Possible Prolapsed Penis Cold Weather Advice

[3bird]

Hi, Guys!

It is perfect duck weather today at Three Bird Farm--40s and rainy, and "The Waterpark" is full and open for business!

Unfortunately, we observed that our handsome boy Angus was having some trouble retracting the proverbial penis--well actual it's his literal penis (the one our vet called "a very impressive phallus"). It was pretty much out all morning (~1 hour of supervised free ranging (which was almost entirely in the water and not on the range!)). Even more interesting, there was zero sex this morning (did I mention it was warm and raining?). So we think poor angus is having a penis problem, and as some of you may recall, this is not his first rodeo. Here's a link to the previous chapter.

My question for you guys is what would you do? Normally we would just observe at this point, as he has resolved on his own in the past, but the temps are supposed to plummet to ~8F tonight, and we worry about a cold injury. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[KaleIAm]

I have observed veterinarians clean the penis with sterile saline and gently push it back into the body. This was about 15 years ago for a duck who was walking around with his penis dragging on the ground.

 

[3bird]

I have observed veterinarians clean the penis with sterile saline and gently push it back into the body. This was about 15 years ago for a duck who was walking around with his penis dragging on the ground.

Thanks! I've done the reinsertion before, but I was thinking we should see if he can resolve himself (which seems preferable for me and him!). If he can resolve himself, then I feel better about him tonight. If he cannot, I'm thinking we should consider bringing him in.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@Isaac 0

 

[3bird]

@Isaac 0

I'm sure Isaac will chime in when available. I'll also post this excellent resource that @casportpony gave me previously for folks who come across this thread but not the other one.

 

[h2oratt]

I know with dogs we need to check that the penis retracts fully. If any part is exposed to air for long periods it is harmful.I would definitely bring him in so it doesn’t freeze.

 

[3bird]

By the way, here's the crew this morning. You can see Angus is acting normal.

 

[3bird]

Just a quick update: We went out to check on him, and his penis is still visible. :-(

Sorry for the less than ideal picture, but you can see he's "got it in" more than it was, but I'm thinking we should bring him in. In going back through our blog, I see this happened at almost the exact same time in 2019. We also noted in a follow-up blog post that:

After talking with Dr. Barbara and amongst ourselves, here is what we are thinking: We’ve had a pretty cold and snowy winter, so there has not been much foraging and precious little swimming as of late. The night before Angus first presented with a prolapsed penis, we got a huge swing in temperature and then loads of rain. They all spent more time than they have in a while swimming and playing that evening. The next morning was when we first observed the prolapsed penis. Could it have been the excitement and the expectation of pool sex (you know ducks) and lots of drinking that kicked everything into high gear and caused the initial problem? Perhaps.​

That's remarkably similar to the current situation. While the winter has not been super snowy this year, the ground has been covered the last few weeks with pretty cold temps. Yesterday we had a big warm-up and rain, and they had extra long swimming sessions as a result. In fact, we are now recalling that we were gone this time last year for a couple weeks, and while our ducksitter didn't mention it, maybe it happened last year too but resolved?

Anyway, we're leaning toward moving him inside later this afternoon, as it is supposed to be 8F tomorrow morning (43F now).

 

[gimmie birdies]

Ducks walk around like that.

 

[3bird]

Ducks walk around like that.

This is different. It's been a couple hours.