts. After lots of research I shot both of my vets an email explaining what was wrong and askng some questions, and quickly received a reply from one of them. I don't use this vet as often, but more because they're farther away. Both vets are competent in guinea pigs for this area. Anyway, I was wondering what you guys think? I am fairly sure the other vets reply would be similar, if not identical.

"Hi Katie,

This is Dr. (Such and such) at (such and such) Animal Hospital. I am the vet on staff that sees exotics. I have never spayed a guinea pig, however, I am willing help your sow. My exotic mentor at WSU had about 70% survival rate which is about average. G.P. are hind gut fermentors similar to a horse. Because of this they are very prone to Gastrointestinal stasis and bacterial overgrowth which leads to sepsis and death two weeks later. Some things we can try to prevent this is no fasting, pushing food immediately after surgery and antibiotics. Our exotic spays (rabbits, rats, sugarglidders) cost about $250. Please let me know if I can help you."

It makes me nervous that she has never spayed a guinea pig, but more confident that she has spayed other exotics. What would your thinking be on this? She is a relatively new vet to the area, but is also the only one of the two vets that can x-ray a guinea pig, which would help with the diagnosis. On a side not, i also think that this is a fairly reasonable price? Compared to quotes that Ive seen on here anyways... anyway, Obviously, I can't just let Caddy suffer, so I would appreciate any advice on what to do. Thank you for any replies, I look forward to hearing your opinions!

Soecara · Aug 25, 2015

I would wait for the reply from the other vet and weigh up your options from there. I would certainly be very nervous about the first vet performing the surgery but the second vet may or may not be any better.

bpatters · Aug 25, 2015

Ditto @Soecara. I'd wait to hear from the second vet.

The fact that the first vet has an x-ray really doesn't count for much when considering surgery for cysts -- x-ray isn't much help with those.

Katie Vetter · Aug 25, 2015

Thanks! I certainly hope I get a reply today, if not I will call. Unfortunately I just learned that the second vet just recently got married and is soon going on her honeymoon. The bummer about this is that she wouldn't be here of my girl needed to be done right away. With the xray, I was just thinking it would be helpful to make sure she has them, even though they don't always show up. And the second vets practice not being able to xray guinea pigs at all has me thinking that this vet may be a bit more cavy savy than the other. I don't know what I'll do yet. Until I know for sure what's going on I'll just monitor her weight carefully. So far there hasn't been a noticable change, but I'll keep an eye on her. Thank you!

CavyHouse · Aug 25, 2015

That 70% survival rate seems low to me,based on my experience.

Katie Vetter · Aug 25, 2015

@CavyHouse- I think she meant with complete recovery. But that brings up a great point. I'll be sure to ask about that as well. When I was browsing posts related to this though, I noticed a lot of vets said about a 50-60% survival rate, so I assumed 70% was good.

CavyHouse · Aug 25, 2015

I haven't kept track of our successes etc but I don't ever remember losing a guinea pig being spayed in our ten years of rescue. I would think WSU should have a good track record so perhaps I'm wrong.

bpatters · Aug 25, 2015

I think 70% is too low, if the surgery is done by a competent exotic vet. I don't remember more than a handful of sows dying during spay surgery, and all those had some other cause that was unknown before they operated.

Katie Vetter · Aug 25, 2015

True. Ugh this is hard. The next closest vet that will see guinea pigs is over 100 miles away from me, and I'm lucky my parents are even letting me pay for the surgery. They won't allow me to drive that far, and plus it would be stressful on her. Caddy has never done well with car rides, and at most those were just fifteen minutes or so. I can't imagine having over an hour to drive with shrieks coming from the carrier the entire time. These really are the only two options I have. The other vet didn't respond today, so I'll be calling first thing in the morning. As always, I'll keep you guys updated. Thank you.

Katie Vetter · Sep 28, 2015

Preparing for Surgery, and Post-Op. Care?

I take my precious bundle, Caddy, in Friday for a spay to remove her ovarian cysts. This isn't necessarily a medical thread, just an in-general, what-to-do. I'm very nervous, as it is a very risky surgery. However, I can tell that she has started declining and I can't let her suffer. On Friday, I'll be taking her in at 8 a.m. and then going to band practice, which will hopefully keep my mind off of what could be happening to her. So, in preparation for her recovery, I have come up with a few questions that I hope you all will be able to help me with.

Should I separate her from her cage mate after surgery?
If so, will simply grids be enough, or should it be a solid wall?
I know I should change out her fleece twice a day, but does it absolutely have to be white fleece?
I have a few extra store cages that my boys used to live in. Would it be a good idea to keep her in that (with fleece) to confine her movement?
I have critical care, should I feed this to her? How long after surgery should I wait?
About how long would it be until I can re-introduce her to her cage mate?
Are there certain foods I can give her to prep her for surgery? She's already lost about 100g over the past 3 weeks.
How can I keep her settled down as she heals?
Do I need to take her back in to have stitches taken out? Somehow, I don't see her sitting for that!
Should I expect a behavior change? I know that a spay doesn't affect pigs like it does dogs and cats, but would just the experience change her attitude? She's always been a shy girl, and is easily alarmed. I've made progress with her, and I hope it isn't reset!

