Impaction - Not Sure

[MishImpossible]

Hi there,
I have one senior boar (5 years old) and I'm not sure if he's suffering from impaction or not. I've looked up guinea lynx and various posts but his butt does not look like any of the pictures I've seen so hoping maybe someone can assist?

Whenever I've picked him up lately, it looks like there is always "one in the chamber" as my husband says and I wasn't sure if it was just bad luck that every time I pick him up, he's in the middle of pooping. One day, I picked him up there were two poops sticking out of his butt. The reason I'm not sure if impaction is that it always looks like there is a poop plug rather than what I'm seeing - but I don't know if this is just worst case scenario.

I've been checking him twice a day and usually manage to get the offending poop out and check the inside of his sack gently but there's never really any build up. He seems fine otherwise and there's never usually any debris around his butt area. They are on fleece and it gets changed regularly. They always have plenty of hay & nugs and we normally give them green beans, pak choi and round lettuce on rotation.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi there,
I have one senior boar (5 years old) and I'm not sure if he's suffering from impaction or not. I've looked up guinea lynx and various posts but his butt does not look like any of the pictures I've seen so hoping maybe someone can assist?

Whenever I've picked him up lately, it looks like there is always "one in the chamber" as my husband says and I wasn't sure if it was just bad luck that every time I pick him up, he's in the middle of pooping. One day, I picked him up there were two poops sticking out of his butt. The reason I'm not sure if impaction is that it always looks like there is a poop plug rather than what I'm seeing - but I don't know if this is just worst case scenario.

I've been checking him twice a day and usually manage to get the offending poop out and check the inside of his sack gently but there's never really any build up. He seems fine otherwise and there's never usually any debris around his butt area. They are on fleece and it gets changed regularly. They always have plenty of hay & nugs and we normally give them green beans, pak choi and round lettuce on rotation.

It doesn't sound like impaction to me. What builds up in the anal sac are actually the poos that they usually get eaten again for a second run through the guts. The more these build up, the more swollen the area is looking. Example cases are of course usually the worse affected piggies. The majority of older boars is thankfully fine.
Here is our impaction guide with several good videos and tips from an experienced member:
Impaction Recovery - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

 

[MishImpossible]

Thanks Wiebke. The guide is really comprehensive, I probably should have gone there first :S

 

[*kate*]

I have to help Colin's poops twice a day. You can actually feel the poop buildup all around the anus. Sometimes there is a plug of poop sometimes just individual normal poops that are stuck!

 

[Betsy]

I have to help Colin's poops twice a day. You can actually feel the poop buildup all around the anus. Sometimes there is a plug of poop sometimes just individual normal poops that are stuck!