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Impaction In A Young Boar?

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Kit06

Kit06

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My boar is only just 12 months old but I found he was impacted last night. I sorted it out and will be checking regulaly from now on but I was wondering - I'd expect this in a much older boar and wondered why it was happening to such a young boy. The only thing I can think of is that I recently began to slowly change his pellets over from science sellective to JR Farm pellets as I am keen to reduce the calcium he and his friend get (he lives with a neutered sow who recenlty had a stone removed). Could it be the change in pellets putting him off eating caecal material and therefore it had built up? Or could it be that as he is long haired, hair and debris had accumulated? The ball I removed was quite soft and I regularly trim his rear to prevent hair getting stuck places it shouldn't. Also, when he was young he had trouble keeping his willy in - the vet said it might be due to slack muscles and as he has grown it is no longer a problem, but could he have been born with slack muscles in this area which are now contributing to this problem? Any thoughts would be appreciated - Thanks!
 
In your case, the impaction problem may have been caused by the neutering operation, especially if it has been performed by a vet who is not so experienced with operating on small animals. Otherwise, impaction is not normally a problem in younger boars.

Please check your boy regularly from now on; impaction is unfortunately not curable. I would also recommend that you give some added vitamin C as the impacted material is usually the caecotrophs that contain the vitamin C and the gut bacteria that piggies need to restock their guts with.

We have got a piggy savvy UK vet locator on the top bar if you wish to get a second opinion.
 
Sorry for the confusion, he is not neutered, he lives with a neutered sow.
 
In that case, he is likely to suffer from weak muscles in that general area, especially in view of his penile issues. It is very rare, but there is nothing to say that it cannot happen. :(
 
If you clean him out regularly and the poo bit is not too compromised by other yuck, it would be good if you gave him the chance to eat it.
 
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