Smelly Piggie

[licountrygirl]

Hi everyone,

My boar, Shadow, is approximately 2 years old. We don't know for sure because we adopted him.

The problem I've been noticing is his bottom area. To put it simply, he stinks. I've done some research on the sites and found that sometimes as a boar gets older, he needs to have his bottom area cleaned out. On Sunday I did that, a little bath and a complete cleaning of the inside of his bottom, followed by a little Vaseline like was suggested.

Today is Wednesday and he's already getting that smell back. I took a look, and there's some stuff in there but not too much.

Is this normal for a boar? How often should I do a cleaning like this? Does anyone else out there have a smelly boar?

Thanks!

 

[Ragous]

I don't have a smelly boar but I do have a very smelly sow! My Zoey a rescue from a really bad home that left her partially blind, deaf and missing a front toe, I love her to bits but she smells!!!

To put it simply on Monday morning I switched out my all ( kiln Dried of corse ) pine shavings and layed down towels and fleece for the new bedding. The next morning I sat on the couch with my morning cup of coffee and was almost chased away from the smell. So tonight after my husband gets off from work it is back to the store for more shavings.....at least with that I can scoop under her hidey once a day and not smell anything.

I feel your pain with smelly piggies

 

[licountrygirl]

I, too, switched from pine shavings to fleece. This was only about a week ago. I thought it would be better for them. ( I have 2 boars now) I wonder if the smell will be worse with the fleece. Anyone?

Both of my piggies were adopted from families that never held them. My new boar, Buster, was in a milk crate sized crate. He is soooo skittish, I feel so bad for him. His nails were probably never cut at all. I would cut the other boar's nails until last time I nipped a little of the quick. I heard that piggie squeal and I swore I would never cut them again. I found a dog groomer that will do it for $5 a pig. Worth the money, if you ask me!

Anyway, before these 2 adoptions, I didn't know much about GPs. Glad to have found this forum to help out. Thank you for your response!

 

[clotho]

I too have a smelly boar. He's older (around 2 years old). I noticed one day he was smelling really bad. So, after reading about impaction on this site I checked him out. He had this nasty smelling light peach coloured stuff in him - it was kind of thick and just awful. I cleaned that all out using mineral oil. A couple days later, he was smelling bad again, so I had to do it all over. I thought he had bumps in there, so I decided to try some antibiotic cream (fucidin I used). I cleaned him all out, then just smeared a dab of the antibiotic cream on and then a light coat of mineral oil. I had to do this every day for a week, but it kept getting better each time I did it. There was less foul smelling gunk, and he was looking and feeling better all the time. After a week it was gone, and now I clean him (and all my boys) out everytime I change their cage. He usually has a little of that stuff in him, but not much, and once a week seems to keep it under control. Sometimes even the young ones have something stuck in there that needs to be cleaned out. I think once a week is pretty standard practice for cleaning boars out - more often if he's having a problem. Good luck with him!!!!

 

[salana]

Jackie had the Butt of Eternal Stench because he was making tons and tons of "boar cologne" (sticky white goo) and filling up his butt. Neutering him really helped when all the baths and creams hadn't. It also allowed him to move in with the ladies.

 

[licountrygirl]

Thanks for your replies - a question about neutering. Can you tell me about how much it cost?

 

[Raisintosser]

I called a vet here in Ontario before I got my piggies to inquire about it. Neutering was $160 CA and Spay was $250 CA. Then there was a $40 dollar charge just for the vet to see the GP.

 

[Terekins]

I'm in Nova Scotia Canada, and I paid about $90 with taxes. That included pain medication too. It went really well and he was home within 6 hours or so. Good luck with the butt stink!

 

[salana]

I went to a very good vet in NYC and it cost $575. But he also did an abdominal neuter, to reduce hernias and infections, and used a nonstandard type of suture, because Jackie has a family history of bad reactions to the standard PDS.

 

[seagirl96]

The butt of eternal stench! May I use that? Comet, my long haired female gets a butt bath on Saturdays and hair cuts as needed. She still smells like Princess Pee by Thursday.

 

[ScottandDebbie]

We have two older gentlemen piggers. Five/ six years old.

Oscars pees much more than Fizbit, and Oscar is our stinky little pig if we don't change out his fleece, and cozy every day, sometime twice a day.

In their cage, we use a thick layer of pine shavings as a bottom layer, A thick layer of CareFresh on top of the pine shavings, and patches of fleece where he enjoys hanging out for his *long* naps.

Cozies in the bottom of their piggy houses for night, with fleece on the inside of the cozies.

If we use towel instead of the fleece... Stinky smell returns quickly.

The key for de' stinking *our* boys was in changing their fleece and cozies often, and after about 5 days we will stir up the pine and the CareFresh together allowing all areas to air dry.

We can get approx. 2 weeks in between cage changes.

Good Luck.
Hope you find the solution for your little guy.

 

[tillie]

So if I had 2 neutered boys would they hardly smell at all? Just wondering if its worth getting done. My vet has quoted me £45 a piggie. What age should you get them neutered?

 

[salana]

Neutering helped Jackie with a lot of his problems (butt full of stinky white slime, obsessive rumbling at the ladies). He may have had some kind of hormonal excess sort of problem. Neutering is not guaranteed to help any boar with any stink problem. In fact, Jackie still smells not so fresh, as he enjoys pooping and peeing in his cuddle cup and wallowing in it.

It just depends on what causes each individual pig's bad smell. If it's lack of hygiene, there's not much you can do other than trim hair, clean the cage frequently, and give butt baths.

 

[MattysMom]

My girls REEKED on fleece, But my Boys are great on it some pigs need the absobant power of wood i guess lol. I only left the girls on fleece for two weeks the would poop evreywhere and then run around in it. The boys poop in all the corners for nice easy shop vac disposal.

 

[mommyoffive]

If you want to get rid of the odor, do not use a guinea pig shampoo. It was not strong enough for my pigs, so I switched to pro pet salon kitty shampoo, it works great and they smell baby fresh for at least three weeks.

 

[DiscoDuc]

I have 2 pretty stinky girls on fleece as well. They didn't smell any better when they were on the pine though. Fleece just doesn't seem to work for everyone. I like the clean look of it, but my little pooping queens have me vacuming the poop out everyday to keep it looking nice. I have a litter pan under every bottomless hidey house they have. That seems to help absorb alot of stinch. It's still very high maintenance though, and they still stink. I can't go back to bedding now though because of the mess they kick on the floor. My son plays on the floor in there, and he is just now getting the little grabby hands (he is a baby ) and I don't need him eating pig bedding!

 

[salana]

I wouldn't use a cat shampoo on guinea pigs. That one is scented, too.

It's better to address the cause of the smell if possible.