Spaying/ Neutering Benefits?

[Brittany]

Other then preventing pregnancy are there any health benefits to having a chinchilla spayed or neutered? I know it prevents cancer and such in rabbits and other animals.

I've also heard horror stories of chins ripping their stitches out and bleeding to death. Does this happen often? Does spaying/neutering cause more harm then good?

I'm not thinking about having it done to my chins in the near future, just curious for future reference. Thanks!:hmm:

 

[tunes]

I can't see of any benefit to spaying a female unless it was a medical emergency. Females go through a lot with such an invasive procedure and quite a few don't recover. As far as males, some folks say that it helps control aggression. Others say once the aggression is there, it doesn't change with the castration.

I have never castrated a male chin yet, so I don't know first hand. I know it works great in male rats.

 

[Claire D]

I have rarely seen a castrated male with a changed attitude - it seems that once they are aggressive they are aggressive. Neutering does not appear to change that. I am sure there are exceptions to the rule though.

I sometimes bring the rescue chins to be castrated & I have to say I'm happy to do so because my vet is superb. The smallest chin she has castrated weighed all of 350g and he bounced back really quickly. Good pain relief, thorough post-op care & clean surroundings make for a quicker recovery. Apparently it is a more complex, fiddly & time consuming procedure than for other small animals (rabbits etc) but if one has a good chinchilla competent vet then I see no reason not to consider it where required.
If I have males that I want to "retire", sell to a pet home, or have come in as rescues paired up then I have little hesitation in having them castrated by my vet.
Having said that, there are always the exceptions to the rule and I know some people have had disasters with having chins castrated - in those cases I think people are right to be cautious & there are always risks with any anaesthetic & surgical procedure.


As for spaying females - again, I have had several done here at Monty's Manor & they are a nightmare. I agree with Peggy that they should only be done in emergency cases because the recovery is often a nightmare. I have managed to successfully recover all of the females who were spayed here but it's hard work & takes a lot out of both the female & the owner. Not something I would recommend at all unless absolutely necessary.

Health issues - ooh good question. I am not sure anyone has "proven" anything with regards to chinchillas because I don't think enough vets do them on a regular basis to establish any results.

 

[brittiny]

I was wondering about this, too. Jeremy wants to get our new female so that we can try to bond her with our males and have them all in one big cage, but I was reading in the other thread and I am pretty worried. It seems so stressful and I don't want to stress any one of my chins. Also, someone said spaying females can make them aggressive and the newkid is such a sweetie cake and I don't want her to become aggressive. =((
We're planning to get a FN cage soon so I guess we can just have it sectioned off, but I think jeremy really wants the males to have the run of the entire thing so I guess that's why he's gunning to get her spayed.

 

[Brittany]

It sounds like you're wanting to cage all your chins together? The presence of a female will cause the males to fight. I'd never cage multiple males together when female chins are involved as well.

 

[Claire D]

I was wondering about this, too. Jeremy wants to get our new female so that we can try to bond her with our males and have them all in one big cage, but I was reading in the other thread and I am pretty worried. It seems so stressful and I don't want to stress any one of my chins. Also, someone said spaying females can make them aggressive and the newkid is such a sweetie cake and I don't want her to become aggressive. =((
We're planning to get a FN cage soon so I guess we can just have it sectioned off, but I think jeremy really wants the males to have the run of the entire thing so I guess that's why he's gunning to get her spayed.

No, no no to spaying a female unless clinically necessary or an emergency.
It is a life threatening procedure - chins do not always react well to anaesthetic, it is a hugely invasive procedure & post-operative recovery can be a nightmare. They are under anaesthetic for a long time with this procedure & they can take ages to come around afterwards.
Seriously I would never put a female through a spay unless really necessary - it is expensive, time consuming & the outcome is not always positive. It can take weeks for a chinchilla to fully recover from spaying & get back to eating properly. The risks are too high & it is not fair on the female chin.
Since spaying involves opening the abdomen there can be gut problems including stasis - 2 hourly force feeding, fluids, gut stimulants, belly massage (in itself a potential risk) ......... with no guarantee of survival at the end of it. It is painful for the chinchilla too.

If you don't have to get a female spayed then please don't do it.


As for having more than one make in with a female(s) - that's a massive potential for dead chinchillas because they will fight when the female(s) come(s) into oestrus (season). Castrating them does not get rid of the urge to mate so even if you choose to have both males castrated you're liable to end up with them fighting.
If you've ever seen the damage one chinchilla can do to another you'll know it really is not worth the risk.

 

[brittiny]

i know. So I don't want to go through with it.