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I’ve
had Oliver about 15 months (here he is giving Eloise a kiss) - I got him
as a rescue at about 7 months old.
In all the time he’s been with me, I’ve been aware he misses
the company of other chins, and part of my aim in putting some weight on
that wee frame of his was to one day have him safely castrated, in order
for him to have a wee girlfriend. From a starting weight of about 440g,
we aimed for something over 500g, which took us till February of this
year!
It’s always worrying, the prospect of an anaesthetic and an operation, but the day finally arrived. Right up to the last minute I worried “Was it worth the risk?” I knew the odds were against anything going wrong, but you know how it is… I pressed ahead – yes it was worth the risk in the hope he wouldn’t have to spend the rest of his life lonely and needing a friend (A male friend wasn’t an option – I worried they’d fight over the nearby girls)
Always so hard, isn’t it? - dropping your pet off at the vets (NB unlike humans, it's important NOT to withhold food from your chin before an op - feed them just as you would normally, it keeps the gut moving normally which is important for chins), and going home to wait. And wait. And worry, and wait some more.
I called in the afternoon and the nurse said Oli
was just fine. He’d come
round very quickly and was doing
well. When I collected him
I must admit he looked a sorry state, very subdued. Only to be expected, I guessed.
I knew to keep him warm and away from drafts – I’d heard infections and pneumonia are risks to be aware of after an operation. He did feel very cold, so I moved his cage nearer to the radiator (on low) and rotated warm towels on the floor of his cage to keep him snug.
The castration wounds, right from the start, began to heal nicely, and he was a good boy, not touching his stitches (dissolving ones). In this picture to the right, you can see the shaved area, his penis at the bottom, and the castration wounds just above and to the left and right of it. He began to move around more easily and comfortably with every passing day. Alas, he fell foul of a chest infection within a few days (he began to sneeze a lot), but it was easily and quickly treated with antibiotics from the vet. It did take him a couple of weeks to get his appetite back, but with some supplemented feeding to help him along, he soon began to regain the weight he’d lost after the operation and the infection that followed. It’s true what they say, the weight comes off quickly enough, but it’s not so quick to go back on!
A
couple of weeks later, and I discovered this nasty sore on his side -
another trip to the vets and more oral antibiotics - it looks as though
Oliver had a skin reaction on an injection site (from an injection given
during the op) Another couple of weeks later, and the sore has all but
disappeared.
Oliver is now back over the 500g level, and doing very well indeed!
So all in all? A few weeks on, I’ve absolutely no regrets. No operation is without SOME element of risk. And we can now look forward to finding a life-long friend for Oliver!
Update 9 September 2005 - we have now found Oliver two wives - see his main page (link below) for a pic!
(Last Modified 29/11/2006 )