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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 1:27 am Post subject:

the closest vet that can do it is a two hour drive which would be $40.00 there, and $40.00 back, and I don't have a car either which puts a damper on it so I'd have to chip into the "general car use pool" which is $10.00 so we're talking about $90.00 with out the bun getting the surgery. Jenny Jane would need a health check first which normally go for around $70.00 and then we'd get to the spay which last I checked cost about $80.00. Y'all can do you're own math, but I am on a VERY VERY tight budget. We're in a situation where we cannot pay for a sibling to go to college next year, I may not get to go either, we have to take in that siblings birds because it was impossible to find affordable housing that would allow two noisy parrots, and my cousin has to foster my cat for me because the birds are here (when the birds leave I get my cat back, but in the mean time my cat is in Florida and I do not get to visit at all so needless to say I'm not too thrilled with the arrangement). Not to mention the fact that I am getting married and this might just be a less then festive wedding due to money issues and we're also starting to loose various insurance that we need (I'm talking people medical and dentel and eye...). Right now I do not have the money to spay my girl. I love her dearly and I'm praying that after the holidays we can find a solution (hopefully people will stick to money gifts instead...) but right now, no it's not feasible for me to get surgery for my rabbit. There are closer vets, but I am not sure how much experience they have with exotics, and I'd rather take the risk of having her stay unspayed for awhile longer, then handing her over to a vet who might not really know what he's doing. Perhaps by then I can find someone who'd well enxperienced nearer to me, but in the mean time I have to make do with what I got...

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:35 am Post subject:

I voted no, though I am a great advocate of spaying and neutering animals, because the question was too “black or white.” The question did not take into account there are some animals that are at a health risk for having the surgery performed.

For dogs, cats, and rabbits, unless there was a valid medical reason I would spay or neuter. However, with guinea pigs the information is still incomplete about the advantage on spaying and neutering guinea pigs. There doesn’t seem to be a link with increased cancer. Neutering a male will not decrease aggressiveness.

I currently have 2 female guinea pigs. At the time I adopted them from the rescue, they did have a spay/neuter contract for all animals. I was honest with them about the reasons why I did not plan to immediately alter them. They were never going to get anywhere near a male guinea pigs. They waived that condition.

Note: If I had a male-female guinea pig pair, one of them would be altered.

If there is no risk of pregnancy the reason most commonly listed for having a male neutered is constantly recurring infections in that area. With males, some sources suggest that male guinea pigs that are neutered are ‘cleaner’ in their private areas than non-neutered guinea pigs. However, the cleanliness factor may just be due to the fact that some males are fussier than other males are.

The biggest problem with the neutering surgery is that it is difficult to find someone qualified to perform it on guinea pigs. Expect to pay at least $200 for a neuter. After the surgery, special care must be taken to keep the area clean and prevent infection as male guinea pigs are built ‘low to the ground.’

With female guinea pigs, they can need a spay for hormonal reasons. A female MUST be spayed if she develops cystic ovaries.

There is a risk with older female guinea pigs becoming pregnant. At high risk are:
--female guinea pigs over one year of age that have never given birth
--female guinea pigs over one year of age that have given birth in the past BUT have not given birth for some time.

So if any female EVER did come into contact with a male, I would immediately have an emergency spay and abortion. This procedure can cost up to $1,000 to do. The reason for this is the record for a female having a successful caesarian is pretty grim. Even if you can find a vet qualified to do this, the mortality rate is terribly high.

The cost for a spay is greater than the cost for a neuter. Some spays, due to complications, can cost up to $ 1,000.

So there are so some very compelling reasons to never let an unaltered male guinea pig anywhere near an unaltered female!

***
God's_Cowgirl,

Please try and find the funds to have your female rabbit spayed. If you really love her you’ll do the best you can to see her spayed.

I would suggest contacting “The House Rabbit Society” or a local rabbit rescue and see if there is a qualified vet that can do a spay for a reduced price. Also the sum of $90 for the use of a car for one day is high. I suggest looking into renting a car for one day. A one-day rental for a budget car should run about $25-50.

I understand what it is to be on a very tight budget, going more and more into the red each month. Then there were times, after getting my paycheck and paying for all necessities, I was glad to have $20 left for “fun” money for the next two weeks. The $20 was the money I could splurge on things like seeing a movie or getting an ice cream sundae.

I cannot stress the importance enough about getting the necessary higher education in order to do better. Research what interests you and what education you need in order to achieve it.

If you and/or your family don’t have enough money for schooling, see if you or your sibling qualify for any financial aid. Go part-time if you have to do so in order to get an education. Also look into getting student loans. The interest rates are low. If you qualify for a deferred rate, you won’t start accruing interest until you have left school.

I can tell you from experience, it so worth going and getting more education in order to get a good paying job doing something you like. Invest in something really important – yourself.

After being stuck in a dead end job for a long while, I went and got $10K in student loans to go and get some more education. After completing the education, I got a job that paid $11K/year more than my last one. It was so worth going into debt in order to do better career wise.

Here in Massachusetts if a person goes to college and takes a certain number of credit hours, he/she is required to either purchase health insurance along with tuition or provide proof of health insurance. The cost of the purchased health insurance though school is pretty low. See if your state has similar plans for students.

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:44 am Post subject:

The 'cons' of spaying and neutering are tiny, and would really only apply to elite performance dogs (eg agility dogs that compete every weekend) that were spayed or neutered at a very, very early age. The studies are fairly preliminary and don't account for other variables (such as increased # of dogs doing sports, increased numbers of overweight dogs, etc). The number of people who fall into this category is extremely small - and IMO those dogs aren't really pets, they're performance animals. I wasn't really thrilled with that article - while it was surrounded with the magazine's whole-hearted endorsement of s/n, I still think it could be misinterpreted.

The alleged dangers, FYI, are slight differences in height and a correlation (NOT causation, just a correlation) to ACL injuries (correlated with a somewhat MINOR increase in such injuries, but also did not control for variables such as increased activity, overweight dogs, etc).

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 1:09 pm Post subject:

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 1:21 pm Post subject:

For all us Embarassed

who have had to deal with a cat in heat, the annoyance of it all is enough to make you want to fix them NOW!!!! Very Happy

Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:07 pm Post subject:

I say that in this day and age there is no reason (with a very few health exceptions) not to have your pet spayed or neutered. With all the 4+ million animals pts last year there is no reason to breed. None. We need to start showing beautiful pound pets and not be so hung up on purebreeds. I'll bet we could do a dog show like Eucanuba's tournament of champs and have our pound pets be just as beautiful and 'showy' as the purebreds.

I have a purebred mini poodle that is absolutely perfect. I considered studding him out when I first got him and keeping the pick of the litter. Then I found Petfinder and started reading about the huge pet overpopulation problem. Now I'm ashamed of myself for even entertaining the idea. Irish was neutered at 6 months exactly. All my pets (including rabbits) are and always will be 'fixed' for their health as well as an assurance that I am not contributing to the animal overpopulation problem.

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