Advice needed on poor lonely piggie i'v posted about before!

[Sleepingbunnies]

For those of you that remember I posted last year about my 'friend' who had a GP at her mums that was lonely and in my opinion not particually well looked after. I offered to take him but to no avail :(

Anyway, friend calls last night, she asks if any of my pigs have ever not been able to poo! I said no, and asked her what she was feeding him, she said all the usual stuff, but she mentioned lots of lettuce. I always thought you couldn't feed them lettuce so I said I'd probably cut that out.

She said she basically has to push down on his rear to make him poo, but that he doesn't squeak or anything (you'l be pleased to know I took this opportunity to tel her it's because he has no one to squeak to!!)

Any thoughts?....

[ValenciaOrange]

Yes this can happen with males. He probably has anal impaction. Its to do with lack of muscle tone and they are unable to push the poo out and it builds up. You do have to help them get it out. The vet will do it and will show her how to do it herself. Our vet used a lubricated cotton bud.

[ValenciaOrange]

Oh and lettuce is fine as long as its not iceberg.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

Sounds like the little soul has got impaction . It's common in overweight ,'lazy' boars (all boars are lazy at heart, but even the most lardy arsed will get some excercise in their run/hutch - especially if they have another pig to pootle round with)
This little boy probably sits in his hutch, waiting for his next load of food to be dispensed. If he had a cage-mate (you can imagine in a group how they'd interact, push each other out of the way, chase, popcorn, tussel for food)

One of my boars has the tendancy to soft pooh (I know they do the first passing but we don't see that, they secretively duck under their tummies and scoff the pooh ). His 'normal' droppings vary from huge boulders to softish if he's had alot of grass.
But because he's quite fit he can sort it out himself - when he gets older he might not.

I wonder if they'll be willing to get the baby wipes out on a regular basis to de-bung him ?
If you tell them what he's got to look forward to you might find him being offered to you after all........

It's not 100% avoidable but the risks can be cut down.
again for this boar.

[fortifiedwithtea]

Poor boy like others have said he sounds impacted. Tell your friend to buy a box of latex gloves from the chemist. A box of 100 will cost just under £10 and can be used for allsorts of grotty jobs

I had to periodically hold my Old Boy over the toilet and give him some help . Believe me the stench is unbelievable!!!

Now he has old age boar issues, perhaps you could suggest again that he would be better off with you. Crosses fingers.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

the stench is unbelievable!!!

I don't want to believe this is true fortified. I get judgey looks from GP2 if I need to do any botty-related pig-husbandary issues. I don't want to be gagging while I do it.

Though he did have one that I 'removed' before I cuddled him and it fairly fused my eyelids together . [envy[

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

[fortifiedwithtea]

Oh Believe 70 Believe

[Sleepingbunnies]

I text friend last night, told her that it's not that nice etc and maybe exaggerated slightly, and offered to take him off her hands... Fingers crossed....