Impaction in boars

[KathT]

Can anyone give me advice on this please? I have an approx 3.5 year old boar who suffers with daily impaction. I clean his anal sack once a day and it seems to be mostly first poos that get stuck - though there are 2nd poos too. He had a blockage the other day and I helped squeeze it out while he was still in his cage, and he promptly started eating it once it was out () but I left him to eat it as I know first poos still have vits and minerals they need for good health. Am I denying him essential vits and minerals by totally removing the first poos and is it likely to affect him in time? He’s a very lazy pig who spends most of his time in the hay and doesn’t move about much when out in the run or when on floor time. Is there anything I can do to help with impaction? He has a good high fibre diet with veggies once per day, occasionally twice. I just want to do the best by him as he’s such a gentlepig. Thanks in advance.

 

[Gem789]

Can anyone give me advice on this please? I have an approx 3.5 year old boar who suffers with daily impaction. I clean his anal sack once a day and it seems to be mostly first poos that get stuck - though there are 2nd poos too. He had a blockage the other day and I helped squeeze it out while he was still in his cage, and he promptly started eating it once it was out () but I left him to eat it as I know first poos still have vits and minerals they need for good health. Am I denying him essential vits and minerals by totally removing the first poos and is it likely to affect him in time? He’s a very lazy pig who spends most of his time in the hay and doesn’t move about much when out in the run or when on floor time. Is there anything I can do to help with impaction? He has a good high fibre diet with veggies once per day, occasionally twice. I just want to do the best by him as he’s such a gentlepig. Thanks in advance.

I’ll tag @Wiebke as I only had 1 pig years ago who had impaction and I didn’t know exactly what to do so just cleaned him out once a day.It is a messy job lol

 

[Wiebke]

Can anyone give me advice on this please? I have an approx 3.5 year old boar who suffers with daily impaction. I clean his anal sack once a day and it seems to be mostly first poos that get stuck - though there are 2nd poos too. He had a blockage the other day and I helped squeeze it out while he was still in his cage, and he promptly started eating it once it was out () but I left him to eat it as I know first poos still have vits and minerals they need for good health. Am I denying him essential vits and minerals by totally removing the first poos and is it likely to affect him in time? He’s a very lazy pig who spends most of his time in the hay and doesn’t move about much when out in the run or when on floor time. Is there anything I can do to help with impaction? He has a good high fibre diet with veggies once per day, occasionally twice. I just want to do the best by him as he’s such a gentlepig. Thanks in advance.

Hi! Please take the time to read our impaction guide with plenty of proper care videos and diet tips from a impaction boar owner. You will hopefully find your questions all answered in there!
Impaction - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

 

[KathT]

Hi! Please take the time to read our impaction guide with plenty of proper care videos and diet tips from a impaction boar owner. You will hopefully find your questions all answered in there!
Impaction - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

Thanks for the reply Wiebke. I’ve looked at the guides and they have helped but I can’t see anything about whether this could affect his long term health ie not digesting all the minerals etc if I keep removing the faeces?

 

[KathT]

I’ll tag @Wiebke as I only had 1 pig years ago who had impaction and I didn’t know exactly what to do so just cleaned him out once a day.It is a messy job lol

It really is messy - and very smelly too!

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for the reply Wiebke. I’ve looked at the guides and they have helped but I can’t see anything about whether this could affect his long term health ie not digesting all the minerals etc if I keep removing the faeces?

You can offer him some of his impacted poo; some boars will eat some of it and some won't touch it.

He will still get enough minerals and vitamins, but he needs to eat more fibre to get it as he lacks the second run - keep in mind that nutrients are also already extracted during the first run, which is why you get waste poos from both runs nd not just the second run; the volume of what goes through the digestive system for second run is a lot smaller.

If you really wish and are very worried, I would recommend an occasional course of fibreplex.

 

[KathT]

You can offer him some of his impacted poo; some boars will eat some of it and some won't touch it.

He will still get enough minerals and vitamins, but he needs to eat more fibre to get it as he lacks the second run - keep in mind that nutrients are also already extracted during the first run, which is why you get waste poos from both runs nd not just the second run; the volume of what goes through the digestive system for second run is a lot smaller.

If you really wish and are very worried, I would recommend an occasional course of fibreplex.

Thanks Wiebke, I will try and up his fibre content. He is a good weight and I weigh all my boars once a week to help pick on any illness onset.

 

[G&C]

Hi there, one of my previous piggy’s had impaction, we used to ‘help him’ about twice a week, should it be done daily?
Also I’ve had a search of the forum but can’t find any threads on high fibre food (veggies). Can anyone help with this? I am aware of the following: pumpkin and grapes being high in fibre but are there any others?
I remember once syringe feeding him recovery feed as my other boar had diarrhoea and the vet thought it might be infectious so we gave him some too and he passed poops on his own. My boar was a bit overweight he was 1.445Kg at his heaviest!

 

[KathT]

Hi there, one of my previous piggy’s had impaction, we used to ‘help him’ about twice a week, should it be done daily?
Also I’ve had a search of the forum but can’t find any threads on high fibre food (veggies). Can anyone help with this? I am aware of the following: pumpkin and grapes being high in fibre but are there any others?
I remember once syringe feeding him recovery feed as my other boar had diarrhoea and the vet thought it might be infectious so we gave him some too and he passed poops on his own. My boar was a bit overweight he was 1.445Kg at his heaviest!

I clean my boar when he needs it, which has been daily but he was okay today, possibly because I put some different hay in and he seemed to like it better than the usual stuff. My boar is overweight as he’s about 1.5kg, but he is a big boar. Not sure about veggies - mine get a variety but I try to keep the high sugar and calcium veggies to a minimum - don’t need stone problems as well! Your syringe feeding sounds as if the fibre in the feed helped him poop properly, but it’s not something to do every day. I will monitor mine and see how he goes.

 

[DMS260820]

Can you get a boar neutered that already has impaction problems? Just thinking does this sometimes cure it? Dont know if it works like that

 

[KathT]

Can you get a boar neutered that already has impaction problems? Just thinking does this sometimes cure it? Dont know if it works like that

I was told on this forum that once the muscles have gone, having them neutered won’t make a difference.