It is important to have your pigs neutered or spayed while they
are very young, preferably around two months old. If you don't
intend to breed a pig you should get it neutered or spayed, and
there is little reason to breed your pet pig since the pet market
and rescues are flooded with pet pigs. Neutering and spaying save
pigs from health issues and potentially serious behavior problems
down the road when they hit puberty.

If your pet is a pot-bellied or other "miniature" pig, be aware
that they are much different than a regular pig to spay, and
nothing like a dog. Be sure to use a veterinarian that is
familiar with pot-bellied pigs and has performed a neuter or spay
on them before in order to preserve the health of your pet. You
will want a veterinarian to perform the procedures.

It is important that you have everything ready for your pig
before it comes home from the vet's office in order to minimize
its pain and suffering. Provide it with a clean, dry, hay-filled
shelter where you can keep watch on it. The place you prepare
should be cool but not chilly, and out of the sun and weather on
clean straw. Your pig may not want to eat for a while, that is
common. The younger a pig is when it is spayed or neutered, the
better they rebound. If a pig is already an adult it takes a lot
longer to recover from this surgery.

Do not force your piggy to go anywhere after this surgery. It may
tear its stitches and bleed if it does any kind of excessive
activity. Provide a ramp it can walk down from your car or truck
when you get home. You can also carry it in a blanket to the
recovery pen if the pig is small enough. A big pig may take three
or four people to move in three or four good sturdy blankets, but
this is the best way to assure the stitches won't pull out.

When a veterinarian neuters a male pig he may elect to leave the
wound open so that it can drain. This decreases the amount of
swelling. Usually a veterinarian will put one stitch in the
inguinal ring so that a hernia doesn't develop later in life.

It is essential that you keep the wound clean by spraying the
surgical area on the male pig several times a day with hydrogen
peroxide. Get some Wonder Dust, a Farnam horse product, to dust
on the wound after spraying it down. This keeps the wound low in
PH so that bacteria do not multiply in the wound and so that
flies do not lay eggs and maggot hatch in the wound.

For female pigs use the Wonder Dust also and be generous. It can
save your pig from an infection and another trip to the
veterinarian.

You should check your piggy's ears to make sure that they don't
have a fever and check that they are eliminating regularly. The
female pigs usually don't recover as quickly as the male pigs;
their surgery is of course more invasive. If your pig seems to be
in pain, ask your veterinarian if you can give it coated aspirin
for the first few days.

Pay close attention to your pig, but do not hover and make it
nervous. Note any abnormal behavior and whether or not it has a
fever. If it does not eat by the third day then you should call
your veterinarian and ask if your pig needs to come in for a
check up. Do not prod the wound, most surgeries heal fine.

A male pig that is neutered after puberty will still continue to
show boar behavior and will be able to breed; he just will not be
able to impregnate the female pigs. This is perfectly natural.
Keep the newly neutered adult male away from the females. This
gives him time to heal properly and get rid of any stray sperm
that might be left over from before the surgery. It will take a
while for the male hormones to cycle out of his system and for
the male pig to settle down and act like a neutered male. (Your
boar is now a barrow.)


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