Looking for some advice for a poorly male guineapig. He is 3 and lives with another male (has done since babies) I’ve noticed he has gone really thin and only eating fresh food. Took him to vets today who can’t see anything wrong, but said it could be his back teeth (which she couldn’t view easily without sedation) so he’s on metacam and recovery feeding by syringe and I have to monitor his weight. He is pooing normally. For the first time this afternoon I’ve noticed he seems to have a ‘substance’ dried on his fur on his back end. Don’t think it’s poo, and his cage companion who is the more dominant and larger also looks to have something wet that has dried on his fur. (Around the back end) I have noticed the larger one recently try to mount the smaller one - could this be a stress related illness with the larger one trying to mount him? I have had them 3 years but had females before so not terribly experienced with males. We have a third that bullied so he now has to live in a cage next door! Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.
-
Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement
Poorly male
- Thread starter Isobelmcl
- Start date
D
DM030819
@Isobelmcl You need to take him to a vet who will look into the issue for you. It could be his teeth so a vet needs to check them for you. A good guinea pig vet can do this without anaesthetic.
If it's not his teeth then they need to explore other options, by doing an xray, testing his urine and possibly a blood test.
If it's not his teeth then they need to explore other options, by doing an xray, testing his urine and possibly a blood test.
Claire W
Forum Donator 2025/26
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2008
- Messages
- 38,101
- Reaction score
- 31,208
- Points
- 2,915
I agree with the above. Please take him back to the vet to have his back teeth checked. When my vet did this on a piggy of mine, she just gave him a light whiff of gas to check his back teeth
Posyrose
Forum Donator 2025/26
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2013
- Messages
- 6,347
- Reaction score
- 9,567
- Points
- 1,625
- Location
- South Manchester/Cheshire
I can't help with the teeth/weight loss, but I expect that the 'substance' is dried semen, often called 'boar glue' because it resembles superglue. Is it clear or whiteish and hard? It's almost impossible to get rid of without cutting it out but it's usually safe to leave it, if it's too close to the skin to cut it out. If one has been mounting the other (which is quite normal mild dominance behaviour and not stress related) he might have been spreading his boar glue around!