Red And Sore Looking Nipple (boar)

[bumbling-bambi]

Hi everyone I haven't posted in a while!
Ive noticed this evening that one of my boars has a rather red and sore looking nipple! I am working on taking some photos and trying to gently feel around the area to work out if it is tender or not but alas i need another pair of hands! (other half is on his way!)
Have any of you ever experienced something like this?
He is eating and drinking normally and doesn't seem at all phased by it however it does look very angry! He is a very wiggly pig and doesn't like to stat still for me at the best of times so trying to take a good look at is is proving troublesome!
I would like to get a few opinions here first if possible before booking an appointment with our vet as firstly i will have more of an idea about whats going on and also i can relay any information to my vet as usual! I won't be able to book him in anywhere until the morning so i am monitoring him closely this evening!
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I will update with pictures when i can!

Background info:
He is roughly a year and a half old, found at pets at home in a horrible state! He was severely underweight and matted within an inch of his life! He is a very long haired sheltie. He is quite a nervous pig and has been separated from his cage mate following a nasty fight a few months previous. Both were checked top to toe by the vet at that time and he was 100% fine. This is new development and i have only noticed it tonight. I check them both over daily so i would assume this is quite new. I have checked them for lice and other creepy crawlies and found nothing so I don't think that this is what is causing it. He seems to be itching the area quite a bit so monitoring this also!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone I haven't posted in a while!
Ive noticed this evening that one of my boars has a rather red and sore looking nipple! I am working on taking some photos and trying to gently feel around the area to work out if it is tender or not but alas i need another pair of hands! (other half is on his way!)
Have any of you ever experienced something like this?
He is eating and drinking normally and doesn't seem at all phased by it however it does look very angry! He is a very wiggly pig and doesn't like to stat still for me at the best of times so trying to take a good look at is is proving troublesome!
I would like to get a few opinions here first if possible before booking an appointment with our vet as firstly i will have more of an idea about whats going on and also i can relay any information to my vet as usual! I won't be able to book him in anywhere until the morning so i am monitoring him closely this evening!
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I will update with pictures when i can!

Background info:
He is roughly a year and a half old, found at pets at home in a horrible state! He was severely underweight and matted within an inch of his life! He is a very long haired sheltie. He is quite a nervous pig and has been separated from his cage mate following a nasty fight a few months previous. Both were checked top to toe by the vet at that time and he was 100% fine. This is new development and i have only noticed it tonight. I check them both over daily so i would assume this is quite new. I have checked them for lice and other creepy crawlies and found nothing so I don't think that this is what is causing it. He seems to be itching the area quite a bit so monitoring this also!

Please have him vet checked tomorrow. It can be an infection or at the worst a mammary tumour (which can be benign or malign). Only a vet can decide that. The soreness can be from him biting on it if it is causing discomfort/pain.

 

[bumbling-bambi]

Please have him vet checked tomorrow. It can be an infection or at the worst a mammary tumour (which can be benign or malign). Only a vet can decide that. The soreness can be from him biting on it if it is causing discomfort/pain.

Hi! Thank you for replying so quickly! Ive just managed to take some pictures and look more closely at him and it doesn't appear to be as red as i had thought! However I'll pop them in here so you can see what you think! Ive gently felt around the area of his nipples and on top and it doesn't seem to be tender or swollen at all, he didn't react at all while i was doing so. He's still eating and drinking as normal. It looks like it could be a build up of muck maybe as he for some reason likes to lay in his poop spot all day until i skip it out!
Here are the photos!


First image is his right side and the second is the left. The left is the one i saw first and am most worried about!

 

[Swissgreys]

It looks pretty sore.
I would be tempted not to try and clean it or anything, and take hm along to a vet asap to have it checked over.

 

[bumbling-bambi]

It looks pretty sore.
I would be tempted not to try and clean it or anything, and take hm along to a vet asap to have it checked over.

Thank you for taking a look! I'm going to book him in as soon as I possibly can! My vets is usually quite quiet so hopefully I can get him in this week

 

[Swissgreys]

Good luck, and good job with the photos too. They can't have been easy to get!

 

[bumbling-bambi]

Good luck, and good job with the photos too. They can't have been easy to get!