Sorry for all the questions, I just am worried about her proper care... Can any of you share your spay experiences? I feel that would be helpful! Thank you in advance.

bpatters · Sep 28, 2015

Please don't make multiple threads on the same topic. It makes it too difficult to keep up with what's going on with your pigs. I've merged your threads.

See https://www.guinealynx.info/postop.html for care information.

She should definitely be separated so she can be quiet and not move any more than she wants to. If your cage is large enough, just divide it with grids. Make her side about a 1x2, and gradually increase the size as she feels better. Or put one of your smaller crates in the big cage so she's close to her cagemate(s).

It doesn't have to be white fleece. It just needs to be light enough in color for you to see if there's any frank bleeding.

If she eats normally, you won't need the critical care. But start offering it to her now on a spoon or on the side of a plate. If she'll eat it on her own (my pigs love it), it'll save you the effort of hand feeding.

They probably won't put external stitches in, but if they do, she doesn't get a say-so in whether they come out or not. You're a grown human, she's a small pig. You (and the vet) win, hands down.

The surgery probably won't change her personality.

Katie Vetter · Sep 28, 2015

I meant for it to be a separate thread because they were general questions, but oh well. Thank you for the advice, I'll put it to good use!

bunnyrose · Sep 30, 2015

Hi Katie I am a bunny person not a piggie one, but a post-spay vet told me to keep my girl separate, because she would be off-gassing anesthetic for some hours, and hence would smell not familiar to her friends. I think it was for 12 or 48 hours. Sorry I cant remember.

In general, I think you'd want her scars to form up and have a chance to set and be firm before you'd want to expose her to a possible squable
with a piggie friend. With a bunny I would allow 4 to 6 weeks of healing before I start a bonding process, but you arent bonding and she's not a bunny, so I think you just have two questions to ask your vet and the members of the piggie forum!

Best wishes for you both, truly.

ClemmyOddieIndy · Sep 30, 2015

Sorry if this has already been discussed (I just skimmed this post), but have you considered Lupron or HcG injections?

Katie Vetter · Oct 1, 2015

Thanks ClemmyOddieIndy, I did consider injections but based on how rapidly she is going downhill (I can now observe the lumps in her sides without even trying, and she's been losing weight) I decided it would be better to totally remove the problem. Also, at my vet, jist one appointment/exam is over $50. Not to speak of the medicine, which my vet said would be about the same price as the visit. In just three visits, it would be more costly than having her spayed. Money is really tight right now, and sure, of I believed the injections were better I would push for those, but as said above I believe they are not for her. Plus, guinea pigs are pretty prone to abcesses at injection sites, and I would hate for her to have to fight off anythong else. Thank you so much for asking though!

ClemmyOddieIndy · Oct 1, 2015

I've used Lupron and HcG on two different pigs (one had already been spayed but one ovary was left behind because it wasn't cystic at the time). I've never had an abscess at an injection site. It is expensive, but in my cases it was the best choice because I couldn't do surgeries again on the pigs. In both cases it was successfully used. Good luck with your spay. I was a nervous wreck when my Odette was spayed, but she woke right up and started eating.

Katie Vetter · Oct 3, 2015

Update: She made through surgery very well! After the vet brushed up on her knowledge of small animal spays and was fairly sure that I had diagnosed her correctly, she completed her first piggy spay in four years. That sounds really bad, but this was the most experienced vet I could find within the surrounding states, anduckily she was right here. Caddy has thirteen staples in her tummy, and will have them removed no later than fourteen days from now if everything goes well. She's to be drugged with pain killers for the next five days, and is on a two week course of antibiotics because the vet is afraid she might have aspirated something, even though she was without food for four hours, and she sounded wheezy when she woke up. She sounds fine now, but better safe than sorry! Fingers crossed for her complete recovery

bpatters · Oct 3, 2015

I'm glad she made it through ok. You might suggest to your vet that she do a little more reading -- most vets don't use staples on guinea pigs -- they suture underneath, and then glue the skin together.

Katie Vetter · Oct 7, 2015

Update: Caddy is doing great! A week into the healing process, and the incision is nice and clean, and looks almost sealed. Her stitches are scheduled to come out on Monday. She has perked up, and is eating more without me forcing her to. She's even popcorned a few times! I can't wait to introduce her back to her cage mate, especially as they will be moving into a slightly larger cage. Her last dose of pain medicine was this morning, and she doesn't even seem to feel it. I thought she would be chewing at herself more, especially as her fur grows back, but so far she has not-lucky for us! I'm so thankful she pulled through.

ClemmyOddieIndy · Oct 8, 2015

That's good to hear she's doing better.

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