Neutered tomorrow

[Nanno]

Pac-Man is losing his jewels tomorrow morning, and because he's almost a year old, I've opted to have him surgically castrated. The vet suggested we could band him, but I think that sounds way too painful and icky at this stage in his life. I do NOT want something that large rotting slowly away in his nether regions, especially with a dog around. Blech! This vet has not had good results with a burdizzo, so surgical sounds like my best option, even if it is more expensive.

Is there anything I need to know? Stuff to watch out for? How sore will he be for the first few days? Any information would be appreciated.

[Charlie Horse]

Well there are 2 ways to do this. The cowboy way which involves pliers and no pain killers, and the dog-vet way, which involves scalpel and pain killers. I have had bad experiences with both:

Gnibbley, at 5 months old, got done by the dog vet for $180 dollars. Everything went fine and there was hardly any blood on the way home. I found him bled out at 3:00AM -- I was so busy with work I didnt check on him enough, assuming it was still fine. RIP Gnibbley.

Shelby GT got done cowboy style and it went perfectly, though I suffered sympathetic mental trauma. Bacchus was done by the same vet in the same way for $50 dollars. Remembering Gnibbley I checked on him hourly. He never really stopped bleeding and in fact it got worse a few hours later. I brought him inside and called the vet, because this was a life threatening bleed-out. Moving him out of the dog house probably saved his life, since the bleeding slowed and stopped soon after the vet called back. The lesson is: Be prepared to check hourly or more often and you'll be fine.

I say its not safe until 24 hours have passed. Vets will tell you how everything wads up and seals off and retracts and yadda yadda like its impossible to bleed out. Lies.

[Nanno]

We're doing it the dog vet way... with scalpel and anesthetic. Thanks for the tip about the bleeding. We'll make sure to keep a good watch on him.

[Huckleberry]

My 4 boys were done at 4 months old this past summer and all went well. I was surprised by how sore they were, they didn't move for 2-3 days other than to eat Poor babies. They stayed at the vet for about 6 hours after and were left open, no bleeding and all went well. You won't have to worry about fly's this time of year, that was our only worry and we just kept them coated with vet/fly spray. Good luck, he'll be fine!

[joecool911]

My boys were done in October following a march birth. They were done surgically. I watched. Went fast. Did both my boys in a hour or so. Made a slice, pulled out the jewel, put a cord around the vas and then cut it off. Very little bleeding. Did the other side and sewed them up. They had an injection of pain killer. And we're on anti biotics for a week or so. Only seemed down for a day.

[Dave-Trinity-Farms]

There is no blood with a burdizzo. My vet puts em out to do it. Double crushes each side and slightly different locations. Always a small chance it wont take all the way but he will redo it for free. Burdizzos come in different sizes. need to use the right side.

[Taffy]

I hope Pac-Man feels better quickly.

Pac-Man is losing his jewels tomorrow morning, and because he's almost a year old, I've opted to have him surgically castrated. The vet suggested we could band him, but I think that sounds way too painful and icky at this stage in his life. I do NOT want something that large rotting slowly away in his nether regions, especially with a dog around. Blech! This vet has not had good results with a burdizzo, so surgical sounds like my best option, even if it is more expensive.

Is there anything I need to know? Stuff to watch out for? How sore will he be for the first few days? Any information would be appreciated.

[Nanno]

Poor Pac-Man. He had his surgery today and he's very sad right now. I gave him probiotics and some Tums to help with his rumen, and a little Bute to help with the pain. He's on Penicilin and got a CD&T shot for good measure. He's mad at me right now and keeps glaring at me whenever I come out to visit him. Besides trying to make friends again, is there anything else I should be doing?

I've been checking for bleeding and there isn't any at all. I asked Dr. Matt about the possibility of him bleeding out and he said he'd never heard of it except in cases where the cord was crimped instead of tied off with a suture. He said horses are crimped and some vets try to do goats the same way. Dr. Matt said he won't use crimps on goats or donkeys because the blood vessels are so much bigger and they could very well bleed to death from castrating them like horses.

Charlie Horse, is it possible your vet may have crimped the cords and only stitched the outer wound? I watched Dr. Matt tie off the cords and it looked like it would be really hard for Pac-Man to bleed from there. My bigger concern right now is that he could have tummy trouble from feeling sore and unhappy. I've got a blanket on him and he's in a pen by himself. I was originally going to put Nubbin with him, but I don't think he wants company right now. He's curled up in the little doghouse and doesn't look like he wants to see anyone. I hope the Bute helps him feel well enough to go eat some hay soon because I'm sure it would make him feel better if he had something in his belly.

Oh, and we got some training time today. My appointment got delayed by about 45 minutes, so I was able to take Pac-Man for a walk around the neighborhood. We walked along a pretty busy highway and he was spooky about all the cars and trucks zipping by, but it was good to expose him to all the noise and bustle while he's still small enough to control easily. I also used a halter on him today for the first time. He didn't like it at first, but he started getting used to it by the end of our walk.

[Huckleberry]

I'm glad it went well. Based on my boys, I think he's acting normal. They all stood in one spot or risked laying down very carefully for several days. They looked very sad and didn't move much. They started eating that night though. I thought they were still partially drugged when I picked them up from the vet, but when they still acted the same way two day later I knew they were just super sore. My boys threw their legs out to the side when they walked for weeks, and if a blade of grass touched Flint anywhere near the area he flew in the air and took off We didn't give them anything other than applying fly spray. I think they just wanted to be left alone to heal and rest.

[SMaxwell]

Glad it went well, although I also am a fan of the Burdizzo. I do it myself and have only had one failure with it, which was the first goat I did. I have done several more since then with no failures. I wait until they are 5-6 months, get some Banamine from my vet , put them in the stanchion and do it. Just need to make sure the cord does not squirt out from the Burdizzo. There are good instructions for how to do it on the Fiasco Farms site. No blood, no vet bill and they recover very quickly!