Guinea-pig owners- do you have /have you had a neutered boar?

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Reading Guinea Lynx -it said neutered boars rarely if ever encounter problems with impaction.

Is this true?
Is it worth the risk of an operation to neuter a boar for preventive rather than medical/contraceptive reasons?

Long term- having my adult boars done would mean I have more options in the future, I could match a lone boar with 2 sows without having to wait for neutering to take effect.And safer to do as a younger pig than older. But it would mean having both done -so double the cost.As well as the risk of losing one in surgery .
But with most animals, neutering makes them a bit more 'settled' and slow. So more likely to put on weight.

And there is nothing to say that my boys will get impaction in the future.
I'm sure DD and I can arm ourselves with baby wipes and get on with it.

Any thoughts one way or the other?

I doubt it's worth the risk of surgery; our boar died immediately when given anasthetic to be neutered (he was about 6 months old, supposed to be a she before that).

I believe that impaction can be prevented simply by giving them plenty of opportunities for exercise (& obvious things like right diet & other usual conditions). Much safer than surgery.

Occassional Old Boy needs holding over the toilet and the smell is unbelievable . We knew his brother had cancer when he was 3 1/4 but couldn't bear giving Old Boy the snip in case he didn't make it.

Incidently our vet was brilliant removing the lump giving our poorly GP one more happy summer and he passed aged 4. It must have been sudden, we found him in his hutch with a half eaten cabbage leaf by his side and cabbage around his mouth.

GPs do not become more docile after being neutered.

We solved our lone boar problem by getting the 2 girlies. They all talk to each other through hutch/run wire. It's an arrangement that works for my GPs.

70 - I would say it's not worth the risk tbh. Must admit I've never heard about neutering solving the impaction issue. We considered neutering for our two boars (mainly, as you have, thinking ahead to future options i.e. could put one of them with a girlie if his brother passed away) but decided the risks weren't worth it. And as fortified says it makes no difference to their behaviour anyway.

We owned 4 pairs of boars at various points during my childhood and never had any neutered and I have to say I only remember one boar out of the 8 suffering with impaction to any major degree (3 of the 4 pairs lived to age 4 +, too). We found that gently massaging the bum area with vaseline helped to get the impacted poo out easily and didn't hurt piggy too much. I know it sounds vomtastic but as long as you make sure you do it in a well ventilated area it is not too grim

Unanimous- the boars keep their 'nads

We give the boys loads of hay and veg and they do get excercise daily (indoors and out if weather allows)

Little GP2 often has a soft pooh in his bottom when we pick him up, but he sorts himself out and there's plenty of normal poohs in his Pooh Nest.

My boar from way back (when I was 9) used to get a load of poohs stuck in his bottom that he didn't have the energy to pooh out when he was at the end of his days. (Poor little soul ) so I've got previous for Debunging Guinea Pig Bums.

fortified the image of your GP with cabbage in his mouth is so sad and nice at the same time.
Sad because it's out of the blue but happy because he died eating (GP favourite passtime)

One of our sows died in the middle of the dining room, lying on her side ,stretched out. That was typical of her.She wasn't a cuddly pig, she would tail us like a shadow. She wouldn't lower herself to be cuddled in the last hours (her death was completely unexpected, she was 4 yo or so), but did it her way till the end.

I just asked my boars and they insisted they were clever enough and didn't need to be "tutored."

I haven't had a neutered boar myself, and I think it's only been in the last few years that there have been vets skilled enough to do this reliably. I remember hearing ghastly stories about operations gone wrong back when I was on the Guinea Pig Daily Digest (any other former GPDDs here?) All operations under general anaesthetic come with some risk, even for healthy fit rodents, so I think I'd join the gang saying "no."

I have had one boar with impaction. He was only 3 at the time, but about a year later, was diagnosed with congestive cardiac failure and only lived for a couple more weeks (RIP Boar 5.) I'm not sure if there might not have been some connection - possibly not.

It's not a pleasant task, but one you sort of get used to if you have to do it - usually once a day or every other day did the job. You just arm yourself with plastic gloves, toddler wipes and nappy sacks. Job done in about 30 seconds when you get the hang of it. Helps to have a compliant pig as well. I was lucky that my next door neighbour who looked after them while I was away also mastered the art. I don't think she had much of a sense of smell.