Scent Gland

[Sam and Ellie]

Morning,

Can I just ask, how do you clean your pigs scent gland and how often?

Mine hates having his washed and gets all ratty with me so wondering if I can do anything any different.

Thanks

 

[gizzy]

Hi, l seldom have to clean scent glands, they never seam dirty unough to warent it
and l never bathe them unless they have gotten them selves mucky (very seldom, if ever ! )

 

[Cute_Guineapigs]

I have 4 boars and some of their grease glands get muckier than the others. I have 2 that need their glands cleaned every 2 months as it builds up. I use either shampoo or a small amount of swarfega (rinse well and shampoo to remove the swarfega). Mine don't really like having their glands cleaned but it needs doing, so I try to do it as quickly as possible.

 

[cavy clicker]

I found this great video! Poor Sparkles, he doesn't know what he's in for soon! I hope I'll have nerve enough to try it!

 

[gizzy]

of course it gets full of muck ! if you do that every week , it is going to
streach the muscles in the anal sak

it used to be done on dogs and other animals , but l now beleve it is fround on

see carron becker Vet on face book

 

[cavy clicker]

of course it gets full of muck ! if you do that every week , it is going to
streach the muscles in the anal sak

Soooo, your saying your not supposed to do that?

 

[gizzy]

See World famous vet On face book Caron Becker , she strongly advises against it

 

[cavy clicker]

Thats not my video by the way

So are you supposed to clean a boars bum or not?

 

[gizzy]

Google Keren or Caren Becker anal glands or sent glands
not sure of the spelling my head is fussy , but she has agued aganst it for a wile ,
she is a world famous vet

when you pick up your boar you will be able to tell if and when its bum needs cleening

 

[cavy clicker]

I'm confused I've been feeling really guilty because I've been doing research for my book and I didn't know about the importance of cleaning.

 

[gizzy]

l would say if it feels like it needs cleaning then clean it !

but if you do this as a weekly routine you are going to turn a little hole into a big hole

the bum whole is basickly a spinkter valve , which is disignded to let things out , but "not" in

go poking around with a swab and pritty soon the spinkter muscles become streched and
useless .

 

[cavy clicker]

Okay! I'm not sure that I could tell if it needs cleaning

 

[Sam and Ellie]

Nibbles gland looks like he's got pooh on his behind, but when you touch it its greasy. Today is bum wash day with swarfega. He hates it but it desperately needs doing. Thanks for the advice x

 

[Emmnpete]

Hiya I've given one of our boys his first bum ( grease gland ) bath...he's roughtly five and a half month and uhhh he was starting to smell and it even looked dirty and greasy in that area.
Our other boy is beautifully clean so he didn't need a one. But I took all the info on board from this forum and I have one clean happy boy hahahah...Plus we had a hair bum trim whilst we were on, he didn't seem to mind and my son gave him cuddles after and made sure he was dry. Isn't it strange how some little fellas have greasy bums and others don't !

 

[Lady Kelly]

OK I'm confused as this went from talk of the "scent gland" which I am assuming is the grease gland (a little patch where you would expect the tail to be if piggies had one) and soon went into cleaning out a boars anal sack.

Yes sometimes piggies (both male and female) will have an overproductive grease gland and this may need cleaning. My own Bumble had this and I believe it was linked to the other health problems she was having at the time, I only had to clean it once as I managed to keep it fairly clean with a plain water wash every now and then until her passing. The boars anal sack is another matter entirely and should only be cleaned if there is a problem. Sometimes the muck can build up and cause impaction, sometimes impaction is caused by other conditions especially where poops are softer and/or the piggy has pain in passing them so doesn't expel them properly. If a piggy has impaction it will need cleaning out, otherwise most are fine without a regular clean (after all - in the wild - they would need to be able to clean this themselves).

 

[Emmnpete]

Oh I'm not touching no piggies private parts hahahah , defo just a little wash on his back at the base of where his little tail would be....on his fur , no anal sacks being touched in this house....if he ever needs his private parts looked at - he will be visiting a vet hahahahah xx