Anal Sack cleaning guilt

[JosieRose34]

My male guinea pig gets impaction of hay, bedding and poop in his anal sack very often (pretty much every day) so as you would imagine I clean it out for him because I know that must be uncomfortable and not healthy. I think I do it the right way which is using a q tip with water or coconut oil and gently spreading the area, I get a little carried away and meticulous while doing it. My issue is that I get this wave of guilt over me after like I did something wrong and that he thinks I'm trying to hurt him, he doesn't squeak but he squirms a little bit sometimes. I just want to know if I should stop doing this or if I shouldn't feel so guilty. I just feel awful.

 

[Piggies&buns]

When you say impaction of hay and bedding, do you mean that it is getting stuck to the outside of the area? Impaction when is when piggies cant go to the toilet properly due to the muscles not being tight any more.

This boar cleaning guide may help you

Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

 

[Wiebke]

Impaction is a build up of redigested poos (caecotrophs) in the anal sac that can no longer be expressed by gradually weakening muscles at the back in about 10% of older boars.
Impaction - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

A build-up of debris in the anal sac that boars can pick up when wiping the bum on the bedding is something else. Some boys are messier than others. The scent gland is located just in front of the genitalia; a highly sexed or dominant boar is often worse because he keeps doing it a lot more although all piggies (including sows) contribute to scent marking their territory.
If you have a very messy boy, please poo patrol your cage twice daily; if possible shake out the fleece or invest in a hand held pet safe cleaner or tie a bit of loosely woven thin fabric in front of the nozzle.

 

[JosieRose34]

When you say impaction of hay and bedding, do you mean that it is getting stuck to the outside of the area? Impaction when is when piggies cant go to the toilet properly due to the muscles not being tight any more.

This boar cleaning guide may help you

Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

I meant it gets stuck in the inside, I thought that was a type of impaction as well?

 

[Wiebke]

I meant it gets stuck in the inside, I thought that was a type of impaction as well?

No; impaction relates only to a special type of poo and a specific condition (i.e. the inability to push out the poos that a guinea pig is eating for a second run through the gut).
Impactioncan also affect neutered boars whose anal sac has contracted again after he removal of the testicles. They have less of a build up but they still struggle to the get the poos out and they still push them out as a mass rather as well formed single poos.

Gathering debris from the floor in the anal sac is not a health condition; the muck is coming in via the exit, so to speak.