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Spay, Neuter?

Anonymous_

Checking out the neighborhood
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I know I am WAY late to the party, but I have a two-year-old roller pigeon (not a parrot, but I love her) and since she's reached sexual maturity, she lays and egg every day or two, and gets really broody and possessive of her nest. I wouldn't mind this, except it takes a HUGE toll on her. Once, after she layed an egg, she was weak and couldn't even stand for almost two days. I have her on vitamin anand mineral supplements, and it seems to help, but I'm looking into getting her spayed (hormone treatments don't have any proven effects on pigeons) I've tried letting her have no nest box (she just strained out eggs on the floor of her enclosure) and filling her nest with fakes (after about a month, she rolled them out to lay her own eggs, and was able to lay two before I noticed)

Since it would keep her from straining and depleting her resources, I am considering (with my vet's advice) spaying her to keep her from continuing to strain herself. She wouldn't need her ovaries removed, just her uterus, so it wouldn't be as complex of a procedure. Thoughts?
 

JLcribber

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I know I am WAY late to the party, but I have a two-year-old roller pigeon (not a parrot, but I love her) and since she's reached sexual maturity, she lays and egg every day or two, and gets really broody and possessive of her nest. I wouldn't mind this, except it takes a HUGE toll on her. Once, after she layed an egg, she was weak and couldn't even stand for almost two days. I have her on vitamin anand mineral supplements, and it seems to help, but I'm looking into getting her spayed (hormone treatments don't have any proven effects on pigeons) I've tried letting her have no nest box (she just strained out eggs on the floor of her enclosure) and filling her nest with fakes (after about a month, she rolled them out to lay her own eggs, and was able to lay two before I noticed)

Since it would keep her from straining and depleting her resources, I am considering (with my vet's advice) spaying her to keep her from continuing to strain herself. She wouldn't need her ovaries removed, just her uterus, so it wouldn't be as complex of a procedure. Thoughts?
Pigeon anatomy though similar is not parrot anatomy. It is well known how risky this kind of surgery is for a parrot because of the close proximity to vital organs and the risk of blood loss. Only the most skilled avian surgeons would attempt this procedure and only as a last resort after everything else fails.

It seems you may be at this point with your pigeon. The constant egg laying will result in a much shorter, difficult life. If this procedure is not as dangerous then it certainly is an option. This is going to boil down to how much faith you put in your vet and his skill to pull it off. Big judgement call only you can make.

Personally I would move ahead with faith.

You should have started a new thread to get more attention.
 

cassiesdad

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Cassie, our LSC, had egg binding problems. Our AV tried a shot to start help her deliver the egg, but the shot didn't work. As a last resort (as @JLcribber said) our vet agreed to spay her.

She came through the surgery well, to which I give all credit to our AV...she is one of the best.

Cass recovered well, but the damage was done...the excess eggs she was creating disarranged internal organs...and she passed, not from effects of the surgery, but from the disarrangements of the internal organs...in particular, her heart.

If she hadn't had the surgery, she would have died within a few days...but because of the surgery, we had eight more wonderful months to enjoy her company.

Every case is different, obviously...this was just my experience...
Personally I would move ahead with faith.
...agree totally...
 

bentleyesghost

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A long time ago I had a Lovebird that developed an egg laying problem. The vet was able to improve things somewhat with periodic hormone shots. But it ended up shortening her life. This was back in the 1980s, so hopefully there are new treatments. But I don't think so from above posts.
 
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