My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff. It is on the brink of death and and want to help it as much as I can. What I think is the case is since it's "waste" doesn't come out there forth it doesn't have enough nutrition because guinea pigs eat there "waste" because it contains minerals it didn't get the "first trip through." Please contact me with answers and tips for impaction so I can keep pippin for as long as I can. We are currently pushing the waste out and feeding it lots of veggies and hay and giving it a lot of attention. "He is an old male guinea pig."

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

Find a cavy-savvy vet in your area %26amp; take him in. They will be able to show you how to properly clean out his perineal sac. This is important in keeping him as healthy as possible in his senior years. See http://www.aracnet.com/cgi-usr/seagull/v... for finding a qualified vet near you.

At the same time, the vet can diagnose whats going on with his skin %26amp; hair issue.

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

What is the matter with you?! Get off your lazy butt and TAKE HIM TO THE VET!!! It is his RIGHT BY LAW to receive proper medical care and to deny it is abuse. You don't have the training or education required to properly diagnose and prescribe for your old guinea pig. Why won't you treat him with some dignity and respect? If he's old and been with you for years, why not give him a chance and take him to the vet? He could be made a lot more comfortable with proper care.

And stop asking unqualified strangers on the internet who haven't even seen your guinea pig, let alone examined him!

Blockage is life-threatening. Can you imagine his discomfort and pain?

GET HIM TO THE VET!

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

what goes in, must come out? therefore feed some pumpkin, or squash, to help loosen its bowels.

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

If he's losing his hair and his skin is rough, then he's been sick for quite some time. He needed to be taken to a vet when he first started losing his hair.

He absolutely has to be taken to a vet now. If he's in that bad of shape ("on the brink of death"), he must be taken to a vet ASAP. Denying an animal proper medical care when it's obviously in profound distress is considered to be willful neglect and abuse (to use the legal phrase). If you love him, you need to stop self-diagnosing the problem and go to a vet now...not Yahoo! Answers Pets forum.

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

Those seem like 2 different problems. Impaction is often seen in older boars. There's no cure for it, but here is alink with tips on it. http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.htm...

It's important to keep his perineal sac cleared out.

The hair loss and rough skin sounds like mites or fungus. The stress of the impaction could be causing the mites to flare up.

http://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html

http://www.guinealynx.info/mites.html

Go to the vet.

**Addition: I just remembered that I have heard that more exercise can help with impaction problems. So be sure he gets a ton of floor time!

My guinea pig is suffering from impaction and is losing it's hair and it's skin is ruff?

You really need to take your little guy to a trained exotic veternarian. You should ask the vet about Critical Care, which is a nutritional package you can get to feed sick guinea pigs. This includes syringe feeding if your guinea pig becomes lethargic.