Discharge from a Sow - Is this a mucus plug?

clotho

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:14 pm


My sow Twinkie is 10 weeks old. She is in heat I'm pretty sure. It may be her first heat cycle but I am not certain.

Tonight when I picked her up, this really gross thing came out of her vaginal area onto my hand. It is 1 1/4 inches long and looks like a wrinkly used condom (for lack of a better way to describe it).

I took a picture. I should learn how to post pictures here on GL, but here is a link to my thread on guineapigcages with the picture:

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/abo ... post346560

I looked around GL and found a couple people this has happened to, but couldn't find where anyone discovered for sure what it is. I was wondering if anyone knows for certain if this is a mucus plug? I'm pretty sure it is.

Twinkie is absolutely female and has never been near a male guinea pig - there is absolutely no chance she is pregnant.

There was a tiny bit of blood and there has been no more. I will keep checking her to make sure there is no more blood. She seems perfectly fine.

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Becky

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:24 pm


I have no direct experience with mucus plugs, but I've always imagined they were not nearly that big.

In my limited experience, it looks like mucus for sure, so maybe?

Has she been crying at all when she pees or poos?

clotho

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:36 pm


I'm pretty positive it's mucus because I touched it. But it's not gooey and doesn't fall apart.

I have not noticed any crying when she pees or poos but I will be watching her closely.

There is a little more blood now around her vaginal area. Not a lot. I know for positive that the thing in that picture came out of her vagina, not anywhere else.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:14 pm


I don't know what a mucus plug looks like either. A vet could examine it with a microscope and give you more information.

clotho

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:22 pm


Well I have saved it in a baggie just in case.

She is oozing just a tiny bit of mucusy blood. She just peed and it's normal - no squeaking while peeing - no blood in the pee.

The blood is definitely coming from her vaginal area.

She is eating ok - we just gave her a bunch of veggies.

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Becky

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:26 pm


From what I understand, their normal cycles do not involve blood in any way. I strongly would suspect something else is going on. Any chance she was pregnant and this is somehow related to an incomplete placenta?

I saved a long string of mucus-encrusted stones from Cookie at one point. By the next morning, the mucus had disappeared. I wonder if that will happen to you, as well.

clotho

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:32 pm


There is absolutely no way she can be pregnant. She is 10 weeks old. She was born here. She has never been with a male. We separated her brothers when they were 21 days old. No chance of a pregnancy at all.

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rshevin

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:33 pm


I suppose a pyrometria isn't totally out in left field.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:57 pm


I'd get that in to a vet for analysis first thing tomorrow.

If you were a newcomer, I'd think you were pulling our legs - it looks very like a condom :-p

clotho

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:42 pm


I swear to God that came out of my poor piggie. Actually she is a foster piggie.

If you look at pictures that whittibo took - it looks pretty much exactly like what came out of that sow.

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... mucus+plug

If you think about it - what is a mucus plug but a condom? Isn't it meant to stop a male from being able to deposit sperm? The rounded part could be the part that's at the opening and the rest of it is inside the sow - and it blocks any sperm from being able to enter. If most mucus plugs from sows dissolve - how do we know exactly what they look like if they were intact? Perhaps I have an intact mucus plug here.

The part that worries me is the continuing bloody mucus coming out. It's not much - just slight spotting - but it concerns me.

She seems to have a good appetite. I am going to put her in a separate cage for a bit tonight to make sure she is pooping and drinking (I know she's peeing). I will separate her again in the morning to check on how she is doing. I don't want to stress her out too much by separating.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:51 pm


continuing bloody mucus coming out. It's not much - just slight spotting - but it concerns me.
This is absolutely not right - you should never see blood coming from a sow.

I'd suspect possible pyometra. You might want to get her properly checked out by a vet tomorrow. (Although I would think this would be very unusual in a 10-week old sow).

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mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:33 am


Over the years on GL and previous boards, I've seen a few posts of this sort, followed by vet checkups with no problems found. (This happened to me--When our first pig was 3-4 months old, she spotted a little blood. Off to the vet's, and she was fine.) It would be interesting to try to understand this as possible little-understood information about sows' first heats.

It's still the right thing to check with a vet, of course.

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