[Gpdd] Health- Spaying

[Candy G.]

Greetings, Mary Kathryn - Welcome to the Digest!
My name is Candy, I live in Oregon, and I have a six-year-old
male piggy named Topper.  His cagemate - our sweet
MollieBug - died almost two years ago at the age of four. I
have been on the digest for several years now.  It has been
my experience that the digest folks are the greatest people in
the world and I'll bet will find that to be true as well.

I have read with interest through the years all of the different
experiences and opinions concerning spaying and neutering.
The good and bad experiences that people have had and the
information on this subject varies widely.  First and foremost, I
think we all agree that no surgery should be undertaken lightly
and without much consideration and thought.

I do have two things to offer on this subject.  I had Topper
neutered when he was five months old.  He has a wonderful
exotics vet and I trust her implicitly.  I wanted Mollie and Topper
to be able to be together and the vet said that the surgery was
easier for the male than for the female, so Topper 'won the toss'.
At the time, I knew next to nothing about piggies and I am
embarrassed now at how totally ignorant I was about everything.
It freaks me out to know, now, how concerned I SHOULD have
been but, at the time, I was not overly concerned about Topper's
surgery (I guess sometimes ignorance really is bliss).  Now, I would
think about it much more carefully although, in the same situation,
I would probably make the same decision again.  Topper did GREAT,
thank goodness!  He never had a moment's problems and he and
Mollie were inseparable from that point on.  I feel very blessed to
have had such a good experience with Topper's surgery and that
he came out of it so well considering how many of our dear little
ones have not fared well with this surgery.  It is a very individual
and personal decision that each piggie mom or dad must make for
their little one.  What it boils down to is that, whatever decision is
made, each of us has only the best interests of our piggies at heart
and we are trying to do what we feel is best for them in their
particular situation.

The other thing I'd like to mention is this:  I don't know how
other shelters handle their piggies, but the shelter that my vet
volunteers her services to does, in fact, spay and neuter every
single guinea pig that comes through there.  My vet does all of
the guinea pig surgeries and her success rate is about 98%.
The last time I was in her office, she was telling me that the
shelter had received 26 piggies several weeks earlier (they were
confiscated from a hoarder) - 17 females and 9 males.  She had
spayed/neutered every one of them and they didn't lose a one.
She was ecstatic that they had all done so well.  I had never really
thought about shelters spaying and neutering piggies until she was
telling me about it and so it was very interesting to me to read
about the shelter in your message and see that other shelters do it,
too.  Maybe this is a more common practice than we knew.

So, just like so many other things (ALL things!) concerning these
incredible furballs, the information is always a "mixed bag" and
things can always go either way or change for better or worse
at the drop of a hat (or should I say at the drop of a carrot?).
The one thing that remains constant, though, is the love and joy
that these little rascals bring into our hearts and lives and that you
will always find people here in the digest who are willing to offer
whatever help and information they can, who will understand
what you are going through at any given moment with your
piggies, and who will shower you with comfort and caring words
and sentiments when you need them most.

Warmest congratulations on your two little 'new additions'.
You are in for a wild and wonderful ride.   :)

Sorry for the long post, but y'all all know my motto:
"Why say in 50 words what you can say in 50,000?"

Much love and gentle healing to all piggies and peoples who
are ill or sad.

Candy, Topper, and (the notorious) Cat X
(with Mollie always in our hearts)

>
>Message: 1
>Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 10:03:34 -0400
>From: "Mary Kathryn DeLodder" <mkdelodder at gmail.com>
>Subject: [Gpdd] Health- Spaying
>
>...they had just gotten two new pigs in the night before.  I asked if 
>theyknew the gender of the pigs, and they said no, but that they 
>spayed/neutered them all first anyhow.
>
>Reading some of the previous posts regarding ovarian cysts and spaying,
>it sounds as if piggie spaying is both costly and dangerous to the pig.  My
>question is-- does it sound reasonable that the shelter would spay every
>pig before it is adopted?  I know that they do it because they don't want
>people ending up with unwanted babies, but maybe it is more harmful than 
>helpful??
>
>I don't suppose I will be changing the policy of the local shelter, but it
>made me curious and I wanted to hear the opinions of some who are more 
>experienced that me!
>