Male Syrian Hamster Discharge

Question
Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to read my question. I bought a male Syrian hamster about a month ago (January 2014). I have noticed that there has been some white discharge coming from his penis the past few weeks. The discharge is no longer than a grain of rice and is gelatinous. If I do not remove it from the area right away, he will eat it. He does not seem to be in pain (he is still active on his wheel, etc.) but I want to make sure that the discharge is normal and that it is not a symptom of a urinary tract infection. He seems to be urinating regularly. Another option that I considered is that it may be semen, and if so, I'm assuming it is natural and nothing to worry about. Any knowledge about this matter or advice whether or not I should be changing his diet is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Answer
Hi Alicia

Thanks for your question.

It sounds like this discharge is probably semen. If he is behaving normally and there is no sign of redness or swelling then this is probably nothing to worry about.

If anything else changes then if would be worth getting him checked out but right now I don't think you should worry.

Regards
Sheila