General Is neutering fair for this piggie? And a rant.

[MrsSuzy]

So I began the quest to find Lola a lovely neutered husband. I've seen (on the internet) a few neutered boys available at specialist piggie rescues relatively close to me and thinking of piggy dating . But something has put a spin in the works and I'm facing a dilemma.

My local generic rescue centre, where I volunteer and where I got Lola from, has a new lovely boy in (piggies are rare there). His name is Barney and he's a lonely 4 year old boy with a droopy eye (which might be just age but probably should be checked). Unfortunately he's not neutered so I can't piggy date him with Lola. But I have fallen in love with him. I have to say I'm also a bit concerned he might be overlooked because he's an older boy. He's such a sweetie, comes to you when you call his name. I know the centre will consider neuter him if I decide to adopt him but, and this is my moral dilemma, should I subject this little piggie to a surgical operation? I know risks might be rare but there ARE risks and I just wouldn't forgive myself if something happened because of me. On the other hand I just feel so sad from thinking he won't find a loving home. The rescue centre is great but they are a generic centre and whilst care is good it's not a piggie expertise centre.

I also know that I won't be able to adopt every single piggie the centre takes in that is lonely, or is a bit older or has a condition. So whilst I could take Barney and neuter him there might be another Barney in the future I can't. I just get so emotional and wish I could do so much more .

Sorry about the rant, I'm just having a rough time with this. I'll leave with a photo of Barney because he is a cutie and we love pigtures.

 

[jessieisabel]

I think one major factor is the current health of Barney, could you get him checked out first and see if there's any health issues going on?

 

[abyssinianpiggy]

He is soo cute! You should definitely adopt him. You can either neuter him or you can spay Lola, if you are afraid something will happen to him.

 

[couchon]

Aren't droopy eyes like that often an indication of a heart issue? If he is a heart pig, putting him under is a lot more dangerous than for a regular pig.

As for spaying, it's a pretty risky procedure (very invasive), although I guess a lot of females will have to have it, due to ovarian cysts.

Personally, I wouldn't go through surgery with a pig except for a medical necessity (cysts, etc.). BUT, if you do decide to do it, make sure you have a TOP piggy vet and rule out any heart issues first.

 

[MrsSuzy]

Thanks everyone for your support

@jessieisabel They get to see a vet at the rescue centre but I am unsure how cavy savvy this vet is, to be honest. If I decided to go with neutering, I would probably adopt him as he is and take him to my regular cavy vet. But the decision/ adoption would be made then.

@abyssinianpiggyI know spaying is far more riskier that neutering so my dilemma would still apply

@couchon Yes, I know droopy eyes can be a sign of heart disease, which makes me more wary of putting him under. Like I said, I wouldn't forgive myself. Can a vet identify if the droopy eyes are a sign of heart problems?

 

[couchon]

I don't think you can identify it by the eyes alone, but you can do an x-ray to check for an enlarged heart, although, according to my vet, the most accurate measure is to actually do an EEG to measure if the heart is working properly. I think you should definitely find a very experienced exotics vet and not let the rescue or their vet handle any aspec of it.

 

[Brandi0509]

My pig started having the same droopy eye issue last week. I took her to the vet and the vet couldn't find any reason for it. She went ahead and gave me eye drops to give her and it cleared it up within a day! Maybe his condition is as simple as that.

 

[couchon]

@Brandi0509, did your vet do an x-ray or an EEG?

I am sure the eyes don't mean that 100% of the time, but there is a strong correlation.

 

[bpatters]

I actually think it's pea eye which is more often a sign of heart disease than just drooping eyes. And the association is mostly anecdotal (reported by owners rather than by diagnosis by veterinarians).

That doesn't look like pea eye to me at this point, although I suppose it might progress on to that.

 

[couchon]

@bpatters, just for my own future reference, what's the difference between this and pea eye? I saw someone with a heart pig, and it looked the same to me. I would love to be able to know how to tell the difference!

 

[bpatters]

Pea eye is a fatty protrusion from the eye. It can push the eyelid out so that it looks droopy, but there's usually a pea -- a glob of fatty tissue that is visible.

