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To spay or not to spay

  • Thread starter Thread starter LucyWoo
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LucyWoo

I am interested in what peoples views are about spaying guinea pigs. We have never done it and I can't see that changing. We feel it is too risky and too invasive for such a small animal. I also don't see the necessity as boars are able to be castrated with less risk resolving any issues.

For those that do spay, what is your reasoning and what sort of losses have you had from the operation?
 
I only have single boys, all are intact. If I had females (which we are seriously considering) we would likely have one neutered and place them eventually with the intact girls - I do think it's invasive for the girls to be spayed. Although I gather some rescues do it to ensure they won't be used for breeding or carelessness? Which I do understand.

Edited to add - I personally would not get my boys neutered unless it was for medical reasons or we decided they would be happier with a little girlfriend (or two). But then I do not run a rescue...
 
Yes, i understand where you are coming from. We only neuter certain males and not all. For example, we have a single male that has just come in and I feel he would be much easier to rehome if he is done. We also have 2 male brothers which I would only have done if they started scrapping at a later stage.
 
:) I would never do it. I had one sow spayed for medical reasons years ago but wouldn't do that now- there injs you can give for Ovarian Cysts and if they're large our vet drains them too. In fact I would think very seriously before putting a sow through a neuter op now if she had to have one, it really is invasive and I don't think Jenny would be happy doing it.

I only get boys done if they are going to live with girls because it helps them to find homes and to be honest I would have a lot more boars here if I didn't get them castrated. Last wheek two boars who had been together for 2 years, happily, came in because they'd started fighting, their Humans phoned me as soon as it started and seperated them the same day. When they were brought in I tried them to see how bad they were together and one was bullying the other ::) Needless to say they were castrated and one is already reserved for a wonderful home that he wouldn't have found if he was intact :) Boars that come in as pairs have all gone as intact pairs.

LucyW, how many pairs have you had castrated?
 
We've had a handful castrated but I am very warey about it. We had 2 brothers in and took them in for neutering and lost one due to the op. Since then, we only do single males or scrapping pairs.
 
I just wont put a sow through a spaying and i wont put a female chinchilla through it either.its a much bigger op for a female than a male
 
We went into this quite blindly! The vet did not tell us how big of an operation this would be for a little animal. We had one spayed when she had 3cm ovarian cysts. They made it sound like this was the only option! It took a long time for clover to get back to being herself. I wouldn't really recommend it :/

It's different for males... most of the op takes place outside of the body, not like poor girlies who get poked about! (or the more adult term, invasive!)
 
I've had about 15 female guineas and have never had any of them spayed, would only do it if vet recommended for medical reason.
 
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