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Cleaning boys bums!

  • Thread starter Thread starter lesley
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lesley

Sorry to be ignorant here but I'm new to piggies and stumbled across information on clearing out anal sacs in boars! My boys are young 5 months and not smelly that I'm aware of, also they poo for England! Should I be routinely clearing out the sac or is this only if they are impacted? Feel guilty 'cos , although I've only had them a few weeks I've never done anything in that area...they seem fine, eat plenty of veg,hay, pellets etc. Also when I tried to research this some advice was to bath them every 4-6 weeks...haven't bathed them yet and am worried as it seems very cold to be bathing them now, also don't want to freak them as they are just getting used to us. Hope someone can enlighten me am feeling like a terrible person! Lesley :(
 
They should be fine down there at the moment but you can have a look/feel anyway. Everyone has different ways to look at their belly area, some people lay the on their back (which my piggies will not tolerate - don't blame them really though!) or you can hold them with their back against your belly..whatever you and your piggies are comfortable with. I doubt at this age it will need cleaning out but you can have a look.

As for bathing, some people say never bath, some say bath every 4-6 weeks. I personally only bath mine when they need it - Pepper gets dirty quicker than Beauty, but I would say they have had a maximum of maybe three or four baths this year? Not many anyway. Go to the gorgeous guineas website and get some shampoo from there if you are planning on doing it ;)

Don't feel bad! You will learn lots here and not knowing these things havn't made your guinea pigs less healthy or anything.
 
I dont bath my pigs once it gets past Sept/Oct unless they have to be treated for any skin conditions. If i have to bath them this time of year they get kept indoors until I am certain that they are completely dry.

With regards to their anal sacks, this tends to be a problem in older piggies of say 4 years and upwards, so I wouldnt worry about that yet.
 
Oh thanks! I can rest a bit easier now...I do check them daily and they seem fine! I've had to gently remove bits of hay from them before but thats all! Lesley ::)
 
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