Ovarioectomy. Thoughts?

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passionfruit

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2011
Messages
23
Location
Toronto, Canada
During my last visit to the vet's office, he suggested that an ovarioectomy will be a less invasive, safer, and cheaper method to prevent tumors later in life. At the time, I wasn't giving it much thought as I was more concerned about their parasite issue. With the realization that they can get sick and will leave me one day :sad3: I'm thinking more about the surgery option that may keep them with me for longer.

Two of my girls were born last July/August, making them about 10 months. One was born November 1st, so almost 7 month old. Based on this, I wanted to get everyone's opinion on:

how effective do you think the ovarioectomy will be compared to a full spray at this age? I'm asking because I don't have the funds to do the surgery for all three of them right now (it costs about 270 per rat). So I can only do one at a time. If a full spray will be more effective, and can buy me more time, I'd be willing to go for that option so I can save more money in the mean time

how likely is that there will be complications during the surgery...? I don't want to drop her off only to never see her again..
 
I don't know much about ovariectomy vs a spay. What is the difference in cost per rat? I had a girl spayed as a full adult (unknown age) who head already developed a mammary tumor and the tumor removed. I had her for another 1.5 years and the tumor never grew back, I ended up having to pts due to a multitude of issues. I would imagine the risks would be rat to rat and how healthy they are, but under a year is still a good age to have it done.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvetted/ ... 7cnDtwu2-0
 
No idea.
I always have always had the ovaries and uterus removed from my girls.
I have been very fortunate and have never had a girl develop mammory tumours.
At present I have 20 girls and I have had 36 girls that passed away over the last almost 8 years.
 
When I got my first females spayed, my rat vet at the time found research to suggest it was just as effective on younger rats and she did it that way because it was less invasive. My current vet recently discussed the same with me and I know Dr. Munn in Toronto recommends it for younger rats. It is supposed to be as effective as a full hystero-oophorectomy in rats younger than 4-6 months that have never been pregnant. It's also supposed to be a bit cheaper, which makes it more accessible to people that wouldn't be able to afford the procedure at all.
 
Thanks for the fast replies! I did some more research on my own just now, I think I would like the full spray, if I can find a way to get the money for it. I believe it's going to be at least another $100 more each rat, but I didn't get a quote for that.
 
Is your vet Dr Munn passionfruit, or is there another local vet suggesting O-spays? I have had 4 girls done with this method so far and plan on doing more. Dr Munn is also going to be changing the upper limit on O-spays to under 9 months not 6 months due to further research. I also know of a US vet or vet college that does them up to 9 months as well.
 
I'm quite interested to see how the rats with O-spays do. Right now, we can only go on what our vets tell us but I'd like to see real experience. This we will know in a couple of years with lilspaz's rats. :)
One concern I do have is that the uterus is staying in. I've had a handful of rats with uterine cancer/tumours and anomalies that would have cost them their life eventually. But I believe that Shelagh told us that her vet has found that uterine cancer is also low with O-spays.
If all I could afford were O-spays, that's definitely the way I'd go.
 
Yes, my vet is Dr. Munn. He said he can do the surgery for all three of my rats because they have a smaller build, and he can easily gain access to the ovaries from the sides. He was just concerned about their age, as it is approaching the one year mark.

Actually in the article that Rissa posted also pointed out that you're leaving the uterus in which can result in uterine cancer and such. However, they also pointed out that it's the hormones released by the ovaries that cause the uterine cancer.

Thanks for the thread link, lilspaz68! The incisions look to be about the same size to me, is that correct? Or should the ovarioectomy have smaller incisions?
 

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