General Swollen and red grease gland

[onefutui2e]

Hi all,

Tonight I noticed one of our boars' grease glands looked very irritated. I also managed to scrape a fingernail's worth of gunk away from it, so I rubbed some coconut oil on it, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then washed it off with some pet shampoo.

I've read that I should repeat this every few days for a bit of time, and observe that the swelling goes away. Otherwise, going to a vet is the next step. Is that right?

His behavior otherwise has been fine, personality quirks, weight, appetite, etc. Just wanted to check if this is anything to be overly concerned about.

 

[bpatters]

That's a plan. That gland doesn't look normal at all, so if it isn't immediately better, like within the next couple of days, I'd be off to the vet. Or sooner if it gets worse.

I'm not sure this article has much info on problems with a grease gland, but you can compare the pictures and see how different your guy's looks: https://guinealynx.info/grooming.html#grease_gland

 

[onefutui2e]

Thanks; just wanted to confirm. I know the grease gland can have blockages and it's not the first time I had to peel off a layer from the area. The fact that I was able to scrape off a fingernail's worth (right underneath the gland) suggests that this might be an ongoing problem. This morning I checked it out and the swelling looks like it has gone down, so hopefully this is good news.