Tag: prolapsed penis

Prolapsed penis

Some of this will apply to other animals but this post has been written about degus

What is a prolapsed penis: This is when the penis gets gets stuck outside of the cone, how much of the penis gets stuck can vary. If you don’t know what is meant by cone check out this post on how to sex degus.

Why is it a problem: A degu’s penis is designed to be stored internally, if stuck outside it increases the risk of it getting injured or infected. The end of the cone will also cut off the blood supply to the part of the penis stuck outside. An infection can lead to trouble urinating which could cause a kidney infection.

What could cause this:
– straining to urinate, possibly due to a UTI or kidney stones
– a foreign object getting stuck within the cone
– an ulcer in the cone/on the penis
– a fur ring – this is when fur gets wrapped around the penis and prevents it from being retracted (this is more likely in chinchillas than degus due to the difference in fur)

What needs to be done: The degu should be taken to a vet to investigate and treat the cause of the prolapsed penis. Hopefully it will be a case of removing the foreign object or fur from the penis, some antibiotics to help the swelling go down and the degu should recover well, however if the cause is more serious, for example kidney stones, then surgery will be required.

Photo of a healthy cone and a prolapsed penis under the cut for those who don’t want to see it on their dash.

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A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Thomas has a prolapsed penis (his penis was sticking out of his cone), usually when degus, um, “groom” their penis it goes back in the cone and isn’t visible. Thomas went for a trip to the vet that morning to get the penis back in and I learned how to do it in case there was a next time. Everything was fine for a few hours. Then his penis kept coming back out and I kept helping him to put it away again.

The next day Thomas went back to the vet for some further investigations as to what might be causing the problem – it was suspected that there could be kidney stones which would have required an operation. There was no obvious cause for the prolapsed penis, although they did find signs of the early stages of arthritis on his spine, Thomas had a UTI and was given some medicine to take for a week. His penis kept coming out again and the vet decided that the medicine should be stopped due to the amount of stress it was causing Thomas (he wouldn’t take the medication on oat flakes the way the little guys do and he doesn’t like to be held) and any help from the medicine was likely being cancelled out by the stress. When Thomas wasn’t getting better the medicine was tried again, this time on popcorn, he ate this well and I haven’t seen his penis in days. Hopefully that’s the end of it for now.

Popcorn is safe for degus if it has been air popped and is plain. It makes a good occasional treat and it turns out it is very absorbent and useful for liquid medication.