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Guinea pig spayed this morning, what to expect

Lazw

Lazw

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello all,

Just looking for advice really. I had my 3 year old sow Milly spayed this morning as she has had recurrent bouts of cystitis, abdominal pain, bleeding from her back end and so the vet (who is cavy savvy) recommended a spay.

Anyway, the vet rang a few hours ago to say the spay went to plan, she was stable under anaesthetic for the whole procedure and that she did actually have cysts on both ovaries plus some minor abnormalities in her uterus, so I feel better about putting her through this now as I was feeling very guilty when I dropped her off first thing.

I am due to collect her at 9pm this evening as they wanted to keep her in for a full day to monitor her. My question is, what should I expect when I collect her? What sort of aftercare will she need, she currently lives outside with her buddy bramble but they're both moving back indoors with us for a couple of days so I can keep a close eye on her. Will I need to wash her incisions? They're on her upper back. She is being sent home with a course of cotrimoxazole, and tramadol as she can't tolerate metacam.

Any advice appreciated! I'm so worried about her ❤️
 
Yes I'm no expert on spaying but I think any surgery wounds should be kept dry and allowed to scab and heal. Any sign of infection in the wounds (swollen, red, any discharge) or if she messes with her surgery site, please phone the vet asap. She should probably be kept on clean fleece or regularly changed towels for a few days with a bit more contained hay than usual so you can monitor her pee and poop output and any bleeding and so nothing can get stuck in her surgery areas. If she isnt eating fully by herself while she's recovering from the anaesthetic you should syringe feed her some recovery food or mushed up pellets every few hours to keep her guts working. Glad she came through her operation well, hopefully someone more experienced with spaying like Wiebke will be along soon with some advice!
 
Lazw said:
Hello all,

Just looking for advice really. I had my 3 year old sow Milly spayed this morning as she has had recurrent bouts of cystitis, abdominal pain, bleeding from her back end and so the vet (who is cavy savvy) recommended a spay.

Anyway, the vet rang a few hours ago to say the spay went to plan, she was stable under anaesthetic for the whole procedure and that she did actually have cysts on both ovaries plus some minor abnormalities in her uterus, so I feel better about putting her through this now as I was feeling very guilty when I dropped her off first thing.

I am due to collect her at 9pm this evening as they wanted to keep her in for a full day to monitor her. My question is, what should I expect when I collect her? What sort of aftercare will she need, she currently lives outside with her buddy bramble but they're both moving back indoors with us for a couple of days so I can keep a close eye on her. Will I need to wash her incisions? They're on her upper back. She is being sent home with a course of cotrimoxazole, and tramadol as she can't tolerate metacam.

Any advice appreciated! I'm so worried about her ❤
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Hi!

Please don't touch the operation scar! Operation techniques have moved on a lot since the Second World War.

Here is our post-op care guide, which tells you what to look out for and what you need to do in case there is a problem. Hopefully your girl will make a smooth recovery. Keep in mind that it is a major operation and that she will feel a bit rough for the first 2-4 days, but should still be eating. You control the food intake by weighing since you can monitor the 80% daily food intake of hay by eye.

Tips For Post-operative Care
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Please don't touch the operation scar! Operation techniques have moved on a lot since the Second World War.

Here is our post-op care guide, which tells you what to look out for and what you need to do in case there is a problem. Hopefully your girl will make a smooth recovery. Keep in mind that it is a major operation and that she will feel a bit rough for the first 2-4 days, but should still be eating. You control the food intake by weighing since you can monitor the 80% daily food intake of hay by eye.

Tips For Post-operative Care
Hot Weather Management, Heat Strokes and Fly Strike
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Thank you I will look at those now!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Yes I'm no expert on spaying but I think any surgery wounds should be kept dry and allowed to scab and heal. Any sign of infection in the wounds (swollen, red, any discharge) or if she messes with her surgery site, please phone the vet asap. She should probably be kept on clean fleece or regularly changed towels for a few days with a bit more contained hay than usual so you can monitor her pee and poop output and any bleeding and so nothing can get stuck in her surgery areas. If she isnt eating fully by herself while she's recovering from the anaesthetic you should syringe feed her some recovery food or mushed up pellets every few hours to keep her guts working. Glad she came through her operation well, hopefully someone more experienced with spaying like Wiebke will be along soon with some advice!
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Thank you for your response, really helpful 😊
 
Betsy had an emergency spay in the middle of lockdown. She recovered OK. I syringe fed her the first night and she was like a space cowboy she was so spaced out from the drugs they had given her. I syringe fed her and only got a bit down. The next day after the anaesthetic had worn off it was syringe speed feed time! I have never syringe fed a piggy so fast! It was like 20ml in 5 minutes! She didn't even chew, it went straight down without even touching the sides! After 2 days I put her back in with Dennis cos they were missing each other. She wasn't particularly keen on the hospital cage but she had to be in there so I could monitor poops and wee's.
 
