Sow with... micropenis?

[GuineaDobbin]

Hi folks, my recently adopted sow has been quite rumbly lately. The poor mite has been moved around a lot while we re-organise our herds.

She has been very rumbly the last few days and I've heard a honking coming from her hutch (which she shares with her adopted daughter). I picked her up to inspect just now (a normal piggy parent thing to do at 1:10am?) And her genitals look.. well like a micropenis.

The pictures simply don't do justice to the size of the thing, it's like a boar penis but shorter.

It has a growth coming out the side of it too.

When I touched it during inspection she let rip a loud squeak of protest, it looks sore.

Has anyone seen such a thing?

She came from a reputable rescue so I didn't do a full inspection when we picked her up, so no idea if this is new or normal for her.

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, it's a hard one to photograph on your own!

 

[Eriathwen]

It could well be a penis type structure, one of my sows who we lost last year had partial somatic intersexuality and had a kind of pseudopenis type thing going on inside of her urethra, which would match up with the hormonal behaviour you're seeing, as increased hormones can cause the tissue to become more developed.

My Panda lived pretty under the radar until about a year after she had to be spayed due to ovarian cysts, the removal of female hormones caused a surge in testosterone from somewhere which lead to her "penis" growing noticeably larger.

Her hormones and relentless bullying by her herds neutered male meant she was put on suprelorin hormone implants to suppress the testosterone and she lived very happily into old age where she passed from lymphoma.

I would be worried that if it is painful, it has become unsheathed and is now too big to retract which may possibly block the flow of urine if, like mine, it is coming from inside the urethra. It's also entirely possible it could be a different sort of prolapse but either way, I would have her seen by a vet sooner rather than later just to be on the safe side. Generally things protruding from where they shouldn't be, even if a normal part of whatever anatomy they're coming from, generally causes discomfort at best and at worst pain.

 

[GuineaDobbin]

It could well be a penis type structure, one of my sows who we lost last year had partial somatic intersexuality and had a kind of pseudopenis type thing going on inside of her urethra, which would match up with the hormonal behaviour you're seeing, as increased hormones can cause the tissue to become more developed.

My Panda lived pretty under the radar until about a year after she had to be spayed due to ovarian cysts, the removal of female hormones caused a surge in testosterone from somewhere which lead to her "penis" growing noticeably larger.

Her hormones and relentless bullying by her herds neutered male meant she was put on suprelorin hormone implants to suppress the testosterone and she lived very happily into old age where she passed from lymphoma.

I would be worried that if it is painful, it has become unsheathed and is now too big to retract which may possibly block the flow of urine if, like mine, it is coming from inside the urethra. It's also entirely possible it could be a different sort of prolapse but either way, I would have her seen by a vet sooner rather than later just to be on the safe side. Generally things protruding from where they shouldn't be, even if a normal part of whatever anatomy they're coming from, generally causes discomfort at best and at worst pain.

Thank you, i think I was just reading your thread just after I posted this!

She's been to the vet today, she had the added interest of vaginal discharge today and a whopping infection. She is on loxicom and cotrimoxazole until she can get scanned on Monday by our cavvy-savvy vet to check whether she has stones or has prolapsed for another reason (or unusual intersexionality!). I'll keep checking her over to see if any stones appear.

 

[GuineaDobbin]

Saw our cavvy-savvy vet on Monday, he's quite confident there's not any funky intersexuality going on!

He identified there was a build up of a smegma-like substance around the base of the not-penis which was keeping it extended. When soaked with some ky jelly it came away with a cotton bud and some small persuasion. It's all starting to look a bit more normal down there again.

With luck, we will be able to bond her into her intended herd later this week!