Boar Impaction - Advice Needed, Please!

[Rigby]

Hello,

I'm hoping some experienced pig lovers willbe able to help.

I have a 3.5 year old boar, Wilbur, who has recently started to become impacted with soft faeces.

I have taken him to the vet who didn't really have any suggestions for improving this, just that I need to check and clean every day as necessary which I am doing. Wilbur still produces some normal hard droppings in the cage. But I am really concerned that he will lose condition if he cannot reingest his softer faeces.

I've looked for advice online and have made some changes to his diet. He mainly eats hay and vegetables (he is not keen on any pellets, I've tried several but he ignores them) I've wondered about trying him on the Science FibaFirst guinea pig food - does anyone use this?

I have reduced his intake of carrots as I read too much starch can also cause impaction problems.

He is bedded on hay and paper, with a fleece den and I do not notice any fibres collecting in his sac when I clean it out. I also keep his hair trimmed short at the back.

He is young and quite active, and goes out in his run for a few hours each day at the moment.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Keep your boy on a high fibre very regular diet (you may find our daily diet recommendation helpful) with feeding the same at the same time.
Impaction affects the redigested poos that contain the partially broken down grass fibre that need a second run through the guts; these poos that are eaten are called caecotrophs. Guinea pigs need to digest their food twice in order to get the best out of their nutrionally poor grass/hay based diet. Too much rich veg is not good. You can offer the expressed bit to your boy; some boars eat it, others won't.

Please take the time to read through our impaction guide. It contains videos as well as practical tips from the owner of an impacted guinea pig. In the early stages, regular care and a strict diet can help a lot to ease it. You will hopefully find it very helpful.
Impaction Recovery - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

 

[DM030819]

Have a try of the FibaFirst food. I've never heard of, or had a pig that like them but you never know!

I had a boar who suffered quite badly with it and I had to help him pass some. Gross as it sounds I offered it to him and he used to eat quite a bit of it. I held back on the kisses for a while afterwards. But, if he wanted it then he must have needed it.

 

[Rigby]

Thank you both, I will try all those suggestions. I got the FibaFirst food today, and he seems to really like it.

Hopefully things will improve. Thanks for your advice x