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How would I know if my guinea pig has impaction?

Noellechardon

Noellechardon

New Born Pup
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I dont know why but my guinea pigs lately have been going through hell I'm still alittle confused as to how they got a URI considering I'm very paranoid and clean every two days and basically do everything i can to keep them healthy and confused how one reacted weird to the antibiotics, however when my guinea pig Matty started taking the antibiotics he stopped eating went to the vet theu said no more antibiotics for him just to Woody (his brother) now Matty is off critical care and is eating but now his poops are soft and weirdly shaped plus i see that he winces some times and i know they can get impacted so i checked he had small poops hanging out but not anything i would have been alarmed by but i also felt a weird circular whatever it was in his balls or something and i don't know what it could be we have a vets appointment thursday but I've already be twice in two weeks so I'm trying to wait a few days I've read the impaction thread but i still don't know if he has it or how serious it is if he does have it. I got both of them from a Petco which I'm starting to realize was a mistake but i love them so its worth it
 
oh and his balls were big before and now he doesnt even look like hes got any i have a pic (was very hard to take he hates being touched in certain places like his back) but i dont know whether posting it would be okay?
 
Feel free to post photos. It's not the most dignified thing for your piggy but it helps to show what you mean. I've dealt with impaction once and you could easily tell that there was a build up of poo in the anal sack to clear out.
 
Noellechardon said:
I dont know why but my guinea pigs lately have been going through hell I'm still alittle confused as to how they got a URI considering I'm very paranoid and clean every two days and basically do everything i can to keep them healthy and confused how one reacted weird to the antibiotics, however when my guinea pig Matty started taking the antibiotics he stopped eating went to the vet theu said no more antibiotics for him just to Woody (his brother) now Matty is off critical care and is eating but now his poops are soft and weirdly shaped plus i see that he winces some times and i know they can get impacted so i checked he had small poops hanging out but not anything i would have been alarmed by but i also felt a weird circular whatever it was in his balls or something and i don't know what it could be we have a vets appointment thursday but I've already be twice in two weeks so I'm trying to wait a few days I've read the impaction thread but i still don't know if he has it or how serious it is if he does have it. I got both of them from a Petco which I'm starting to realize was a mistake but i love them so its worth it
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Hi!

Please have a read through these two guides.
The first one is a guide about how look after boars down below and what you can come across.
The second guide is about impaction with several videos. Impaction affects about 10% of mostly older boars (ca. 4 years onwards). It can also occur in boars kept on a bad diet without hay or in rare occasions occur as a post-op complication to neutering or bladder stone operations. I am sure that your boar doesn't have it, but you'd better see for yourself!

If you feel that the poos are not looking right, take your boy off any fresh veg for a day or two to help the digestive system to rebalance. Please be aware that noticeably smaller and thinner poos can indicate a reduced food intake and that in this case, you need to switch to weighing daily at the same time (instead of once weekly) and if necessary step in with top syringe feed; mushed up poos and a normal syringe with the tip cut off as shown in the guide will do in an emergency. The poos output lags 1-2 days behind the input. In this case, you may want to see a vet.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
It doesn't look like he is impacted from the photo (just a touch dirty) but the fact he is making noises and straining indicates that he is in discomfort with something so would be best for the vet to check what is going on
 
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