Advice on Boar Cleaning

[RinT]

Hello friends! My Boar is recovering very well from his neutering (He was neutered Monday 5th September). He had no issues with eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, or walking the second he got home which I was extremely happy about I have started to do health checks on him and he weighs 1069g. Is this normal for a 2 1/2 year boar? Also, am I okay to start doing boar cleanings on him? Or should I wait a bit longer since he has surgery lately?

Just for clarification in case anyone is wondering why he was neutered so late - he is a pig I rescued from a very neglectful situation, he lived in a very very small plastic storage box kind of thing alone for 2 years, was given the completely wrong diet and was extremely unwell when I got him. I have spent the past 5 months getting him healthy again and the vet nurse (my cousin) said that he was healthy enough to be neutered and have a friend, so I got him neutered ASAP and he will be getting a little girlfriend October 20th . I have only had him since March

Thank you!

 

[Piggies&buns]

There is no ‘normal’ weight. What you are looking for is for his weight to be stable and that he isn’t losing weight.

Does he actually need any cleaning done? Most boars do a pretty good job of keeping themselves clean in that area (I’ve never had to actually do anything for my 4 year old boars).

 

[RinT]

There is no ‘normal’ weight. What you are looking for is for his weight to be stable and that he isn’t losing weight.

Does he actually need any cleaning done? Most boars do a pretty good job of keeping themselves clean in that area (I’ve never had to actually do anything for my 4 year old boars).

I'm not too sure - when I took him to the vet to get cleaned in March for the first time he was pretty clean down there. Right now I get a weird smell from his cage even though I spot clean it every day and deep clean it 2-3 times a week. I'm not sure if it's just the smell of his pee (I checked him for a UTI but he doesn't have one) or if it's a build up of mess. It was more so just to kinda check and see so I wanted to know if it's okay to do so or to wait Hopefully he's clean and won't need help with it because I have seen him clean himself very often!

 

[Betsy]

What a lovely thing you have done for your piggy! He has landed on his paws with you. I have only needed to clean one of my boars because he had arthritis in his back and wasn't flexible enough to keep himself clean. It's not a pleasant job so best avoided if at all possible. As long as his heft is OK then he's the correct weight for him.

Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[RinT]

What a lovely thing you have done for your piggy! He has landed on his paws with you. I have only needed to clean one of my boars because he had arthritis in his back and wasn't flexible enough to keep himself clean. It's not a pleasant job so best avoided if at all possible. As long as his heft is OK then he's the correct weight for him.

Weight - Monitoring and Management

Thank you! I am trying my best to give him a good life I feel awful for him because he's been alone his whole life and I'm really hoping that giving him a friend will help him to feel better. He gets a lot of human interaction from the family and has free roam of the house most of the day which I think (hope) is keeping him happy. In the future when I get my own place I plan on hopefully adding 3 more girls to form a herd

 

[Piggies&buns]

While he is recovering you obviously do want to keep his cage clean to prevent the risk of infection.
Ordinarily though deep and thoroughly cleaning a boar cage 2-3 times a week will be too much. The more you clean a boar cage, the more they will scent mark and then the more it will smell. They like their cages to still smell of them so only fullu cleaning half the cage at a time will mean the other half still smells of them and can actually reduce smells (due to the reduction in their need to scent mark).

You will want to be checking his surgery site daily at present while he is recovering and you can obviously check whether he needs to be cleaned but I would think it’s more likely that you won’t actually need to do anything. I wouldn’t worry about whether you can (surgery and recovery wise) until you know whether you actually need to.

He will love getting a friend but to have a whole herd of ladies to himself would be lovely for him! of lack

 

[RinT]

While he is recovering you obviously do want to keep his cage clean to prevent the risk of infection.
Ordinarily though deep and thoroughly cleaning a boar cage 2-3 times a week will be too much. The more you clean a boar cage, the more they will scent mark and then the more it will smell. They like their cages to still smell of them so only fullu cleaning half the cage at a time will mean the other half still smells of them and can actually reduce smells (due to the reduction in their need to scent mark).

