Impaction pus? (not for the faint of heart)

[Gigabyte]

Okay, bear with me folks. Try not lose your cookies.

My GP, Gigabyte has not been pooping or eating well so I decided (why not?) to check for an impaction. What I found was beyond disturbing. I put a little mineral oil on a Q-Tip and carefully poked around to get a piece of poop out, expecting more. What I found was horrifying.

It was thick, yellowish, and some pieces of hay were still there (not much though). The smell was...horrible! I have never in my life smelt anything worse, in fact, I almost puked all over GB...I had to have my boyfriend put him away before I got sick on him.

Good news is...GB feels a bit better! But that's no substitute for seeing the vet. Yikes. He saw the vet last week and they said he was just feeling icky after moving and took his temp. Maybe they hurt his intestines with the thermometer? I worry he's septic.

He's been lethargic, not drinking or eating much, and just plain out of it.

I guess we're going to the vet tomorrow...I'm at the end of my financial ability. If he's septic, the vet will probably have to put him down as surgery would be insane.

Would it be okay to post his paypal and facebook page here for those who want to help us out? I hate to ask, but I don't want to lose him. He is a rescued pig and he is a sweet heart, I'm afraid to lose him.

[KD006]

Haven't vets moved into the 21st century yet, not using a digital non contact thermometer?

[Gigabyte]

Well he wheeked loud when they did it. He was in the other room, too. What if he dies?
I have NEVER EVER heard of this issue or seen it when cleaning him.

[KD006]

After looking at few other posts and a thing on the linx page it seems that smell may be normal

[Gigabyte]

But...oh god it's HORRIBLE! Smells like rotten, during skunk. There was tons of it in his anus and nowhere else. He has a lot of issues passing stools.

[Hhbean]

If the reason for your concern is the stuff you cleaned out of his perineal sac, that is supposed to be nasty smelling. Think about it, if you had stuff fermenting in your bum for who knows how long it would be nasty smelling. I have 4 boys and Roger has the nastiest bum ever, his bum is like a vaccum cleaner and it always has hay and funky yellowish secreations in there. That is not impaction, it's just when he is marking his territory he pushes his sac out a little to leave his "sent" and then when it retrackes it picks up whatever is under him. Impaction is when his poo is all squished up inside him. If he's leaving normal looking poo in his cage he's not impacted. Good luck with you little piggy.

[Hhbean]

What is his diet like, does he have unlimited quality hay?

[KD006]

how old is your boar? From what I have read olderones sometimes have issues with passing stools

[Gigabyte]

He has really small poops and lost a lot of weight recently. So the sight of it freaked me out. How do I clean this whole thing out? Warm water in a syringe? I think if I have to clean it out again I will lose my cookies. I keep smelling it everywhere...ugh!
I can't believe I'm going to vet tech school in fall and the smell of his "glue" nearly kills me, I gotta man up. Or get a mask...

[Gigabyte]

@KD006
2 years or less, he's a rescue and was pretty small when I got him last year.

@Hhbean , he gets unlimited hay. It's all he'll eat. Vet said his teeth are fine, but he's in pain from gas or something. But the stools are so small and he won't eat much but veggies and hay if I beg him to. :(

[KD006]

Not sure if it would help but a sitsbath in warm water may help loosen stuff up

Talking from inexperiance but they do have a 'grease' gland could that be plugged? I was so grosed out when a next door neighbor cleaned my dogs anil galnd one day

[Hhbean]

While my other 3 boys only need a 1 q-tip cleaning, Roger is a 4 q-tip type of guy! I use a little mineral oil on the first Q-tip but the rest get just warm water. Also, I take out the trash RIGHT afterwards. I usually give all the boys an inpection every 2 weeks along with nail trimming, Roger gets checked at least once a week. If he had never been cleaned out then it's a lot worse the first time but it does get slightly better. Just so you know the yellow gunk isn't boar glue, "boar glue" comes from their penis and dries on the fleece like a lump of superglue and is clearish.

[Hhbean]

Not sure if it would help but a sitsbath in warm water may help loosen stuff up

Talking from inexperiance but they do have a 'grease' gland could that be plugged? I was so grosed out when a next door neighbor cleaned my dogs anil galnd one day

Their grease gland is on their rump, in the place where a tail would be if they had one. While that does get dirty it doesn't smell really. Nothing can really compare to the smell of a dirty perineal sac, I've had to change clients colostomy bags and even that didn't smell as bad as the junk in Rogers trunk!

[bpatters]

See the videos in post #7 in this thread for how to clean the sac: http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...ineal-sac.html.

Boars should have their sacs checked at least weekly, and cleaned as needed. Older boars are more prone to problems with impaction. Keeping them clean and making sure they have plenty of exercise will help with their ability to poop. And the smell is perfectly normal. Unfortunately.

[Squint96]

I cleaned out my boys for the first time today- I thought it was only needed if the were actually impacted, and just realized it is supposed to be checked weekly! Oops, but anyways, kind of graphic, but when I opened the save and "rolled" it open further to get to the bottomed there was some white/yellow "sludge" maybe what you saw...both have been popping fine so I wasn't too worried, but should I be? Also, I don't think there were any tears, but what should I check to be sure? And lastly, both my pigs pooped on me during the cleaning- anyone else's do that? One more thing, there wasn't a distinct smell down there, and I hadmy face pretty close unfortunately.

[KristenMatejka]

Quick question! Where can I get mineral oil? I've been looking online but have no idea where to begin....is there a specific brand I need? I see mineral oil intestinal lubricant, mineral oil sheen spray, etc.....

Sorry for the intrusion on the issue!

[Squint96]

I found the coconut oil at Walgreens.com

[spy9doc]

One of the reasons I never liked wood shavings as bedding was because Bubba was constantly getting them stuck in his bum........probably from dragging it across the cage to mark it. I got in the habit of anal cleaning early in the boys' life.

Chester (the one remaining boy) gets maintenance every two weeks.......nails clipped, ears cleaned, and butt cleaned. The only issue I have is that Chester poops every time I try to do the butt cleaning so it's difficult to really get him clean. The whole thing must be stimulating to him!

[bpatters]

Kristen, you can get mineral oil at any pharmacy or most grocery stores.

[stacy97006]

Is this just a boy thing? I have 4 girls and after reading all of this I am breathing a sigh of relief that I dont hopefully have to go through this.