Questions:First experience with impaction

[WendyK]

Wow - today I delt with an impaction (my year old boar Miracle)and thanks to this site I think things came out well (no pun intended)! I would probably be willing to cut off my right arm in order to avoid THIS experience ever again so here is my first question: I use pine shavings - I tried flannel bedding for awhile but found I was not very good at the care involved with this - would it be better - in terms of this plug problem to switch to Care Fresh (the plug was full of mega amounts of gunk ,much of which was pine shavings). Second question: if Miracle went right for an apple slice after "the ordeal" can I rest assured he's OK or should I keep a close eye on him? Third question: While I was working on the plug, Miracle started delivering poops like he was a regular pez dispenser on automatic - is that normal? Fourth question: any changes or additions to his diet to help avoid this in the future - at present his daily diet: Oxbow pellets, unlimited timothy hay, at least three large leaves of dark green lettuce, one baby carrot. On occasion: tomatoe slice, apple, orange, radish - during the spring and summer - grass daily with some of the approved forages (guinealynx). Once again - thank you so much for all the help.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Do you mean impaction?

[spoonyspork]

*dies laughing* Yah... umm... I saw the title and immediately went 'dangit! Hax0r3d!'*

*hacked, spammed, trolled, whatever

[WendyK]

Yes - I mean impaction

[Percy's Mom]

1)Carefresh would probably be better, but ultimately if you find you're having to clean him out a lot, fleece is your best bet.
2)If he is eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping (to the best of his ability) between cleanings, he's probably fine.
3)Yes, I would assume that is normal. Once you got the major blockage out of the way, everything else was able to come out that had been stopped by the road jam.
4)To avoid further impaction, the diet is probably fine. As a general matter though, I would add more variety and more stuff higher in vitamin C like bell peppers, maybe add some cilantro as well.

[Ly&Pigs]

I have to change the title of this thread and rephrase a couple of your ummm words in your post.

I about fell out of my chair when I saw that. You cannot give this mod a heart attack ok.

[WendyK]

Sorry Ly - somewhere along the way I saw this condition referred to as anal "you-know-what". Won't do it again!

[WEAVER]

Wendy---Try not to feed any more carrots. That can cause impaction and tends to make the situation worse.

I did a lot of searching around on GL to learn more about impaction, and I remember right off hand that boston lettuce and carrots were two things I needed to have my boys avoid. (I was feeding those regularly before). I want to say that apples was on that list as well as even the very occasional banana...??

Now that I have changed my boy's diet and switched to fleece I am only have to clean their buts about once a week and it is not nearly as bad as when I orginally adopted them.

I know that fleece is A LOT more work, but life for your piggie would be so much more comfortable and easy (and on you in the long run). My boars even have fleece in their hayloft to avoid problems with shavings get caught in there. Please consider trying it again.

Also here is a boar cleaning tip: After you use the Q-tip and mineral oil make sure you try and get all the excess oil off of the outside of the sac. That will stop anything from recollecting in there as soon as you put him back into the cage. You may also want to make sure there is not A LOT (you do want some) of the excess oil left inside the sac, otherwise it drips back out and also will cause shavings and such to stick to your little man's "stuff".

[WendyK]

Did not know that about carrots and apples - I will definitely stop them. I have a new respect for the gp digestive tract! Miracle is doing fine today - I think between Miracle and me, I was the one who was more upset by all this Much thanks for all the infomation.

[jdomans]

Oh Lord the old woman is slow today. I just got it and am cracking up!!! Please keep the title for the enjoyment of others!