RosieMaia
Teenage Guinea Pig
Good morning, everyone!
Rosie, my young but arthritic boar, may be having issues/infection of his penis.
Normally, he keeps himself very clean, all I have to do is check him from time to time to make sure no stray hairs/hay end up there. For the last few days, I've noticed he had been butt dragging a lot, but I initially attributed that to him being in a new cage and wanting to scent-mark. However, I noticed he's mostly doing that before and after he pees, so I decided I needed to check him.
I was very surprised to find a particularly thick layer of smegma, and once popped out, his penis couldn't be put back until I gently removed the smegma with sterile saline solution and a q-tip. I should have thought to check his boar bits more often, as now that he has arthritis, he finds it difficult to crouch and clean himself.
The presence of smegma doesn't concern me that much though. What concerned me is that he appeared to have a ball of smegma inside his urethral opening. Am I right that it shouldn't be there? I was thinking it could be some kind of white discharge due to an infection (I do know what boar glue looks and smells like, this wasn't it, nor was it a stone/sludge). It looked mostly like smegma, but none of my boars ever had it accumulate in the urethra, only on the outside under the foreskin. It appears to have been causing him discomfort while peeing (though it didn't prevent him from doing it). The substance was white, creamy and oily, looked and smelled exactly as smegma should, only it was in the wrong place. I was able to remove it safely. Otherwise, he's fine in himself and has been happy and active these last few days.
In other words, my question is: is smegma in the urethra normal, or shall I take him to the vet?
Taking him to the vet is not at all an issue financially or logistically, BUT I'd like to avoid that, unless necessary, because we've just woken up to a thick blanket of snow, and it's very cold. His arthritis gets more painful in the cold and wet weather, and he'd need to be outside for 2-3 minutes (from home to the car and from the car to the clinic and then back). It seems little, and I will pop lots of fleeces and a snuggle safe, but I know from experience the wet will cause him problems moving around for the next few days. If, however, this is an infection, obviously he'd need a vet visit.
I will take a pic of his bits shortly, as I'm yet to check them this morning.
Thanks for any advice and input!
Rosie, my young but arthritic boar, may be having issues/infection of his penis.
Normally, he keeps himself very clean, all I have to do is check him from time to time to make sure no stray hairs/hay end up there. For the last few days, I've noticed he had been butt dragging a lot, but I initially attributed that to him being in a new cage and wanting to scent-mark. However, I noticed he's mostly doing that before and after he pees, so I decided I needed to check him.
I was very surprised to find a particularly thick layer of smegma, and once popped out, his penis couldn't be put back until I gently removed the smegma with sterile saline solution and a q-tip. I should have thought to check his boar bits more often, as now that he has arthritis, he finds it difficult to crouch and clean himself.
The presence of smegma doesn't concern me that much though. What concerned me is that he appeared to have a ball of smegma inside his urethral opening. Am I right that it shouldn't be there? I was thinking it could be some kind of white discharge due to an infection (I do know what boar glue looks and smells like, this wasn't it, nor was it a stone/sludge). It looked mostly like smegma, but none of my boars ever had it accumulate in the urethra, only on the outside under the foreskin. It appears to have been causing him discomfort while peeing (though it didn't prevent him from doing it). The substance was white, creamy and oily, looked and smelled exactly as smegma should, only it was in the wrong place. I was able to remove it safely. Otherwise, he's fine in himself and has been happy and active these last few days.
In other words, my question is: is smegma in the urethra normal, or shall I take him to the vet?
Taking him to the vet is not at all an issue financially or logistically, BUT I'd like to avoid that, unless necessary, because we've just woken up to a thick blanket of snow, and it's very cold. His arthritis gets more painful in the cold and wet weather, and he'd need to be outside for 2-3 minutes (from home to the car and from the car to the clinic and then back). It seems little, and I will pop lots of fleeces and a snuggle safe, but I know from experience the wet will cause him problems moving around for the next few days. If, however, this is an infection, obviously he'd need a vet visit.
I will take a pic of his bits shortly, as I'm yet to check them this morning.
Thanks for any advice and input!
But boars are so sweet, cuddly and mallow, I've had wonderful relationships with all of them.