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Owners with Male Cavies

msunter

Well-known member
Hi All

Today Rio was neutered, he's 7 and a half months old.

Poor man looked all drowsy and spaced out with the awful looking satellite dish thing around his head.

We got him home at 3pm and Mum said he started whining when she left him this morning at the Vets. I think he knew something was up at the start of the week when he was booked to go in.

He wagged his tail when he seen another dog outside the room which was a good sign, ate and ate a little food. His eyes were glazed as if he was tuned to the moon.

He just looks so sad and pitiful looking.
They also microchipped him while he was under the anasthetic too so his neck seems to be a little tender, he literally was falling asleep standing up in his crate.

Mum managed to get him a little comfier and propped his cushion and bed up so he could put his head on the cushion, and 2 hours later he is still in the land of nod inside the crate.

They say in the pack to expect him to be like this for 16-24 hours.

How long was it for all of you with Male Cavies to have them back to their old mishevious fun loving selves??

And how quickly did your little guys heal "down there"?
 
Kosmo was neutered and also had an umbilical hernia repair at the same time. I didn't use a cone for him I just watched him closely and kept him up on my lap after the deed was done. The stitches in his "area" were dissolveable and that healed itself almost instantaneously it seemed. The ones in his hernia had to be taken out a week after the operation. I found Kosmo to be back to bouncy about 24 hours after the surgery. I did keep him on restriction (i.e. no jumping on couches or going up stairs where he could fall down) for about a week.

Good luck and I am sure your baby will be fine! : )
 
First, I'd take the collar off him at least while you are around. I got some second hand babygrows (onesies) at a charity shop around the corner, cut a hole for the tail, and either boys are girls are a lot more comfortable in that then a cone. Just unsnap and roll up like a tshirt for walks and wees. :)

Second -- he will be very groggy for about 24 hours, probably. The sleeping is good for him -- & will help him heal! By tomorrow he should be his usual self and you will want to not walk him at all except for wee breaks or 10 minute city walks (no tall grass, fields etc) for 10 days or til his stitches come back out.

In about 3-5 days the incision will be well on its way to healing. Expect a bit of swelling and some licking which is fine. You just don't want them pulling at stitches.

I have never used a cone for any of my dogs or rescues that I have had in my house -- most find the cone more distressing than the snips!
 
I had my boy JoJo neutered when he was 5 months old and he came home just a bit sleepy but showed no signs really of having the surgery. He didn't even have stiches, he had little steri strips. My vet did an excellent job. He did have some bruising later that night and for about a week later but he acted like nothing went wrong at all.
 
IMO-- the gas and drugs they use on dogs determines how groggy they feel afterward. I had told my vet to use the best, fastest gas he could on my girl and she was 90+% normal when I took her home just hours later-- she didn't feel nauseous either.
 
Thanks, Karlin and Arasara and everyone for your quick responses

Rio seems to be alright with the cone on for now. Just took a peek in on him there. My parents would like to keep it on him for a while as we live in a large flat with no stairs except at our front door, so it would be just to keep him away from that certain areas in the house and to stop him licking the dissolvable stitches. They wish to keep it on him especially when he's in the kitchen, as his crate is the size for a boxer dog so he has plenty of head space to move around if needed. I think he actually likes it, for putting his neck on.

The crate is in the kitchen so we can't really move it around, we just kept the door open slightly for him to peek out at us.

He also has the Classical channel on the radio playing softly in the background, which he likes when we are out, so it seems to have soothed him a little.

The vets gave us some light food to feed him on for a few days until he's up to eating his normal food again. He bounces back pretty quickly if not feeling well etc.

So we are hoping he will be back to his old self in no time.

Did you also find that a male cav's urine smells a lot more than any other male dogs, and almost flourescent green?
 
