Impaction - can it go away?

[Two_Wheeks]

My five year old boy Gibson suffers (suffered?!) from impaction. I was clearing him twice a day, but for the last three or four weeks, despite checking him daily, there is nothing there! He is still pooping (his and Keith's are quite different). So, my question is, can impaction improve/disappear?

I will keep checking him of course. In his older years he now quite enjoys the evening cuddles and extra lettuce leaf he gets when a bum check is due!

Poor boy is looking old now, but has re-found his voice and has started shouting for his dinner again, after about 4 years! It melts my heart!

 

[weepweeps]

Bless them. . I had an old boar who had impaction quite a few years ago. It never went away. Didn’t cause any problems though. I’m not sure if it can get better on its own? Hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along soon and educate us both.

 

[Two_Wheeks]

@weepweeps I never expected it to go away, he seems far more active now Keith is giving him the run around constantly, so maybe the exertion is helping it along!

 

[Wiebke]

My five year old boy Gibson suffers (suffered?!) from impaction. I was clearing him twice a day, but for the last three or four weeks, despite checking him daily, there is nothing there! He is still pooping (his and Keith's are quite different). So, my question is, can impaction improve/disappear?

I will keep checking him of course. In his older years he now quite enjoys the evening cuddles and extra lettuce leaf he gets when a bum check is due!

Poor boy is looking old now, but has re-found his voice and has started shouting for his dinner again, after about 4 years! It melts my heart!

Hi!

Mild impaction (i.e. the need to clean out every few days to once a day) can improve for a little while if treated correctly; mostly due to a very regular mainly grass hay, more hay and even more hay based diet with no changes and very much on time. But it is basically an irreversible progressive disorder. The poos that clump are not the waste poos but the caecotrophs which contain the nutritional fibre for full breakdown during the second run through the gut.
Impaction - How To Help Your Guinea Pig.

I would switch to weighing your boy daily at the same time in order to control his food intake. If you just look at the veg intake, you are just checking the equivalent of an afternoon snack but completely missing out on his breakfast, lunch and dinner (i.e. the daily hay intake). Unfortunately, you can't control the hay intake by eye. It may be that has has stopped eating hay for some reason? There is likely a medical reason for him stopping to be impacted all of a sudden, whether it is pain related or from something elsel. I would strongly recommend to see a vet.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

Please have him vet checked

 

[Two_Wheeks]

Thanks @Wiebke

He lives in the hay loft, and always seems to be eating! He eats far less veg than he used to but far more hay. His heft and weight have been constant, but I will weigh daily and get him in for a vet check - it's been a while since he's been seen so probably wouldn't do any harm anyway!

I always offered him what came out, and he would take one or two of them each time. I don't know if he's picking them out himself now as I've not seen him do so.

Thanks again for the advice!

 

[weepweeps]

So it’s a bad thing if the impaction goes away?

 

[Wiebke]

So it’s a bad thing if the impaction goes away?

Impaction doesn't just suddenly disappear like that on its own. There must be a medical reason unless it improves in the very early stages to due to recent dietary changes you have made (which are spelled out in detail in the impaction care link).

It is a progressive gradual weakening of the musculature at the back in about 10% of mostly older boars, irrespective of whether they are neutered or not (only that neutered boars don't have the kind of large anal sac caused by the descended testicles in which the poos can really build up and - if left untreated - block the exit).