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Impacion- Advice Needed Please

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worried val of york

worried val of york

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I emptied my 6 and half year olds anal sac as best as I could of Friday evening. It was quite a big ball of impacted poo to remove. He perked up immediately. He has eaten and drinks but he is not pooing like he used to. I am emptying his sac daily now. When I try to empty it there always seem there is some I cannot get out. I do not like to stress him out too much so I leave it. He continues to eat and drink. Is this normal. Should be doing anything else as he has not had this issue until Friday.
 
When Rex suffered with this, I used a cotton bud with lukewarm water to clean this area, some use vaseline. His anal area is like a do-nut & I just gently pressed around the edge and this exposed the inside which I cleaned as much as possible. I expected that this would be an ongoing problem but once I bonded him with Minnie & Minky 6 weeks after his neutering op, the impaction stopped within a week & there's been no problem since. I don't know if his anal muscles had got stronger with his strutting around after the girls.
 
Stewybus said:
When Rex suffered with this, I used a cotton bud with lukewarm water to clean this area, some use vaseline. His anal area is like a do-nut & I just gently pressed around the edge and this exposed the inside which I cleaned as much as possible. I expected that this would be an ongoing problem but once I bonded him with Minnie & Minky 6 weeks after his neutering op, the impaction stopped within a week & there's been no problem since. I don't know if his anal muscles had got stronger with his strutting around after the girls.
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I have had Spike on my knee and he has since produced some poos on his own. He has even been attempting to take some out himself. I suppose he is trying to get the soft ones out. I put him back in his run and he went straight to the food dish. I guess that I will have to clean him out every day now because of his age. I had read some advice about cleaning an anal sac and it mentions using mineral oil. But I don't know what constitutes "mineral oil". Does it mean olive oil? I just want to make sure everything is going OK for my guinea pig as I don't want to leave it too long and then the weather closes.
 
Thanks for your replies. I will have Vaseline and some Olive Oil to hand to try and make the experience easier for Spike. I couldn't believe the size of the impaction on Friday as I hadn't really had much contact due to heavy cold. But I am pleased he is coping OK.
 
One of our rescue foster piggies suffered from really bad impaction due to living on a diet of rabbit muesli. Also being underweight and being an older piggy initially we had to clean his anal gland almost daily but as his diet was improved and he started putting on a bit of weight his impaction has decreased significantly to the point where we are cleaning him almost weekly and it's nowhere near as bad as it was. I think you'll find by keeping on top of it, it will improve in your piggy as there is not so much of a build up therefore the chances are he will pass more of it himself so there is always hope for older piggies but you are doing the right thing by checking him frequently.

Lisa & Ali...x
 
Thanks for this information. I had Spike my 6 and half year old to the vet's this morning as I also took Sergei my 2 and half year old re his scratching. I didn't see my exotic vet who had been called to an emergency at the local Zoo!. But the vet I saw told me the impaction could be down to diet. I had noticed Pets at Home pellets had changed their appearance lately so I have bought Excell pellets to replace them already. I was also advised to reduce the amount of pellets/muesli (yes I know pellets are best but when I got Spike in May 2012 that's what he#d had for 5 years). I have always given them a good daily variety of vegetables. The vet had to empty his anal sac again today as the last time I did it was yesterday morning.
It was quite full again. Spike has never had this problem since I got him from a relative who could no longer provide care for him. I will try to reduce his pellets (I will stop his muesli), they always have plenty of fresh hay daily and also continue with the vegetables. But I will check his bottom daily.
 
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