Old Gent Problems!

[jessica*rabbit]

Hi, I have a boar of about 4 years old called basil. In the last year he has lost weight but is happy, still eating etc. He lives with his two girlfriends, both of which are chunky and healthy.

A couple of weeks ago i noticed that basil had a very dirty penis, i soaked it and cleaned it off. a week later it had started to get dirty again so i guess he hasn't been cleaning himself. Yesterday when i checked him and noticed that his bottom was very swollen. I soaked him and managed to expel the hardened poos out and the swelling immediately went down.

Today we took a trip to the vets and i explained the problem, the vet didnt seem very interested in the impaction or my concerns of a yeast infection.

He checked his teeth, temperature and quizzed me on his diet (variety of veggies, hay, gpig pellets). He prescribed loxicom a painkiller which he said might be needed to give daily for the rest of his life and told me to up his vitamin C intake by buying some vitamin C and putting it in his food. I think he mentioned something about Basil maybe having a sore back and not being able to clean himself so the painkillers should help.

I just wanted to know if this all sounds ok, i think basil probably needs routine cleaning due to him being an older male gpig and impaction being a common problem. How would i know if he has a yeast infection? His penis is always 'out' nowadays, is this normal?

Also, is it worth using the painkillers 'for the rest of his life'?

any other advice would be great! Sorry for the long post!

 

[piggyfan]

Bump!

 

[Toffeewoffee]

If his penis is always out then it will get dirty, but no this isn't normal, i would try using some vaseline or a tiny amount of olive oil to get it back in. With regards to them pain killers, i have never heard of those before, (and with you saying your vet had little interest) I would hold off administering them until someone with more experience i.e. @Pebble who should be able to advise. On what grounds did he suggest basil had a sore back?

Piggies can lose weight as they get older, but providing it is relatively stable and he is still eating and drinking as normal, i wouldn't worry. Is he passing any of his poo's by himself?

What is his weight? Do you have a record of his weight loss and the timescale?

 

[sport_billy]

Sorry no experience with boars but can say that the painkiller Loxicom is the same drug as metacam. It is fine for piggies..

 

[jessica*rabbit]

I havnt no but he was weighed today and weighs 80g. He poos normally etc. The vet said he possibly couldnt reach to clean himself probably due to a sore back... no other evidence of that.
I think ill just up the vitamin c and do some bottom dunking more often! X x

 

[TAN]

bumping

 

[Guineapigs6]

I have an older male, Harley, with a similar problem - constant build-ups of a creamy discharge around his penis; I also suspect that it's because he can't clean himself properly. In the beginning, the discharge clogged the penis, meaning that it was so swollen it wouldn't go back into its sheath. I eventually figured out how to clear this, just by giving it a series of gentle squeezes - not a pleasant job for either of us, but it made him much more comfortable.

To keep things under control, I now clean with warm running water about once a week (more and I find things get too irritated - though I did do it more frequently in the beginning to prevent infection as things settled down). I tend to avoid creams or gels, as I found this just contributed to the accumulation and clogging. Though if your piggy is quite dry down there, olive oil sounds like a good alternative - just be careful that his bedding doesn't get caught in the sheath, if you're using sawdust or something similar, as this will obviously complicate things.

Just a few thoughts from my experience! Best of luck

 

[Jerrybelly]

Have you come across Oxbow Daily C capsules? They're a quick and easy way to increase his vitamin C intake.