Boar Messing Himself

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bo.jangles

bo.jangles

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Hello everybody, I've been a member for a while, lurking and picking up tips - you are all great! But unfortunately I have a problem that I just cannot find the answer to.

I rescued a boar from my local RSPCA about 7 weeks ago, he's an albino, and he's taken to going to the toilet in his house, and then sitting in it, so that there's now a yellow-ish patch by one of his back legs that seems to constantly be there. At first he was only doing this quite rarely, and so I could remove the soiled bedding, but now he's doing it quite often, so if I remove the soiled bedding he'll just go do the same thing shortly after. I work during the day, so he could be sitting there for hours like it, and I'm really worried that this is going to make him sore in that area.

I have already bought him some gorgeous guineas shampoo and conditioner, and this got rid of the discolouration when I used it, but I don't want to wash him to often in case this aggravates his skin too much.

I'm really stuck as to what to do for the best, and any help would be much appreciated
Hayley
x
 
Maybe you could put several houses around so maybe he would move around to the other ones, how about putting a towel or something very absorbent (maybe vet bed?) underneath them to try and keep some of the wetness off him?
 
if he was mine i would use this house as a toilet and buy him a new home to live in, i have some guineas that do this and i think it is reasonable normal? er is he on his own? he could be lonley if he is on his own
 
Jane said:
Maybe you could put several houses around so maybe he would move around to the other ones, how about putting a towel or something very absorbent (maybe vet bed?) underneath them to try and keep some of the wetness off him?
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Thanks for your reply :)

Not sure if there'd be enough room for him to have several houses around, but I'll definately look out for some vet bed or something in the hope it would absorb quicker there then onto him. Would a bathroom towel or tea towel be okay to put under him in the meantime, or could this cause problems if he started to nibble it?

Hayley
 
piggybaker said:
if he was mine i would use this house as a toilet and buy him a new home to live in, i have some guineas that do this and i think it is reasonable normal? er is he on his own? he could be lonley if he is on his own
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He is on his own, he wasn't bonded to another pig in the rescue. I am looking into neutering him and getting him a sow to live with, or a baby boar, maybe that would help him.

I'm not sure there's enough room to have 2 houses and a decent sized living space, I've tried moving his house around in the hope he'd still wee in the place where his house used to be, but this didn't work. He does wee in other parts of the cage as well, so if I put another house in, the only other place it could go would likely be somewhere he already uses as a toilet. Right now I'm willing to try anything though, so if I can find 2 smaller houses than he curently has, but still big enough for him (he's not a small lad!), then I'll give it a go!

Thanks for your help :)
 
I think the bathroom or tea towel will be fine, some people bed their piggies on towels anyway.

What bedding are you using? Maybe if you switched to something more absorbant that could help. What cage is he in too? If there wont be enough room for several houses a tube could be good, or maybe even clipping a towel over one corner to create darkness could give him somewhere to hide and feel safe.
 
Jane said:
I think the bathroom or tea towel will be fine, some people bed their piggies on towels anyway.

What bedding are you using? Maybe if you switched to something more absorbant that could help. What cage is he in too? If there wont be enough room for several houses a tube could be good, or maybe even clipping a towel over one corner to create darkness could give him somewhere to hide and feel safe.
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He has an indoor cage, it's about a meter by a meter and a half. He already has a tube, and this is one of the few places he won't wee, lol, but he also won't sleep in there.

I'm going to look for an old towel, maybe use part of this under his house, and part over the corner?

Currently I use newspaper with hay over, changing the house area whenever he's soiled it. He does have fluffy bedding for his bed as well, but he just tramples it down and sits on it, so this of course gets messy as well, and he's currently going through a bag every day or so where it's changed so much. I've been trying to find some megazorb, but can't seem to find it locally, and online retailers seem to be quite expensive, or at least the ones I have found so far are. If anybody happens to know anybody that stocks Megazorb in the Medway area of Kent, I'd be most grateful.

Thanks again for your help :)
 
The cage sounds fine if it is that big then.

Newspaper and hay aren't really absorbant, that's probably why he's getting wet....is the fluffy bedding like cotton wool? If it is you need to remove it asap, it's very dangerous to smaller rodents (like hamsters, mice etc) and I think it's not suitable for piggies either, their legs could become trapped in it.

I don't know of a megazorb supplier near you, sorry, but maybe you could change to fleece? You would put a layer of newspaper, a layer of towels then a sheet of fleece. The pee drains from the top into the towels and newspaper. Poos should really be picked out daily but that isn't really hard. Then usually once a week or twice a week or whatever shove the towels and fleece in the washing machine and the newspapers in the bin...Not sure whether this option will work for you but it's works great for me :P
 
Jane said:
The cage sounds fine if it is that big then.

Newspaper and hay aren't really absorbant, that's probably why he's getting wet....is the fluffy bedding like cotton wool? If it is you need to remove it asap, it's very dangerous to smaller rodents (like hamsters, mice etc) and I think it's not suitable for piggies either, their legs could become trapped in it.

I don't know of a megazorb supplier near you, sorry, but maybe you could change to fleece? You would put a layer of newspaper, a layer of towels then a sheet of fleece. The pee drains from the top into the towels and newspaper. Poos should really be picked out daily but that isn't really hard. Then usually once a week or twice a week or whatever shove the towels and fleece in the washing machine and the newspapers in the bin...Not sure whether this option will work for you but it's works great for me :P
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The bedding is like cotton wool, I never realised it would be bad for them, but I've just taken out! Thanks for letting me know :)

I already pick out his poos, I get almost obsessive about it and do it morning and evening :). When you say fleece, is this the vetbed, or fleece like clothes would be made out of? I know that they sell the material off rolls in the local fabric shop and could definately get some of that to go on top. If not then where would Il look for vetbed? Sounds like the newspaper/towel/fleece option would definately be a better option then he has now.

Thanks so much for your ides :)
 
i buy cheap fleece blankets, you can pick them up really cheap, and cut them out to size, it's cheaper than off the roll. QD sell fleece blankets cheaply if you have one in your area.
 
We've not got a QD, but there's quite a few places I can think of to check, so I'm going to go hunting for fleece :)
 
By fleece I do mean like clothes are made out of, baby blankets etc. I got some of mine from the pound shop, labelled as baby blankets and some from a fabric shop labelled as pet blankets and some as pet blankets.

I'm not sure where you can buy vetbed from but I know it can be pretty expensive.

The only problem I have is keeping hay off of the fleece - but here's what I like to do. I put down a sheet of newspaper under the hay rack and put a small pile of hay on the paper, that should stop any hay falling out onto the fleece. Sometimes I use a cat litter tray under the hayrack, inside I put newspaper, then shredded newspaper and a pile of hay - generally this needs to be changed daily because the piggies will poop and pee in the hay whilst eating it.
 
I got vet bed off ebay. It's very nice but I found it very difficult to use as it jammed up the washing machine and, as I live in a second floor flat with no garden or anywhere to dry washing, I couldn't wash it by hand. I now keep it only for recovery after surgery as it is soft.
 
remember when washing the fleece not to use fabric conditioner, it creates a barrier and the wee wont penetrate through to the newspaper,
 
Most guinea pigs that are left during the day while their slave is at work stay in one place snoozing. Maybe you should investigate the cause as to why he is peeing so much? Does it smell? he may have a urine infection. My 4 boys all sleep in the same place all day, on newpaper which becomes soggy, but they don't have wee stained legs. I had one once that this happened too and it was a urine infection. Maybe he should have atrip to the vet to be sure.
 
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