Lying In His Own Wee

[Katiedid]

One of my boars has developed a 'habit'. He has a bed which is washed regularly but instead of getting out of the bed to wee he just goes where he lies, he ends up damp and stinky and I am sure it is not good for his health. He has always don't it but not quite as badly as he does now (for some reason - I suspect age related he won't go up the ramp to his hay filled loft like he used to). I ended up bathing him last night as it was so bad and wipes weren't cutting it (he is an indoor pig but still I don't like bathing them in December).

I am loathed to take the bed off him as he loves it and its warm but would a fleece bed be better (it is a fur lined bed) or should I just take it away altogether and leave him with the pile of hay? His brother sleeps in the loft or in one of the hay trays.

 

[VickiA]

How old is your little fellow? If he's becoming old and a bit arthritic then you may find he needs a small amount of anti inflammatory pain killer each day. One of my past piggies Mrs a Fudge also developed the same habit. The vet identified she had arthritis in her knees. So she had a small daily dose of metacam. She became more active and stopped being wet round her rear end as she was more comfy moving around and would get up and move to wee. While you get things sorted I would give him a clean dry bed (fleece or whatever) each day to help him stay clean and dry.

 

[DM030819]

I have a piggy who likes to wee where he sleeps. He was getting a bit yellow around the edges (He's a white pig) because he's always be in his bed. So, I've swapped his bed for a house which I put a piece of VetBed underneath. The wee goes through the VetBed and I swap it every couple of days for a new piece.

If he really likes the bed can you put something in it, like a piece of fleece or a towel that you can swap every day to stop him getting as wet?

And ditto to what VickiA says about my arthritis. My 6.5 year old boar has arthritis and since him having Metacam he's a lot more active. I've even seen him climb up the side of the cage and he can do old man zooms when he's wanting his veg. Before, he only moved around when he had to.

 

[Katiedid]

Thank you both. We think he is around 3.5 to 4 ish but he is a rescue - his brother (the one in my profile pic) was meant to be the same age but had 'boar bottom' since we got him (when he was allegedly 1) and has generally looked older than they ever claimed he was.

It may be a touch of arthritis, he had been a bit of a daredevil and when he was in his cage would jump off the ramp before the bottom so I wondered about an injury. At first he would stop going up the ramp when his nails needed trimming (and I do them regularly so they weren't long, just clearly longer than he liked) now it doesn't matter. I will take him to the vets.