General Guinea Pig keeps peeing on himself?

[onefutui2e]

Hey all,

One of my boars, Xavier tends to be the most shy. He just...doesn't enjoy moving as much. He'll walk around a bit when he's in the cage, especially if it's to bully the youngest one, but is still very content with just lying down next to the hay pile and eating. When we take all the boars out for floor time however, while the others will either explore or follow their humans around in hope for some treats, Xavier tends to just...stay there. In fact, if we put the veggies too far from him he won't even walk over to eat them! When we try to coax him to move, he might inch up and stretch himself out, but doesn't like to move more than 2-3 steps at a time.

However, we noticed a few times recently that even when he pees, he...doesn't move. Even as it soaks his fur. There was one time I picked him up to put him back and it was quite literally dripping off of him onto the mat! I don't recall if this has ever been a problem, but is it normal behavior that he's just peeing on himself like this? Like, is he so scared of being out in the open that he'd rather sit in his own pee than risk any sort of movement?

Unrelated to this discovery, we had a vet appointment a few weeks ago that revealed Xavier had impaction in the perineal sac. So we've been checking him daily and clearing the impaction whenever we see a bump there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Soecara]

One question, how old is he?

 

[onefutui2e]

We adopted him about 3.5 years ago, he had grown since we first got him. I'd estimate him at 4 or 4.5 years.

He was never terribly active, though when he was younger he'd do zoomies in his cage. But he's usually much more stationary when we take him out but again, I don't recall him ever peeing on himself like this (we never really had him on the floor long enough for him to do so).

 

[Soecara]

I would certainly want him to be evaluated by a vet if he were mine. I'd want him checked for things that could be causing him pain like arthritis, bladder stones, skeletal issues etc., as it is possible his avoidance of moving could be pain related. The only other potential medical issue that comes to mind when it comes to potentially causing an avoidance of moving would be vision issues.

Until he can get seen by a vet (to rule out or confirm a potential medical issue being the underlying cause) you should take steps to ensure he doesn't develop urine scald by trying to keep the area he tends to sit as dry as possible, for example if you have fleece potty pads place them where he lays in the cage/under him when you take him out of the cage and change it out as frequently as needed to keep him dry. Depending on how often he becomes wet you may also have to begin giving him butt baths every now and then (exactly what is sounds like a bath of just the area around the bottom).