I’ve had 2 piggies spayed and both came through without any problems.
It takes a little while for the anaesthetic to wear off.
Like @Betsy I syring fed at first but both started eating quickly.
I did put a small ramekin dish of Critical Care with a bit of banana mashed into it in the cage just to boost the food intake.
Hope Milly recovers quickly
 
Thanks
Betsy said:
Betsy had an emergency spay in the middle of lockdown. She recovered OK. I syringe fed her the first night and she was like a space cowboy she was so spaced out from the drugs they had given her. I syringe fed her and only got a bit down. The next day after the anaesthetic had worn off it was syringe speed feed time! I have never syringe fed a piggy so fast! It was like 20ml in 5 minutes! She didn't even chew, it went straight down without even touching the sides! After 2 days I put her back in with Dennis cos they were missing each other. She wasn't particularly keen on the hospital cage but she had to be in there so I could monitor poops and wee's.
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Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm at the vets now trying to get through on the phone to pick her up. I hope she recovers as well as your little piggy did 😊
 
Let us know how she gets on. Don't expect too much in the first 24 hours as the anaesthetic has to work its way out of her system. Try syringe feeding tonight and see if she will take a little bit. Leave some in a dish in the cage to see if she eats some overnight as well as hay.
 
All the best!

I had my sow #6 spayed in early March (thankfully before lockdown) and am saving up for two more spays for sows with ovarian cysts. They have all made a good recovery although several of them have been 5 years old and one younger one was rather frail.

My experiences as well as forum experience has gone into the post-op guide.
 
Well after a bit of a medication issue at the vets we are all back home and she's settled into her hospital cage with her buddy bramble. She's on cotrimoxaxole 0.53ml 2x a day, cisapride 0.12ml 2x a day and zydol 0. 13ml 2 to 3x a day. She ate some fresh veggies and some pellets when she got home but now she's crashed and is sleeping on one of her fleecy pads. I'm going to check on her in the night but I think she just needs to sleep bless her. What a day she's had. They've shaved her everywhere except for a stripe down her spine and her head and shoulders 😳. Even her legs are shaved!
 
Lazw said:
Well after a bit of a medication issue at the vets we are all back home and she's settled into her hospital cage with her buddy bramble. She's on cotrimoxaxole 0.53ml 2x a day, cisapride 0.12ml 2x a day and zydol 0. 13ml 2 to 3x a day. She ate some fresh veggies and some pellets when she got home but now she's crashed and is sleeping on one of her fleecy pads. I'm going to check on her in the night but I think she just needs to sleep bless her. What a day she's had. They've shaved her everywhere except for a stripe down her spine and her head and shoulders 😳. Even her legs are shaved!
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Crashing out is perfectly normal; she will be a woozier for a bit and feel rather sorry for herself tomorrow when the operation cocktail is gradually wearing off and leaving her hung over. But it is an excellent sign that she has been eating upon her return!
 
Wiebke said:
Crashing out is perfectly normal; she will be a woozier for a bit and feel rather sorry for herself tomorrow when the operation cocktail is gradually wearing off and leaving her hung over. But it is an excellent sign that she has been eating upon her return!
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Thanks Wiebke, I'm so proud of her bless her. Fingers crossed this sorts some of the problems she's been having.
 
Lazw said:
What a day she's had. They've shaved her everywhere except for a stripe down her spine and her head and shoulders 😳. Even her legs are shaved!
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Really? Betsy only had her tummy shaved. Each vet is different and they do what they think is best.

Scar Day 1.webp
 
Betsy said:
Really? Betsy only had her tummy shaved. Each vet is different and they do what they think is best.

View attachment 146290
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Yeah, she's completely shaven on her belly like your lovely piggy, but then both sides on the top are shaven too with just a stripe down her spine. The incisions are on the top of her back, either side of her spine. The vet told me she was going to do it that way because the skin is thicker up there and it heals more easily? I've only ever heard of spays done on the underside like in your piggy but we will see how she does! I do trust this vet though, so pleased to have found someone who is cavy savvy ❤️
 
Hi everyone, just an update on milly pig. She's a week on now since her spay and she looks to be healing well in both sides and the fur is growing back. She's finished all her meds now- cisapride, cotrimoxazole and zydol and doesn't appear to be in any pain. To be honest, she's not had any pain really since she came home as she's generally quite dramatic and there's been nothing, not even when handling her! Only issue now is that the mucus with blood streaks has returned and is on the outside of her poops. She's had this issue on and off now for months so I don't think it's anything sinister, plus she's just been spayed so surely all the dodgy stuff has been whipped out now too?! Very confused as I thought spaying her would end this blood and mucus issue. She's eating normally etc, what could it be?! She's been scanned, xrayed and all sorts plus the vet only operated on her last week so I'm stumped. I would have thought if it was anything sinister it'd have shown up then.
Just for info the blood is red, not old dark blood. For this reason the vet isn't too concerned.
 

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Oh ignore that photo of my head I don't know what I was doing there and I can't figure out how to delete 🤦‍♀️
 
Forgot to add- when she was spayed there were small cysts on both ovaries and the vet said she thought the uterus was showing the start of some minor abnormalities, so spay was the right thing to do regardless of the mucus blood issue not resolving!
 
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