What im thinking is a uti

[AyrianG]

At one time not too long ago i had a male rat who got a type of plug in his penis that formed everyday and i had to pull back his penis skin to take the plug out. Its gross i know but apparently a lot of older male rats have this problem. Recently my male squirrel who is about 6 months has been more lathargic and is acting kind of weird. I saw him messing with his penis and it looked like he was doing something different with it. I went in and pulled back his penis skin and saw his penis looked very red(maybe its always red tho im not an expert) Anyway, i saw a white stringy thing in his urethra like my rat had when he had his frequent penis plugs. Since rats and squirrels are similar i was thinking maybe i need to take it out and give him a few doses of cipro? I have another boy his age and was trying to see if his penis was similar but i cant pull the skin back like my sick boy. I know this is weird. I have 500 mg cipro pills and he weighs almost exactly 500g give or take (hes wiggly)

[lukaslolamaus]

:bump I have no experience with this particular problem, but help will be here soon.

[czarina]

Hi! This will sound odd, but it is very common with squirrels. They frequently suck on their penises. They will also suck on each others penises. Often to the point wherewhere the penis becomes so swollen that they cannot urinate.

I feel pretty sure that this is what is going on with your boy. You can do a search here, and see lots and lots of pictures of this.

My daughter had a beloved pet rat that also had the penis plugs, and we had to clear them away daily. But, he lived an extra year past his life span with our extra medical care.
I still miss him.

[AyrianG]

So no cipro needed? How do i help him? What if he cant urinate? Im so worried about him. Theres no way for me to be able to tell if hes urinating because i have two and they mostly go pee in their cage.

[Milo's Mom]

Hmmm, okay, not sure how to say this all PC like, so I'm just gonna say it.

The white stringy stuff....that would be the result of your boy "enjoying" himself. Ejaculate would be a good word that seems pretty benign.

Right now, based on your description, I see no reason to dose antibiotics.

[czarina]

Hope you were able to stop worrying a little.
It is doubtful that your squirrel will damage his penis to the point he can't urinate. Yes, it does happen, but what happens even more, is little boys enjoying themselves, with no lasting problems.

Just keep an eye on him. His little roomate may suck on him, too. It is usually done in their little squirrel nest, so it is hard to catch.

What I do if I catch one of mine enjoying himself, is to simply distract him. Which is easy cause he's so spoiled!

AsI said, it is doubtful that there will be any problems. Just keep an eye on him, and if there are any questions, we'll be glad to help anyway we can!:serene