They certainly weren't! It took some careful bribery with some cucumber slices! I had to call in the cavalry at one point (my other half) to take over the camera as he's a very wiggly pig! I've managed to email the on call team at my vets and they have advised me after looking at the photos to try and clean it gently with a "bottom soak" as we call it and then monitor him for tomorrow to see if it is just poop! She thinks that its likely down to the fact he likes to sit in his potty area and has built up muck which is irritating him! I'll be back in contact with them in the morning to update them on his situation! Thankfully my vet practice has a 24hr emergency team who happen to have two cavy savvy vets on board!
The lady I spoke to is actually our normal vet who has seen these boys a number of times as I always take the for 6 month check ups as they are still gaining weight as they came to me very malnourished and we wanted to make sure weight was gained healthily so they often see our vet! On our last visit she gave us some Flamazine to help clear up some nasty bites after a fight (boys are now separated!) and she said that it may be that when i send her new pictures and video footage in the morning that the flamazine will be able to treat any irritation. If she is unsure in anyway from the photo and video i send her tomorrow then I will book them in for the same day under an emergency appointment with the other cavy savvy vet who has been read in on our current situation and will have all of our correspondence to look through to make sure she is also up to date so nothing is missed!
As for tonight I am preparing him a warm 'bottom bath' in a washing up bowl I have sterilised, some sterile gauze to gently clean away any muck and i've got sterile gloves to ensure that nothing on my hands can irritate the problem further! Our vet said that the fact he isn't reacting to it being touched is a really good sign as it would indicate he isn't particularly tender there which is why she has advised me to give him a clean up and take some more photos tomorrow morning

Thank you again for taking a look! Its so helpful to be able to pop a question out on here and get an answer back as quickly as I did! I mentioned to my vet that you lovely ladies had given me some advice before I emailed her to get a rough idea of what could be going on and she said that he's going to have to sign up here for her own piggies!

 

[bumbling-bambi]

Just to update everyone in case they are interested!
My little boy with the unhappy nipples is doing much better today! he's had a bath last night in warm water and i spoke to my vet this afternoon and she has said they are looking much better than he was last night! She doesn't think there is any cause for concern just yet and she thinks it was more than likely just irritated from him laying on his wee spot! The whole cage was cleaned, disinfected and I am now using puppy pads under his bedding to ensure that any wee is absorbed there and shouldn't irritate him any more! a lot of the crusty yuck was just poop and there is no swelling to report! He isn't phased by the area being touched so my vet says that this would indicate that the area isn't sore!
He's had most of the day in the run on a soft fleece liner with plenty of yummy food to keep his strength up! I have been advised to check him daily for the next 2 weeks and if i see any swelling or inflammation to call her and book an appointment! Both boys are due their check up next month so if needs be I can move that forward!
Thank you all for all the advice you have given me! I just wanted to update you all incase you were interested in how he's getting on!

 

[flowerfairy]

Oh great update. It must be a relief to you.

Any pics of the lovely boy will be very welcome.

 

[bumbling-bambi]

Oh great update. It must be a relief to you.

Any pics of the lovely boy will be very welcome.

Oh it certainly is! He's doing even better today as well! No more redness, still no swelling and it doesn't appear to be tender either! He also smells much bette after his bath! I don't think he was too happy with me tricking him into having said bath but he got plenty of yummy herbs from his mini garden for a job well done!

I might have a couple of pictures on my laptop so i'll pop a few here! His name is Sir Phillip (sheltie) and his brothers name is Mr Womble (texel) Sir Phillip has a facebook page if you wanted to see more of him as some people i know from a piggy Facebook group asked me to make him page so they can keep up with all of his adventures!


Here he is having a rather bad hair day! breakfast is far more important than looking pretty!



And here he is patiently waiting for lunch to arrive! ( I dared make myself a snack before bringing his to him so this was the look i got!)

Dinner time in the run for Sir Phillip

Mr Womble helping me with my knitting!

A rather damp Mr Womble curled up in a nice warm towel drying off after his bath! (he doesn't smell like a skunk anymore!)

 

[flowerfairy]

Aww great to see both of them.

 

[bumbling-bambi]

Aww great to see both of them.

I must admit they are rather gorgeous! Although I am rather biased! I'll let them know people think they are pretty!