Ah poor little man. He will be bright eyed & busy tailed in a few days. The anaesthetic does take a while to wear off, but don't be in too much of a hurry for that to happen as it will keep him quiet. Don't get too distressed about him looking a little down, because he probably is feeling groggy & away with the pixies, rather than very miserable.

None of my dogs have ever needed an e-collar after surgery. I have never understood why vets are so keen to whack them on. Sure, it is a good idea to have one nearby if it is needed, but why make the dog more uncomfortable than he already is.

Lots of cuddles & pampering & he'll be good as new soon.
 
Late to the thread, here, but just wanted to ask how he's doing? My vet said that some dogs bounce out of the place like nothing happened, and others feel some pain and discomfort for a few hours. Pepper was in the latter category--even though he'd had an injection for pain, he was one miserable character when we first picked him up, and for several hours afterwards. He whimpered and cried, with the occasional yelp mixed in for good measure, and hid in a corner of the dining room under a table. But at about the 12 hour post-surgery point, it was like a switch was flipped and he suddenly was himself again and wanted to romp around.

I did not use the horrid cone collar on him, but rather one of the inflatable donut-shaped ones. It discouraged him from jumping in addition to slowing him down as far as licking went. He could still reach down there when determined to do so, but couldn't really stay in that contorted position for very long. He was fully grown at the time and weighed 20 lbs., so the largest baby onesie I could buy (24 months) would have had the snaps hitting him in "the wrong place," as it were--a tight fit--so I didn't go that route with him, though it was a great system on our girl when she was spayed.

Anyway, hope he's doing much better by now!
 
Hello All

Thanks again for the replies.

Rio has been doing much better, poor little guy had a restless night after the surgery and his eyes looked bloodshot as we crated him, but don't think he was very comfy, just in a lot of pain and didn't sleep much.

The dissolvable stitches are looking great and Mum took the cone off him this morning so that he could finally itch his head and ears. All in all he has been doing well.

He goes for one long wee, no marking, no strong smell from his urine, and hasn't been pulling on the leash.

However the night he came home from the Vets a few hours later when he was more awake and alert, he went into this type of sexual frenzy. He pulled the blankets and his bed cushion out of the crate and started mounting them, dragging them underneath him with his back and legs arched for mounting. We had visitors that night, and it was a little embarassing for them to see our pup who just had the snip to be mounting his bed.

He had mounted his toys and my sister's boyfriends leg a few times but nothing to this degree before the surgery.

He did it again the night after and tonight again, I take the blankets and the bed off him and lock the crate but he has started barking at it as he wants the cushion to mount. He was frustrated because he had the cone on, but now it seems as if all he wants to do is mount his toys, bed etc at night, we have also tried re-directing him to his toys and playing with him to take his mind off it.

We just hope it's not made him worse by having him neutered and increased the humping.

Did anyone find this with their Cavies and how long did it take for them to settle down, that is if they did?

We are quite worried:(
 
We just hope it's not made him worse by having him neutered and increased the humping.

I am sure it wont. It does take some weeks, maybe months (not sure) for the hormones to dissipate and for undesirable traits like marking, humping etc to settle down.

We are quite worried:(

If you think his humping is excessive, it might be an idea to ring your vet & have a chat. I am just wondering if he has some irritation around his penis that is making him do this.

Does he look distressed or does he just look like he is having a good time? If he just look like he's having a good time then it is probably just his adolescent hormones playing a tap dance. I'm sure that will settle. Have you had a look at his penis to see that it looks normal.... ie not sticking out, not swollen, no discharge etc?
 
Their urine does smell quite strongly when they are unneutered; this goes way after. Also a certain food or even drugs etc may make the urine smell strongly (we all know the 'asparagus effect' on us! :lol:).