Droopy lids are just droopy lids without the protrusion.

 

[couchon]

Maybe I am reading too much into the picture, but I can see how there could be some fatty tissue there - I am not sure it's just a droopy eyelid. I may be wrong, but I think it's worth checking out....

 

[pinky]

Looks like it could be a prolapsed lid. One of my guinea pigs had one and I took her to the vet as soon as I noticed it. The vet worked it back but it popped back out again. I continued using the eye drops he gave me and it went away in a couple of days. As far as neutering, I wouldn't neuter a 4 year old male. Spaying is more invasive, but there are benefits to the female at least.

 

[Agrimony]

That'd be great if you could post a picture @(broken link removed)! I did not know that droopy or fatty eyes could be correlated to heart disease. I have a boy with droopy eyes, but I don't think id's say they are fatty. I'm worried a bit now though. He is genetically I'm sure at risk as he is very, very inbred.

 

[bpatters]

Let me say again, the correlation between pea eye and heart disease is only anecdotal -- meaning that owners have reported having their pea-eye pigs diagnosed with heart disease, not that scientific studies have shown the two to be correlated. Certainly not every pig with pea eye has it, nor does every heart patient have pea eye. But the two crop up often enough together that it's worth an x-ray to see if the heart is enlarged if a pig has pea-eye. In my opinion, anyway.

 

[Hhbean]

I have had 4 boars neutered and went through the same worries, is this the best choice for him? Our Sheldon was an older piggy and I had the most concern about him. He was over 4 years old and wasn't happy. Then afterwards him and Butters had a rough introduction. Today he is a happy pig living with Butters and Diamond!

I would see if the adoption center would let your vet do an exam before adoption and take it from there. Maybe this little guy was in the right place and the right time because he was meant to be with you and Lola?!

 

[MochaAndMoo]

It looks like pea eye (Or cherry eye, basically the same thing), I have a pig with pea eye, if it doesn't effect his ability to see there shouldn't be a reason to get it removed. Pea eye hasn't actually been proven to be a sign of heart disease, there have just been reports of it.

He looks like he has cherry eye, pea eye is a more milky white colour.

 

[MochaAndMoo]

You mention having it removed? Do you know a vet who actually does this?

After having spoken with three cavy-savvy vets, all of them declined to even consider removing it. I had heard reports of people having it removed via laser, but apparently that is a costly procedure which none of these vets perform.

So, I guess the bottom line is why have the cavy go through such an expensive procedure when the pea eye doesn't bother her at all? Apparently, I'm the only one it bothers. hmy:

My vet personally said that she wouldn't remove it, because it's not causing Meeka any discomfort she said it wouldn't be necessary.
The only information I know about the actual surgery is they somehow use a laser-removal technique, but I would imagine that very few vet clinics have the equipment to go ahead with such a thing.

But you are right, I wouldn't want to put my pig under the stress of an expensive surgery if it wasn't needed.
And also, you mention that you're Maya was given to you because they couldn't show a pig with pea-eye, the same thing happened with Meeka, she was breed to be a show pig and when she developed Pea-Eye she was no longer wanted.

 

[pinky]

I don't know if a prolapsed lid is the same as pea eye but when Crab Cake was seen by the vets (I took her to two vets so I could get a second opinion) the second one said they would never recommend surgically repairing something that small. In her case, he felt it was probably due to an injury. Since she wasn't born with it, I'm guessing it probably wasn't pea eye. He thought she might have scratched it when she was grooming herself. Both vets worked on it, trying to massage it back into place. She had appointments two days in a row. I don't know if that corrected it or if it would have corrected itself but she's never had a repeat of it.

 

[YourSoJelly]

It looks like pea eye (Or cherry eye, basically the same thing), I have a pig with pea eye, if it doesn't effect his ability to see there shouldn't be a reason to get it removed. Pea eye hasn't actually been proven to be a sign of heart disease, there have just been reports of it.
View attachment 49331
He looks like he has cherry eye, pea eye is a more milky white colour.

:O Meeka is not a he! Meeka is a very chunky female!

I would go for it. He is just so cute! I love his fur color, and the droopy eye really contributes to his charm!