Starrkey's Neutering

[Sugarised]

Thought I'd give everyone the info on Starrkey and his neutering here, seeing as its quite a questionable thing still in the chin world, and shall post updates on him.

I took him into the vets in the morning at about 8.30, he was weighed, and i'm proud to say he's a lovely 620g they checked him over to make sure that he was safe for the anaesthetic (sp?) through checking his heart and stuff, and i signed the form to say that i am aware that any surgery carries a risk.

I was informed that he would have 2 nurses attending to him because of the risks with small furries.

I called at about 2pm and he had just come round from his anaesthetic, the hard part was over! I was able to collect him later that evening.

He is currently on my vets version of critical care as he is still very tired from it all and is sleeping heavily, but he accepts the syringe of food happily. I have taken out his shelves so he can't bounce and risk his stitches/sutures, and he is on a pillow case so i can monitor his poop etc.

If people want i will post pictures for any of those who are interested in the surgery etc.

He is doing exceptionally well and i hold this down to my vets- good vet and good aftercare will be the key for this little man, he has another checkup on monday to make sure everything is going well. It'll all be worth it in the end, when he is healed Dita's quarantine will be up and ill be attempting introductions!

 

[lauralynne]

I would love to see pictures. Thanks!

 

[Sugarised]

Here are the technical bits then:
He was shaven and given 50ml ketoset- i think this is his fluids
carprieve (narocarp)- i think this is his painkillers given after the surgery
Isoflurane gas as his anaesthetic

He was incubated after his operation to keep him warm and was monitored, given an ecg, pulse charge and something called an Spo2. (i'm reading my receipt can you tell?)

His stitches are a combination of glue and dissovable catgut. Right....pictures

As a one man band, i struggled to take these when checking on his wounds and then giving him some more food (he's eating himself, but only picking, so i'm still syringing food whenever he will take it from me, but he is hay munching and has eaten a few pellets)

too much from the flash but you can see his shaven patch

little more close up, you may see 2 incision marks either side of his penis

much clearer, small incision visible to the left hand side of his penis, the hair will grow back in around 5-6 weeks

oh it cost £60 in the uk for all of this (i believe his after checks are included too) its price reflects the attention and equipment he needed

 

[fanofdmb84]

Thanks for that...keep us updated on how he's doing. I'm planning on having my guy snipped sometime this winter so I'm a little nervous and curious about other chinnies who've gone through it.

 

[Sugarised]

Day 3. And he's demanded the shelves back. Well one was so high up, i left it in knowing he couldn't jump to it. But somehow he got up there. he obviously wanted to be up there out the way. So i have put the shelves back. Now this is something i wouldn't do if i couldn't keep a watch on him like im fortunate to be able to. Starrkey clearly likes sleeping high up and since having his shelves back, has been lying on his side as high up as possible- out of harms way i would presume.

He's eating properly now, as before, and is bouncing about a lot more, i think the 'recovery' stage is setting in after being sore and headachey.

He must be better as when i went to give him scritches he scratched at my hand and pulled me in for a hump- some things never change eh? hahaha

Observation of poop is that they are a lot smaller, i presume this is due to him eating less for the past few days, but colour, consistency and amount is spot on, and there is no problem with urine and nothing dodgy coming out of his wounds- they are very clean! I don't think he's touched them at all, good lad!

 

[Sugarised]

Had his first dustbath since the operation. I was holding out as i didn't know if it would irritate his wound, but after staring at me for an hour or so and then rolling around in the dust he created from his lava ledge he made it loud and clear what he wanted. He's pretty much back to himself now in everyway except still sleeping a little more and not as bouncy (wouldn't want him to be though as it could affect his recovery!) check up at vets today to make sure all is well. Depending on what they say about it, this thread may be over we could have a successfully neutured chinny

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

im glad to hear he's recovering well. keep us updated )

 

[RDZCRanch]

I'm glad he is recovering well! Surgeries can be very hard on chinchillas or any small animal, the best thing is to have an experienced vet that is vigilant with them. My vet has done quite a few surgeries for me and my chins have always come out 100% and healed remarkably well.

Please keep in mind that while Dita is young, she can still get pregnant at such an early age and it would be detrimental to her health. I've discussed neutering with a number of vets (chinnie experienced and otherwise) and they've all agreed the males can carry sperm for up to 4 weeks after neutering. To be safe, I keep them separate for 5 to 6 weeks as accidental pregnancies are definitely not a wanted thing here.

 

[Sugarised]

Yeah when you told me that on another thread i'm factoring it into the 'introduction phase' with your recommended extra 2 weeks in mind.
So after Dita's quarantine i'll put her cage in the same room but still seperate from him so they can chat, and gradually bring it closer throughout those extra 2 weeks and not put them BY each other til that times gone. Soon as you mentioned it i didn't wanna risk chinnie babys!!

He had his followup today and everything is grand. He has one more in a week to sign him off and thats that

 

[fanofdmb84]

Awesome! Thanks for the updates

 

[Christina Noraas]

I'm thinking about getting my male fixed, so I'm glad to hear that everything went smoothly for you.