HELP

[Flopsy]

Flospy has dried blood around his poop hole. Ijust noticed it when I flipped him over. It looks dry and there's somekind of sticky fluid that looks like it dripped around it. I have knowidea whats wrong. It didn't seem like he was hurting, but it lookedpainful.

-Ashley

 

[Carolyn]

Hi Ashley,

Could he have cut himself? Have you noticed his actingdifferently - lethargic, not eating much, struggling to go to thebathroom, drinking or not drinking?

Have you noticed the blood in his urine since?

How old is he?

-Carolyn

 

[Flopsy]

Flopsy is an 4 year old nuetered male. He didn'tget up when I opened his cage like he normaly does. But that may bebecause he was flopped on his side relaxing.

No blood except on him

-Ashley

 

[Carolyn]

I wonder if he just scratched himself or caught himself on something. Is it just around his privates?

It could just bethe reddishcolored urine, whichhappens.You can put white paper under theprivates area and ifit's blood, you'd see littleclots. You want to determine if it's plant pigment orblood. If he does have blood in his urine, it could be a signthat something's wrong with his kidneys, in which case you should seethe vet and have his urine tested.

Watch how he's doing going to the bathroom and how his normal behavior is compared to how he is now.

What do you mean there's sticky stuff around it? Is that also dark red?

-Carolyn

 

[Flopsy]

It looks like dandruff around his privates but its sticky. Theres only a little bit of that.

He's going to the vet next week to get his tooth trimmed. It doesn'tseem to serious right now because he seems pretty calm, but I'm goingto go outside and watch him for about thirty minutes in his run and seeif he does anything out of the ordinary. Thanks Carolyn

-Ashley

 

[JimD]

Hi Ashley,

After carefully following Carolyn advice....

Clean him up as best as you can and check his anal scent glands.

S'mores scent gland had started to develop an infection and what you'redescribing sounds very similar. The substance around the gland waswhiteish, sticky and crumbley/flakey. And SMELLY!!!!

Check even if there's no odor. S'mores gland was so caked up that we didn't smell anything until we started cleaning her.

Scent glands can normally get buildup, but it looks kind of like earwaxand smells like rotten onions and garlic. We have to open all thewindows when we clean scent glands :shock:.

~Jim

 

[Jenniblu]

What is the best way to clean the glands? Bath?

 

[JimD]

Jenniblu wrote:

What is the best way to clean the glands? Bath?

We cleaned her whole tushie area.

We first used just plain warm water on a towel to get the area damp.

Then we used warm soapy water on a towel to clean her up the best as we could.

To clean the scent glands it took two of us. One to hold the bun andexpose the glands (that would have been my daughter...brave soul!!).The other one did all of the cleaning (that would have been me...luckyme!!). Make sure you open the windows!

We used Q-Tips soaked in warm water. I kind of "rolled" the Q-tip in the gland area to dislodge and remove the buildup.

I then finished up the cleaning by using a spraybottle of warm water to rinse the area thoroughly.

We gently dried her with a towel after we finished.

I swear you could tell that she felt much better by the look on her face .

 

[Jenniblu]

Oh great...I think Vashy's scent gland needcleaning. He smells like rotten garlic andfeet. Eewww, I remeber cleaning my guinea pigboars' scent glands. Talk about a nose opener.

 

[Flopsy]

Sorry to get back so late all. I've been super busy with finals and such. I'm finally out for the school year.

I took Flopsy to the vet two weeks ago. The vet gave me medication andFlopsy's doing better. It turns out that the wire, on the bottom of hishutch, has been rubbing the skin around his raw. So I put some towelsinto his hutch and I have to apply the medcine twice a day.

Happy ending. Thank god.

-Ashley

 

[CorkysMom]

Glad to hear it!