Can Neutered male stay with pregnant female?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:11 am


Boars that are not neutered are more likely to have anal impaction problems later in life, but nothing that can't be easily managed by regular cleaning. Unless you want to house them with sows, there's no need to neuter them. While it's an easier surgery for males than for females, it's not without risk. I wouldn't do it unless there was some medical need for it.

JX4

Post   » Thu Sep 28, 2017 12:31 am


There are advantages and disadvantages, and it depends on if you plan to have sows with them, as bpatters says. We had our male neutered, but that was because the rest of our pigs are female.

His surgery was successful, but it did have a minor complication in that a hematoma developed and the vet had to go back in surgically to remove it. If you decide to neuter, then make sure that only a vet who has a LOT of experience neutering guinea pigs does it. Guinea pig neutering is a more delicate procedure than a cat or even a rabbit.

Neutering will not change their personality, their sex drive, or their propensity to squabble. And they WILL squabble when they get into their guinea pig teen years, which is about 6 months to 18 months old. They will fight more during that time period, which is why boars need a bigger cage than sows do.

That said, the advantages of neutering (and we neutered ours at about 5 or 6 months old) are:
They can be housed with females in the future (though not together; two boars with any number of sows will NOT work)
They will not grow as large as intact males if they are neutered young; they will instead grow to the size of a normal intact female
They will not have a testical sac to drag along the ground which picks up "stuff" (hay bits, poop bits, bedding bits, etc.) and so they don't need to be cleaned out much at all (I think we clean ours about once a year)

Cleaning out an intact male would need to be done fairly regularly and involves putting lubricant on a Q-tip and swabbing around in their anal cavity until no more gunk comes out. It doesn't hurt the pig, but they don't like it much.

The risk of complications from surgery is the biggest drawback. Some pigs do not tolerate anesthesia, and you won't know if your pig is one of those until it's too late. That is why that in spite of the advantages most owners don't neuter unless they plan to hosue their boar with females in the future.

Nuoc Mam

Post   » Thu Sep 28, 2017 1:18 am


Thanks bpatters and JX4!!!

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