Ever wondered what an average day looks like behind the scenes for an exotics pet? Well, we followed Shelby through the day of her spay surgery to show you.

After arriving at the practice Shelby waited patiently in her carrier with her friend Ginger in the quiet exotics waiting area, away from other animals.

When the nurse was ready to admit her, they moved through to our exotics consult room. 

In the consult room Shelby’s owner filled out the important paperwork and the nurse explained the spay procedure and what to expect on the day and post-operatively. 

We always weigh pets on the day of an operation as all medications are worked out by their weight. Shelby was very well behaved and sat still calmly on the scales for us. 

Shelby had a full clinical examination to check her health ahead of her general anaesthetic (GA). We use Pet Remedy on the towels to help calm our exotics patients and reduce any anxiety or stress. Here you can see we are listening carefully to her lungs and heart with a tiny stethoscope. 

After her admit appointment she went through to our dedicated exotics ward, we use Pet remedy plug-ins in the consult room and ward to maintain a calm environment. It is also in the quietest part of the practice and far away from any dog or cat sounds or smells. 

In Shelby’s day accommodation you can see that we provide private hiding areas. One half of the kennel is covered by a towel; a foot stall or box makes a great hideaway and her owner brought in a bed and tunnel that smells like home. Ginger also stayed with Shelby for as much of the day as possible for moral support and company. We always encourage companion animals to stay with patients for any trip to the vets and love it when owners bring comforting items and packed lunches for their pets with them. 

Before the surgery guinea pigs require a mouth rinse! We need to get rid of any food in the mouth to make sure it doesn’t block their airway. Shelby had a mouth wash with warm water before a small injection into her rump providing premedication with pain relief and calming drugs. 

Once sleepy and sedated Shelby had some pre-oxygenation to make her general anaesthesia (GA) safer, and an intravenous catheter (IV) placed in her front leg.  We give fluids into this IV to support blood pressure and medication. Guinea pigs have small legs and veins (you can see the yellow bung sticks out past her toes!) but placing an IV is no problem for our skilled our exotics vets and nurses to make the GA as safe as possible. 

Once under GA Shelby is clipped and prepared for surgery. We make an incision on each side of female guinea pigs to remove each ovary, which is why she has an amusing ‘body Mohawk’. We had to tie back her long hair, so it doesn’t get in the way! We try to reduce the amount of fur we clip away to prevent our patients getting cold, she also has a heat mat under the blanket keeping her toasty warm. 

Shelby is ready for surgery. Everything went routinely and smoothly. A nurse monitors Shelby’s GA constantly while our Lead Exotics vet Amy B performs the surgery (Amy loves Guinea pigs and Rabbits – even having them on her scrub cap!) 

Here you can see how small Shelby’s ovaries are. Her ovaries are normal, over the age of 18 months old 80% of female Guinea pigs develop ovarian cysts which can cause all sorts of problems. This is one of the reasons why we recommend spaying them before this age. 

After the operation she is kept on oxygen until moving around. Here she is all wrapped up for extra warmth. 

Once moving and more awake she is moved back to exotics ward and placed in our climate-controlled incubator where the nurse can still monitor her until she is fully around from the GA. 

Shelby recovered very quickly with thanks to her safe GA protocol providing lots of pain relief and with the local anaesthetic blocks she had it’s like nothing has ever happened! She enjoyed munching away on cucumber and pepper. She then went back in with her friend Ginger to wait for their owner to collect them later in the day. The nurse went through postoperative care and medication in a discharge appointment before travelling home. 

A few days later Shelby came back in for a postoperative check appointment. She was back to her usual self. The wounds were healing beautifully, so well in fact that it is difficult to spot them on the photos! She will come back for a second postoperative check to make sure she continues to heal well. 

Amy Bowler – BVSc PGCert (ExAS) MRCVS RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Zoological Medicine