Anal Impaction
Guinea pigs are coprophagic, a long word used to describe
the reingestion of certain faecal pellets which for some animals
is a perfectly normal part of their digestive systems.
These pellets, which are taken from the perineal sac are
seldom seen for the simple reason that the animal does not
excrete them. You will often see a guinea pig, head down hard
between it's back legs, rummaging like mad. What it is doing,
nine times out of ten is taking one of these pellets from
the sac.
In some boars, I have yet to come across this problem in
a sow and know of no other owner who has seem it in one, the
sac becomes impacted with these pellets. It maybe because
the muscle spasms which enable the pellets to be presented
to the boar become weak. Alternatively, it could be because
the pellets, which are softer than those that are excreted,
get softer still and form into a large ball.
It is more common in elderly boars but is by no means unknown
in younger ones. I have been told that these animals die after
a short time because they are not getting the essential elements
needed to sustain the digestive system. If they they do not
get some help from their human friends they certainly will
do, but those who get a little bit of help from their human
friends go on to live out their normal life spans.
The help needed may not be very pleasant for those who give
it but it is incumbent upon owners to perform this duty to
the animal who has given them the pleasure of its company.
It is simply a matter of rolling back the opening of the sac
over the lump and expelling it with finger and thumb over
the toilet pedestal. It doesn't smell very nice but it takes
a couple of seconds to do. How regularly it has to be done
varies between animals, some need it daily, other only two
or three times a week. I have come across a few cases where
after a couple of weeks of 'toilet duty' the problem is resolved
by the animal resuming is usual coprophagic behaviour but
these have been in the minority.
After I first notice this problem I will put the boar on
0.4Feroglobin once a day for a week to keep up the B vitamins,
some of which I believe are in the faecal material reingested.
I'm sure that after a short while these boars begin to eat
more of the dry food and this is where they get most of the
B's from, so I don't continue with the supplement.
I am convinced that when guinea pigs have been ill they do
not produce sufficient of these pellets, perhaps they do not
even need them when they are not using as much energy. Why
I have come to this conclusion is because of the behaviour
such animals display when they are beginning to get back onto
their feet again. They literally become a pain in the butt
to other guinea pig they live with by persistently shoving
their snouts between their legs and becoming more frantic
when the animal they are pestering defecates. To me this is
always a welcome sign for it invariably means that they are
'in business' again, so to speak.
What I think this behaviour indicates is that though they
are feeling a bit better their systems have not properly kicked
in to produce enough of the reingestible pellets, while all
those about them have what they need and they simply take
them as best they can. After a few days this behaviour will
cease. Presumably by this time animal is able to produce it's
own reingestible pellets.
