Needing Some Advise About Neutering & Impaction

[jellybean11]

I have tried finding answers to this question on my own, but I can't find any helpful info. I hope someone will try to help me understand so I can help my guinea. In most cases, does neutering a male guinea pig help with impaction? Does it always help or is there a chance that he could have the surgery & nothing will change? I have tried everything to avoid surgery, but nothing has worked.

[delukem]

I Have never heard of neutering helping with impaction, I don't know whether anyone else has. We have an old boar at the moment who suffers from impaction and the only help you can give is to empty them out 3/4 times a week, depending on how impacted they are. We give him 3ml of Metatone everyday to give him the B vitamin which they are short of when they don't eat some of their own softer stools. He has been impacted now for at least a year, but giving him the Bvitamin has helped him put his weight back and his coat is now in a quite nice condition.

[jellybean11]

Thank you so, so much for your response! I really appreciate it. In your post you mentioned that your piggie has a healthier coat since you have been giving him vitamin B. I am curious to know if your baby had a little dandruff. I did notice that my guinea pig, Piggle, has had some problems with dandruff as well as with impaction. I am curious if they might somehow be related.
As far as the vitamin B & Metatone, how do you administer the dosages? Should I look for a liquid form of the vitamin to maybe mix in with his water?
I am surprised that you have never heard that neutering can help with the impaction. My vet seems to think that this was our only option to try & relieve some of Piggle's discomfort. He has always had a good appetite (never lost any weight), a wonderful personality- very happy and sweet, & it doesn't seem to really bother him but I can't just sit by and do nothing while he has this going on.

[jellybean11]

One last thing- about not eating their stools. I have 2 piggies & one of them is perfectly healthy. Do you think I should offer some of the healthy poop to my guinea with the impaction problem? I know it is not a glamorous topic, but anything to help him. You know?

[delukem]

No my piggy hasn't had a problem with dandruff. I give him Metatone once a day in a syringe with a kitten teat on the bottom, which you can get from your vet. You can empty them and give them back the faeces but they are rather smelly, and they don't always in my experience eat them like that. All guineapigs eat their own faeces quite naturally without our help, but when the muscles in the back passage weaken they are unable to pass them on their own. Metatone can be bought from any chemist, but don't say what it is for make some excuse, as they are sometimes reluctant to sell for guineapigs. Hope this helps

[luvcats22]

from what i have read about impaction in boars, sadly it is incurable and i cant find any advice that recommends neutering as a helpful course of action.
all i can find is that you have to empty his poops yourself,and if you want to try and give him them back you could, but like delukem said, he may not eat them as they would be smelly.
metatone is a liquid containing lots of vitamins, but mainly calcium and thiamine (thiamine is vitamin b) xx

[jellybean11]

Should I tell the chemist the Metatone is for me? Will it be the right dosage, even if it's given in a small syringe.
Do you clean your piggies back end out yourself? I have been taking him to the vet to have that done just because he doesn't have the hard poop that gets stuck- it's more like a mess of hair, soft poop, & bedding from his cage. He really has to get in there pretty deep to remove the gunk & I don't want to hurt him. I am going to try using towels now instead of the bedding to see if that helps some. The vet has also been giving him medicated baths for the dandruff, but it only helps for a few days. Do you know of anything that else I can try? Could these problems come from the lack of care and attention his previous owner gave him or do these things just happen- maybe genetics? Thanks again for all of your help!

[Niki]

It's usually older boars who are affected & in my experience neutered boars, both my neutered boars were impacted yet none of my impact boys were/are & my oldest are 4 next month.

Metatone tonic is available in chemists & tesco (on the shelf, not in the pharmacy), you'll need to buy 1ml syringes as they're small & easier to get into your piggies mouth.

I did find that giving probiotic helped with impaction, i used to make it up as per the instructions on the tub (bought from Pets at Home) & gave it in their water bottle with a 2nd bottle of fresh water, my piggies choose the probiotic bottle over the plain water bottle every time

[delukem]

I empty my boar myself about every 3/4 days. Perhaps if you were to ask your vet he would show you how to do it. It must be costing you a fortune to keep visiting the vet.

Gorgeous Guineas do some excellent natural shampoos and they are extremeley good. Haven't got the web address, but if you put gorgeous guineas into your search engine it will bring the company up. You can always phone and ask what product is best and they will advise you.

[jellybean11]

Great! I don't feel nearly as frantic & worried now that I feel like I have a plan. I am going to buy the probiotic, Metatone & Gorgeous Guinea shampoo tomorrow. I wish I would have known all of this info. before I went with the vet's advise of having him neutered. He made it sound like it was common knowledge that neutering is the way to improve impaction. I just hate that I had to do that, but I have a exotic vet and I hope that having him neutered doesn't make this any worse. Right now Piggle Sprout is taking Cefa-Drops twice a day, but as soon as he finishes that medication I will start him on all of the others you all recommended. Let cha know what happens! Thanks!

[blossom1]

The website address is www.gorgeousguineas.com
The owner is Chrissie Slade and you can email her at [e-mail] or call on 0845 838 7458.
Hope this helps?