You will want to be checking his surgery site daily at present while he is recovering and you can obviously check whether he needs to be cleaned but I would think it’s more likely that you won’t actually need to do anything. I wouldn’t worry about whether you can (surgery and recovery wise) until you know whether you actually need to.

He will love getting a friend but to have a whole herd of ladies to himself would be lovely for him!

Oh! I had no idea I was cleaning too much - thank you so much for the advice and information! He's already really spoilt, I can't wait to see how much more spoilt he will be after getting all of these ladies... He really is the king of this house - taking after his older (sadly deceased) bunny brother ^^

 

[Free Ranger]

He sounds like he is enjoying his fine new life! I personally have never poked around my boy's bits in the past unless I suspected something was wrong. My current boy is older and gets impaction so he is checked and cleared every night, but I assume that if my boys are flexible enough to pop down there and eat their own poops then they can keep themselves clean too.

We blitz out the cages once a week but between then just pick out the poops and wet hay and replace it. Any soaked fleeces are switched out - any wet bedding also replaced. But only once a week do we shower out our plastic cages and start from scratch.

 

[RinT]

He sounds like he is enjoying his fine new life! I personally have never poked around my boy's bits in the past unless I suspected something was wrong. My current boy is older and gets impaction so he is checked and cleared every night, but I assume that if my boys are flexible enough to pop down there and eat their own poops then they can keep themselves clean too.

We blitz out the cages once a week but between then just pick out the poops and wet hay and replace it. Any soaked fleeces are switched out - any wet bedding also replaced. But only once a week do we shower out our plastic cages and start from scratch.

Thank you for the advice! If you don't mind me asking, could you give me a bit more information on what impaction is? He is my first ever guinea pig so I am constantly looking for new information

 

[Piggies&buns]

Oh! I had no idea I was cleaning too much - thank you so much for the advice and information! He's already really spoilt, I can't wait to see how much more spoilt he will be after getting all of these ladies... He really is the king of this house - taking after his older (sadly deceased) bunny brother ^^

I have a 4 year old boar pair and they get spot cleaned daily but a full clean once a week. When they were younger and hormonal I’d only clean half the cage at a time so it still smelled like them as it helped reduce dominance, territorial bickering and their need to scent mark. They are older now and much more chilled so I can fully clean their cage once a week without it causing any issues between them. Of course, I’ve got two boars so it did used to get full on!
Neutered boars tend to be a bit less smelly but once he is introduced to ladies, you should expect it to get rather pungent in the room as he will be super excited!

Thank you for the advice! If you don't mind me asking, could you give me a bit more information on what impaction is? He is my first ever guinea pig so I am constantly looking for new information

Impaction is when the anal muscles lose strength so they can’t clear their poops out properly. It occurs in around 10% of older boars whether they are neutered or not, but it tends to not build up quite so much in neutered boars.

 

[Free Ranger]

One day George passed a big ball of poops the size of a cork bound together like little bricks with soft, fudgy caecotrophe... the squishy poop that emerges sometimes and they eat it. They don't eat the waste poops that we see lying around. George had also started to develop arthritis and was less mobile, and he had gotten pretty fat because he was about 1.4 kilo at the time so all these things added up to a baggy anal sack that couldn't push out the poops as effectively.

The solution is that every night when I pick out the cages and give fresh hay and water I also look at George's bum. If it's bulging like he's about to lay an egg... well he probably is. So I slosh him with some warm water on a cotton pad and apply a bit of pressure and hey presto - one clean boy. He's only mild, and I can go away for a night or two without worrying too much. He's on metacam for painkiller/anti-inflammatory and takes a glucosamine supplement which has helped his mobility a lot. He weighs 1.3kg now and I think overall is pretty healthy but he is an old boy now at nearly 6!