Silly Question #5000, 5001, 5002 .....

[charlotte]

Can male mice be neutered? Is it worth it? Is it too risky? *Is it very expensive?* How old would they have to be to have this done?

Long story short, one of my mice had babies. My favorite is a male, and I really want to keep him...but the hubby has put his foot down on only ONE cage....and I don't want to give up the momma or my other female.

Thoughts / ideas?

Thanks.....

Charlotte

[RSbunny]

yep they can be neutered. I don't know about costs but there is a small risk involved, considering the size of them so find a vet that has done it before. I think it's totally worth it if you can only have once cage. Otherwise you are going to have lots of mice.

[TareG]

If you do it, you will need to find a specialist as, like RSBunny said, it is a very complicated surgery due to the size of mice! And it is fairly expensive as well, but not any more than a dog/cat/etc.

Good luck!

[charlotte]

Well, I called my vet today and asked if she could recommend someone that was experienced with mice. She gave me two names, and without coming out and saying "this guys is better" - somewhat led me to call one over the other. I called that vet - He is a "regular" vet but also specializes in pocket pets. I talked directly to him for about 20 minutes. He normally sees rats, hamsters and gerbils, but they usually get about 10 mice a year. He seemed quite competent and was very reassuring. He also told me that he generally likes to wait until the mice are about 6 weeks old to do the surgery...so I get to be creative for a couple of weeks between 4 and 6 weeks with coming up with ways to keep Gabriel from the females. Perhaps the hubby wouldn't mind a second cage for just a couple of weeks ... :-) One could only hope I suppose. The price, after reading what most people have been averaging, isn't that bad. He charges the same for all rodents - it's like $112.75. Phew! I had set a told myself that $100 wouldn't be too bad, so that's right on track for me! :-) He was also very impressed that I'd done as much research as I had and had a fairly good idea of what the procedure and related concerns were. (yeah for me! Brownie points with the vet!) He knows my regular vet and seemed to respect her quite a bit - and was very appreciative of the referral.

Thanks everyone for the advice and information!

Charlotte

[charlotte]

The first pic is Gabriel taken tonight; the second is of him with a few littermates tonight. He's such a doll! :-)

[charlotte]

And, here is the entire litter...

[Padfoot]

Oh! Those are the cutest things ever!!! I love the gray ones!!! I want one!!! LOL

[jules_77]

oh my gosh they are so cute i want one too!!!!!!!!!