Expert: Helen Morrison - 11/3/2009

Question
Hi, we have a 8 month old PBP, and we want to have her spayed this weekend. we live in Spain and can't find a vet who has done a PBP before.. Our local vet is a very caring person and her colleague has spayed farm pigs, do you think it is ok for him to spay our pig ? They say the main difference is the amount of aneasthetic.Thanks a lot, we are very worried about the operation.


Answer
I don't know your vet so I can't assess her skills. But if she is a good vet, and has experience spaying larger pigs, and is aware of the potential dangers of the sedatives she'll be using, I think your pig will be fine.

There are minor anatomical differences between male pbp and farm hogs, but the females are more similar.

If your vet is interested in learning more about pbp, I recommend the book Veterinary Care of Pot-Bellied Pigs by Lorrie Boldrick (Blackburn) DVM. It covers the basics, including the procedure for spaying. It's available from Amazon.com.

I realize this weekend is coming up quickly and there may not be time to obtain this, or any other book. The Merck Veterinary Manuals are on line and have some information on pot-bellied pig reproduction, but sometimes it is very slow access.

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/toc_171200.htm