Is guinea pig butt swollen is it constipated?

Answer 1

Guinea pigs can become what is called "impacted". Before I can explain what that means, I need to explain certain anatomy of a guinea pig. They have a small "sac" at the end of their anus called the perineal sac. It traps the soft poop pellets that a guinea pig needs to eat to regain some of it's B-vitamins while the harder poop that has no nutritional benefit to the guinea pig are pooped out of the rectum.

As a guinea pig ages, the skin of the perineal sac becomes stretched out, making it extremely hard to the guinea pig to expel these droppings. They build up in the perineal sac and can plug up the anus, making digestion difficult and making the guinea pig vitamin B deficient because he can no longer eat these benificial droppings.

You will have to clean out the impaction yourself as your cavy cannot do this on his own. Instructions and more information can be found at the web page below:

http://www.guinealynx.com/impaction.html