Can a prolapsed penis happen from stress?

[Fawkes]

As the title says, does anyone know whether a prolapsed penis can happen due to stress?

 

[Amiga]

I think it's possible, yes.


Have you looked up the advice for treating it?

@Fawkes

 

[Fawkes]

Thanks! I thought that might be possible but couldn't find anything on it.

Some details:

He got a prolapsed penis in April 2015 and April 2016. The first time it quickly went back inside but it still hasn't this time. I'm trying to keep it as clean as possible, am putting lots of triple antibiotic cream on it, and keeping him away from females, plus males who might bite it (except for my drake Arya, they're in love with each other and Arya is good to him. I do supervise though).

I read one account on this forum where this happened to someone's drake and they said it took 30 days for the muscle to heal and then it was able to go back inside, so I'm hoping that'll be the case with Myrcella.

One of my concerns is, if it's possible that stress can cause it, I don't want to put him in a stressful situation again in case it happens again. He's used to being an indoor/outdoor duck (when outdoors he's in the duck aviary) but I ended up suddenly not bringing him in at night and the prolapse happened shortly after.

He's a very laid back duck though and didn't seem stressed at all until the day he got the prolapse, which was probably because his penis got injured after it prolapsed - I imagine one of the females might have bit it because initially it looked slighted bloody and maybe bruised on the end (the girls tend to be curious/bitey about that sort of thing). And when I say he was stressed, it was just that he was keeping to himself and skirting around the other ducks. Once I brought him inside he was his usual self.

Or it could be because one of my other drakes, Summer, gets frisky this time of year and maybe ends up stressing Myrcella. No serious bullying or anything because I'd have seen/heard that (I always have the window open) but maybe just the stress of being around Summer 24/7 at this time of year. Assuming stress plays a part at all. I know over-mating is a common cause but I don't think he did over-mate. Maybe though his penis just got grabbed and damaged immediately after he'd mated. I don't know. The day it happened I was gone for a few hours and when I got back I saw the prolapse, so I suppose it's possible something like that happened while I was gone.

 

[Amiga]

I think that whatever happened, it was some kind of stress, and this time of year hormones rage, and some older drakes can begin to have reproductive issues (such as internal swelling).

So, bring him in, help him feel calm and safe, give him time swimming in lukewarm water, no soap.

You might want to research what vets do for drakes who have that internal swelling. There may be some kind of medicine that will help.

 

[Fawkes]

OK thanks, I'll look that up about the internal swelling - I hadn't heard anything about that til now.

Yeah he's been inside ever since and I let him bathe in the bathtub. He's eating well and is very happy and relaxed.

I wonder if dipping his penis in a cup of saltwater would be good? Help keep infection down? I don't know about with penises but it's always done wonders for eyes, flesh wounds, soaking bumblefoot feet in etc.

 

[Amiga]

I reckon if it were mild saline, probably no problem. I haven't tried that myself.

 

[Fawkes]

Ok I'm going to start doing that today then. I've seen salt do amazing things in the past, it's always my go to treatment for injuries (not sure why I didn't think of it until yesterday!), so I'm hopeful.

But if I'm being honest with myself I think I'm probably going to have at least part of it removed. I'm going to speak with different vets and make sure I'm comfortable with the vet I choose to remove it, if it does come to that. I know most people say it's a simple procedure...but I'm really scared of something happening to him so I want to make sure they know what they're doing!

 

[Fawkes]

Thought I'd update this in case it helps anyone in the future. I usually forget to update health threads but I know for me it was really helpful reading old threads about penis prolapse so I wanted to make sure I remembered to update!

So anyway Myrcella's penis went back in yesterday! After being out for I think at least a month and a half (If I remember correctly it prolapsed in mid April). I'm relieved but also a bit nervous - I just hope it's healthy, since if not, I can't keep an eye on it now. I don't think it ever looked infected though, so hopefully it is fine.

 

[Amiga]

So you've been using the saline solution to keep it from getting infected? Any other tips for future readers? That's great, news, let's be cautiously optimistic!

 

[Fawkes]

Yeah I've been using saline solution by dipping his penis in a cup of it and letting it soak for a couple minutes. And then afterwards I coated it with triple antibiotic ointment.

That was about all I did, besides keeping him indoors. Although he likes to lay on fleece blankets (the $2 something per yard fleece that you can find in the fabric section at walmart) so that helped with keeping it clean too.

Yeah, I'm hoping that it stays in and stays healthy!