I have a 3 year old boar (Dale) who's suddenly developed a bit of a whiff. A few weeks ago his cagemate from birth (Chip) died, and he was devestated. I had to syringe feed him critical care to get him to eat (which admittedly gave him cowpat stools), as he refused to eat by himself. He wasn't grooming either, so he got kind of skinky and I had to give him a few baths to clean him up. On my vet's advice (as lab results said his stool was fine, and he wasn't ill, just pining/sensative to critical care), I switched up his food to a smoothie blend of nuggets and veg, as well as brown cardboard in his run, and his poops returned to normal.
Again on my vet's advice, as he was pining so hard and really struggling to live alone, I got him a companion - a six week old boar (Cooper) with a personality similar to our lost piggy. They don't share the same cage yet (the baby is so tiny, and I want to be 100% certain they'll get on before housing them together for good), though their cages are side by side, and they have regular play times in a neutral space.
Almost immediately (pretty much the same day) after bringing Cooper home, Dale started eating, drinking, and grooming again. He started talking to me (he'd been silent since his cagemate died), and regained all his enthusiasm to play and run around.
BUT he's suddenly really stinky, though different from when he had looser stools. While that smelt very obviously like poop, this is a really pungent, musky smell that is back within 24 hours of cleaning his cage. Dale was always the dominant boar, but he never marked his territory, and so I'm confused as to why he'd suddenly start now, having never done it in the three years previous, or whether that's even the source of the smell at all. He had a day or two before we brought Cooper home where he smelt like this (say day 8 and 9 after Chip died), but we took him for a health check and the vet found nothing wrong with him, and after his next cage clean the smell went away until we brought Cooper home.
I grew up only having sows, so boars are still a new experience for me, especially bonding two of them together. I had heard that boars can be smellier, but like I said, my original pair were pretty much odorless until Chip died.
If anyone can offer me any advice, it would be much appreciated!
Again on my vet's advice, as he was pining so hard and really struggling to live alone, I got him a companion - a six week old boar (Cooper) with a personality similar to our lost piggy. They don't share the same cage yet (the baby is so tiny, and I want to be 100% certain they'll get on before housing them together for good), though their cages are side by side, and they have regular play times in a neutral space.
Almost immediately (pretty much the same day) after bringing Cooper home, Dale started eating, drinking, and grooming again. He started talking to me (he'd been silent since his cagemate died), and regained all his enthusiasm to play and run around.
BUT he's suddenly really stinky, though different from when he had looser stools. While that smelt very obviously like poop, this is a really pungent, musky smell that is back within 24 hours of cleaning his cage. Dale was always the dominant boar, but he never marked his territory, and so I'm confused as to why he'd suddenly start now, having never done it in the three years previous, or whether that's even the source of the smell at all. He had a day or two before we brought Cooper home where he smelt like this (say day 8 and 9 after Chip died), but we took him for a health check and the vet found nothing wrong with him, and after his next cage clean the smell went away until we brought Cooper home.
I grew up only having sows, so boars are still a new experience for me, especially bonding two of them together. I had heard that boars can be smellier, but like I said, my original pair were pretty much odorless until Chip died.
If anyone can offer me any advice, it would be much appreciated!