[celia]

There is some info on the net telling people neutered boars dont get impacted but as you have found out from other owners it does not stop it from happening . Good luck with your boar its a smelly job but has to be done x

[Niki]

Apr 19, 2009 22:52:42 GMT @celia said:

There is some info on the net telling people neutered boars dont get impacted but as you have found out from other owners it does not stop it from happening . Good luck with your boar its a smelly job but has to be done x

I do wonder where this information came from ;D Both my impacted "neutered" boys were around 3yrs old when it first started, it'll be interesting to see if my Toddie becomes impacted as he gets older, he was neutered in February & is now 2yrs old

[jellybean11]

Thanks for the help. I ordered the gorgeous guinea shampoo. As far as hearing that neutered males dont get impacted, my vet told me this. I did find some info on the internet that says that as well. I wonder if your boars were neutered before or after they developed impactions. Could that make any difference? Does anyone know how they develop this problem or dandruff? I am worried that my other healthy boar will get this as well.

[celia]

The dandruff could be anything from a number of reasons , shavings drying the skin , mites , lice , fungal . If it was my pig i would treat with ivomec first to kill off any mites and see how that works before starting to treat for anything else

[jellybean11]

Apr 16, 2009 8:04:00 GMT @blossom1 said:

The website address is www.gorgeousguineas.com
The owner is Chrissie Slade and you can email her at [e-mail] or call on 0845 838 7458.
Hope this helps?

Chrissie was a huge help very knowledgeable! I have ordered the gorgeous guinea shampoo & malt. I cant wait to get it. Thanks, Blossom!

[Niki]

Apr 21, 2009 4:03:18 GMT @jellybean11 said:

Thanks for the help. I ordered the gorgeous guinea shampoo. As far as hearing that neutered males dont get impacted, my vet told me this. I did find some info on the internet that says that as well. I wonder if your boars were neutered before or after they developed impactions. Could that make any difference? Does anyone know how they develop this problem or dandruff? I am worried that my other healthy boar will get this as well.

I have no idea about Howie as he was aged 3, neutered & impacted when i adopted him. Albie was neutered & fine when i adopted him aged 2, his impaction developed in his 3rd year

[jellybean11]

Hi guys, So Piggle Sprout is now neutered. He did just fine, as far as recovering, for about a week or wheek and a half then I noticed some infection & he has a absess. The vet said I should stop giving him his antibiotic plus pain killer after just 4 days because it was turning his urine orange. The vet cleaned him up and he is now on different meds. Anyway, as far as neutering helping with impaction, in Piggle's case- it did help some. He can poop now, but we have these other problems from the surgery now. If anyone has any advise about what I should do just lemme know. Thanks@!

[jellybean11]

One last thing- I use carefresh bedding for his cage, but most of the time he is on little potty pads (like for a puppy) either under the bed or around the room cause they are "free range guineas." Because of this, I can't think of a reason why he would have gotten an infection from being unclean. Should I be doing something different? Maybe different bedding, no potty pads...etc..?

[angelsun]

Apr 29, 2009 0:55:29 GMT @jellybean11 said:

One last thing- I use carefresh bedding for his cage, but most of the time he is on little potty pads (like for a puppy) either under the bed or around the room cause they are "free range guineas." Because of this, I can't think of a reason why he would have gotten an infection from being unclean. Should I be doing something different? Maybe different bedding, no potty pads...etc..?

Are you using the puppy pee pads? They are chemically treated to attract the dog to urinate there and perhaps something in that is causing irritation.

The pads that they use in hospitals for humans might be a better choice. I don't believe that they have any chemicals in them.

Also, Dawn dishwashing liquid is excellent for bathing and repels fleas. I used it on the show dogs along with all of the small animals here.

Hope that your little guy gets to feeling better soon.

[jellybean11]

Apr 29, 2009 22:24:09 GMT @angelsun said:

Apr 29, 2009 0:55:29 GMT @jellybean11 said:

One last thing- I use carefresh bedding for his cage, but most of the time he is on little potty pads (like for a puppy) either under the bed or around the room cause they are "free range guineas." Because of this, I can't think of a reason why he would have gotten an infection from being unclean. Should I be doing something different? Maybe different bedding, no potty pads...etc..?

Are you using the puppy pee pads? They are chemically treated to attract the dog to urinate there and perhaps something in that is causing irritation.

The pads that they use in hospitals for humans might be a better choice. I don't believe that they have any chemicals in them.

Also, Dawn dishwashing liquid is excellent for bathing and repels fleas. I used it on the show dogs along with all of the small animals here.

Hope that your little guy gets to feeling better soon.

Good thinkin! Thank you mam.

[jessegee]

Just seen this post, very helpful guys, as Timba, who was neutered at 18months , has recently become impacted in his third year and has started losing weight
I will try the suggested meds and pop them out for him

thanks

jessegee

[delukem]

Our old boar is still with us and still having Metatone. He has been very poorly with a chest infection but has managed to get over that too. I tried giving him Brewers Yeast as this was suggested, but he lost weight and condition with this. Have now realised that Metatone contains Calcium and Brewers Yeast doesn't. Calcium must be given with VitB as it stops the bones thinning. Since putting him back on Metatone he has put on his weight again, thank goodness.

[abby]

This is a great thread. As a big fan of Peter Gurney i thought i'd add his page on impaction to:
www.oginet.com/pgurney/analimpact.htm

[jessegee]

thats great helpful advice guys, thanks so much, and to you too Niki, Timbas been on the metatone for 4 days now and already he is perked up a bit, and seems to love the taste, although I dilute it down a bit with water, at least I know he's getting enough to drink too!

jessegee

[Niki]

Sept 18, 2009 8:47:41 GMT @jessegee said:

thats great helpful advice guys, thanks so much, and to you too Niki, Timbas been on the metatone for 4 days now and already he is perked up a bit, and seems to love the taste, although I dilute it down a bit with water, at least I know he's getting enough to drink too!

jessegee

Glad he likes it, have you tasted it Jesse? ;D ;D