The humping may just be some general silliness or is relieving some stress for him (having a cone on IS stressful for a dog). Humping is not just a sexual activity and frequently ISN'T a sexual activity -- it is actually a fairly normal behaviour (for males and females!) that most people wish to train away from. But it is also a way for a dog to boss another dog around, or to redirect anxiety and fear for example. I'd say he has been pretty stressed with the surgery and the cone etc -- don't worry too much, I'm sure it will not be a regular activity! If you were really focusing on redirecting him it may have stressed him a bit further, especially with visitors there -- that's a lot of outside stimulation and change.
 
Scooby was desexed and had an umbilical hernia repair a few days ago. He spent most of the day at the vet so have recovered from most of the earlier effect of the anaesthetic. He was a little less perkier and more tired and groggy lookin than usual though. however, because he was obsessively licking his newly sutured stitches, i put a cone head on him for the first couple of days (releasing it when i'm around). He got really depressed with it though. He just wasn't playing with us or eating very much at all. So on the 3rd day, we took it off. he was much better with the licking aftewards anyway and is back to his old self now. He's due to have his stitches removed in another 5 days or so.
 
when we had alfs done we bought him home and he cried all nite and yelping out,had to phone the vet to get pain killers for which i wasnt offered.but once he was on them he was better,we had to keep him in the utility room as he was sliding on the wooden floors which really hurt him,but after a couple of days he was much happier,but i guess it took about a week before he felt real comfortable with himself,it was sad to see him so down.
 
When Marlon was done (at 6 months) we had his cone on.
Was quite funny as couldn't sniff the ground to find a nice area to 'poo' in !
So we took it off and he certainly appreciated it.
The next day he was fine - like nothing had happened.
He just didnt like the fact he couldn't have long walks.

He is now nearly 1 year old but he still likes to try and hump his stuffed toy dogs, but with a little distraction he stops straight away.

At one stage we did though see his full 'lipstick' which really wasn't a pleasant experience.
 
Hi All

Thank you so much for your responses they've been really helpful.

We took the advice over last weekend and took the cone off on Sunday last week, the poor soul just looked so tired and fed up. Granted he tried to lick the area a few times we just clapped our hands and said "Nuh Uh" which he knows as "Big NO NO" Just checked the stitches there and they look great. Good thing Mum's a nurse and knows these things....LOL.

We have caught him in the act a few times trying to get the cushion out of the crate since it moved back into the kitchen so we just take it off him and store it on top of it until he calms down which he seems to be doing well with then have a good old tussle with him to release the excess "energy" LOL

He just turned 8 months old yesterday and is doing so well. There's no longer any marking, which he did in the house next to a chair in the living room area, during the week leading up to his surgery and the week before that up at my Grandparents staircase. No strong smell off his urine, he hardly pulls at all anymore, only if we see another dog he does but quickly manage to check him back into place. His classes have been really paying off too.

He is so much more relaxed, calm and doesn't have much interest in the other dogs and pups around him. He is totally 100% on us ! when in training which is a bonus. The trainers were glad to see him as he missed the first week of his intermediate tr

Did anyone ever find this with their pups? after they were done?

He hasn't changed all that much, still the same old Rio and it's still a long way to go with him such as eating full meals , being around the little two year old girl Brooke we look after now and again etc, but with much time and effort he really is a great little well behaved dog, still has his moments and the occasional puppy naughtiness but with this being our first dog for our family and not being a relatives dog it's been great.

Everyone comments on how well behaved he is in other people's homes and my Grandparents may be considering taking in a rescue Cavalier some time soon, as they now think they're a lovely breed they've always had big dogs and would now like a dog they could give a retirement home to. Has anyone from Scotland here heard of Scottish Cavalier Rescue in Irvine ????

Thank you all for your very helpful responses.

Cavvies are addicitive!
 
I was so lucky that when King came out of surgery he was his bouncy self in a matter of hrs...I was only told "NO JUMPING, AND NO ROUGH-HOUSING" until he got the staples removed... He was hard to keep from doing this, I mean how do you keep a hyper-active puppy from doing everything he loves to do....but I figured out that if we go for long walks he got tired and wanted to sleep...
 
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