AFRMA

American Fancy Rat & Mouse Association

This article is from the WSSF 2017 AFRMA Rat & Mouse Tales news-magazine.

Medical


Prolapsed Penis on Rat

Amber Joy, e-mail
Q We have two female rats and we just recently got a male rat approximately 4 months old. We noticed yesterday that his penis was...I’m not sure how to describe it...it is out. It has never been like that before. We have never had a male before so I thought at first it was caused maybe by mating with one of our females. So I just kept an eye on it but it is still like that. There is something not right. I think he’s been injured or something. There are no vets close by that will even look at him. I don’t know if I can use any kind of topical medicine on him. It looks like it might have a little swelling and maybe a little bit of a blister.

One other concern is that we got him to breed with our female and she has miscarried once for sure. But she was also fairly new from a pet store that does their own breeding. Is it possible that she had or has some kind of infection that would cause our male a problem like this? We have other females that we have had for longer and I do not want them exposed to anything.

If you have any information or advice I would appreciate it.

A With mice they are usually euthanized. Here is what Dr. Carmen Jane Booth says about mice, In our research breeding colonies, we occasionally see mice with a prolapsed penis. However, for humane reasons, most are euthanized without treatment. If the mouse can urinate, topical antibiotic treatment can be given. However, treatment is not usually successful because there has been substantial damage, and the penis is unable to contract even if the inflammation is resolved.

I’ve heard of some rat breeders using a little bit of oil to try and push the penis back inside if found early. If it has been a few days, then antibiotic ointment used several times a day over a couple days found that would usually get the penis to retract. One vet used hemorrhoid cream to shrink a prolapsed penis on a duck. Another method a vet used was sugar to absorb fluids so the prolapsed tissue on a female cat could be put back inside.

Causes for this condition could be poor living conditions, infection, injury, irritants, obesity, congenital defect, or some kind of medical condition. Young rats with this condition should not be used for breeding as this could be passed down to his kids if it has a genetic nature. Karen Robbins *

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April 3, 2019