what the hell did I pull from Alan's bum?!

[Alan&Barry]

Well.....I got Alan out for a cuddle this morning. He was on my lap in bed with me and I was giving him a check over....

I lifted him up to check his undercarriage and noticed a poo stuck to his fur...excuse the graphic description but basically it looked like he had a poo stuck up his willy.

Ok I am chuckling at the thought I am getting his bum mixed up with his willy but when I pulled it out the half that was inside him was all white and sticky with bits of hay in. He has such big balls that it was wedged between them making me think it would be his willy?! I feel awfulnot knowing the difference between his bum and willy. It's never happened to me before LOL.

Could this possibly be a poo not quite ready to come out? One thats meant to be eaten or...again excuse the graphic-ness but mixed with other stuff that has been spraying about all over the cage since I got Oscar?! rolleyes Plus it smelt horrid!

Any incite would be appreciated!

 

[MrsM]

nice...
clearly you've never had to 'help' an impacted boar...>>>
I don't really know what your bum/willy issue could be, sorry!

 

[first_time_piggie_mum]

ok...this is going to sound gross but sometimes when Rod did a poo it would have a white substance on it.

After checking with a vet they said that was his natural boar secretions and not to worry about it. I do remember those poos smelled awful! >>>

I believe they produce this secretion naturally, and when they drag their bottoms on the floor it is this that they use to mark their territory.

Not pleasant!

 

[mikulinek]

I'm sorry but not being able to clearly picture what you're describing I can't tell you what "end" of your boar we're talking about.

I can tell you that sometimes you will get grease secretions on poos. It doesn't happen frequently but it does happen. They very rarely get caecotrophs (the poops they eat) stuck unless they're impacted or have bloat which are both fairly serious. It would be a long post so I won't go into these.

The boar's willy is "above" the testes slightly whereas the anus is underneath. The willy is kind of like those liquid filled plastic tubes that keep going inside out and inside out (I don;t know what you call them). Anyway, the majority of the penis is actually inside the piggy and takes a lot of coaxing out. If there was something stuck there, it wouldn't have been all the way in.

Finally, it's unusual to see something discernable as hay in piggy poop. It's usually well processed by then. I imagine your piggy got some hay stuck in his bum which can happen quite easily and it got some gunk on it.

As ever, if in doubt, have him checked out

 

[GPCottage]

Caring for males is often graphic and asking questions is one of the biggest ways of learning. Pigs - male and female - can be messy, just like taking care of a baby, but if you're going to own males, you will need to take care of some nasty stuff some times and be capable of stomaching the smells that come with those not so pleasant tasks.

Male pigs have an anal sac in which those good vitamin filled poops collect. In older males, sick pigs, and sometimes the healthy young ones too, that anal sac can get impacted. Usually it's because the muscles that hold it firm have stretched out making it hard for the pig to push out all those poops on a regular basis; however, there is also a hormonal secretion that can build up inside, contributing to impaction.

That hormonal secretion is the white stuff that you're talking about. It is not semen, though I'm not surprised that your hormonal little guy is making a mess in the cage with that, as well. Not surprising that the musky, scenting secretion has build up some as you say your Alan is getting used to a new cage mate, so his hormones are all going crazy right now anyway.

The secretion is a musky smelling, thick, sticky substance that only gets thicker and sticker when it sits inside the anal sac for awhile. It is the scent that they use to mark their territory when they drag their bums across the ground. Since it is sticky and Alan is likely doing a lot of bum dragging since his new cage mate arrived, this is probably why you found hay stuck in the area.

Just like there's variety in the anatomy size, shape, etc. in any other species, there is in pigs, as well. Male pigs with very large testicles can frequently have much smaller, almost non-existent anal sacs. It isn't unusual with such a male, especially one that is all hormonally charged, to find a poop stuck in this area right between the testis, covered in musky, white secretion and with debris from the cage stuck to it too. It may even get stuck there and block the penis in pigs with very big testis. If he had a larger anal sack it probably would have been stuck further up inside and not so obviously apparent.

You may need to clean him up every now and then. So you should probably learn the anatomy and the techniques for cleaning. Chlorhexidine/Hibiscrub is an excellent solution for cleaning caked on musk, but warm water will often do the trick just fine, especially with younger males with no serious impaction problems.

 

[Alan&Barry]

Great thanks all!

I always check them over regularly and have, on occasions, had to pull piece of hair from out of his willy. This was just an area I couldn't quite get my head around!

He has never had a problem like this before so will keep my eye on him and put it down to all the excitement, hormones and bum dragging which is still happening alot!

 

[Hanwombat]

They can sometime get hay, bedding etc stuck up their bottom. Jake gets anal impaction and every now and again he gets a 'poo plug' stuck up his bottom and this is due to the soft stools that they usually eat not being pushed out and instead clumping up into a ball and they struggle to push it out.

To get it out it involves open the anal sac and gently pushing out the poo plug - its extremely smelly but obviously has to be done. Jake hates it and likes to bit my finger. Once its out I wash out his bottom and then he is fine.
They say that some pigs might want to eat it but Jake isn't interested.

 

[Kringeldec]

Thanks for all your posts guys, I think it's been an education to us all x

 

[Alan&Barry]

Thanks for all your posts guys, I think it's been an education to us all x

Indeed! Hehe >>>

Thanks Hannah xx (Will offer it to Alan next time )

 

[bessiehen]

Just to clarify...

Thanks for all these useful posts. Just to clarify - when my Burt frequently has 'things' appearing to hang out of his bot (today it was a large, full piece of hay, sometimes it's a little bit of bedding) is it more likely that this has somehow gone 'up and stuck', as opposed to being eaten and passed 'through and out'? It seems to happen to him quite a lot, ever since we got him. He has been checked over by a vet 3 times since I got him, including a few weeks ago, and I'm assured he is in good health.

 

[suem]

I am glad I have had my dinner! Bertie gets bits of stuff stuck up his boy bits! The last piggie I had used to get impacted and that had to be sorted. Then he had a wee infection and the vet said I will have to check his boys bits....I am sure he didnt know he had any! He looked very surprised!p