Genitals Help with young guinea pig's swollen genitals.

[Munchkin814]

Oliver is about five months old. I adopted him and his brother back in January and all seemed well until now. I currently have Oliver, Benny (his brother) and Archy living together in a pretty big home. They all get along really well together but recently I noticed a difference between Oliver's genitals and the other guinea's. He seems really swollen compare and he also had some kind of skin issue that leads from his belly to his genitals. It looks like dried skin or how our psoriasis. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? I think I might make a vet appointment anyway to make sure he is okay.
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[bpatters]

I'd definitely get him to a vet, and as quickly as I could. That looks uncomfortable, if nothing else. It may only be a skin condition (probably fungus) which can be treated fairly easily, but as red and swollen as that area looks, I'd want a vet to make sure nothing's going wrong.

Do you routinely inspect the shaft of his penis to make sure nothing is wrapped around it and that there's no trash collected in it? And clean his anal sac? There's a sticky at the top of the Medical Forum on how to do that. If you haven't been doing it, I'd suggest starting it, but be very gentle with him -- that area looks sore. And you don't want to introduce any of the fungus into any of the internal areas.

 

[Munchkin814]

I'd definitely get him to a vet, and as quickly as I could. That looks uncomfortable, if nothing else. It may only be a skin condition (probably fungus) which can be treated fairly easily, but as red and swollen as that area looks, I'd want a vet to make sure nothing's going wrong.

Do you routinely inspect the shaft of his penis to make sure nothing is wrapped around it and that there's no trash collected in it? And clean his anal sac? There's a sticky at the top of the Medical Forum on how to do that. If you haven't been doing it, I'd suggest starting it, but be very gentle with him -- that area looks sore. And you don't want to introduce any of the fungus into any of the internal areas.

Thank you for your fast reply. I actually saw a video on cleaning the anal sac today and was going to try it tomorrow but I might leave that to the vet since it looks so irritated, I don't want to hurt him. Do you think that he should be separated from the other pigs until he is taken care of?

 

[soccerchickgrp5]

i would take him to the vet right away! Good luck!

 

[bpatters]

Since he's been with them all this time, I'd leave him there unless they're harassing him. That sometimes happens when one pig is ill -- the others turn into bullies of varying degrees. But he may be upset by being placed by himself, and whatever his skin condition is, they're all already exposed.

Depending on what the vet says the problem is with the skin, you may have to separate him afterwards. If it's a fungus, you're going to have to do a complete cage cleaning anyway, for all the pigs. Do watch the others so you can treat them quickly if they develop any similar skin problems.

 

[Paula]

At first glance, that looks like a badly impacted pig, but his young age makes it seem unlikely. Definitely get him to a vet, stat. Like tomorrow. Morning.

It could also be an abscess or tumor. Good luck and please keep us posted.