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Female skinny pig discharge

21 13:39:00

Question
I have a female skinny pig that is just over 6 weeks old. I noticed upon picking her up yesterday that a small amour of white thick discharge was surrounding her vagina (I wiped it away with a tissue).
Is it normal for a female skinny pig to have discharge?

Answer
First and foremost I have to ask, is she or was she in with any older boars or maybe her dad?  Baby sows can and do come into their first estrus as young as 2 weeks of age.  I had a young female I got from another breeder and she was five weeks old.  She got fat and I thought she was just too aggressive at the grain bowl I always had in my cages.  

Moving ahead six weeks, she gave birth to four large and healthy pups. She was only three months old. Counting backward I realized she'd been impregnated at 2 1/2 weeks of age. It did not stunt her growth, she raised all the babies just fine and everyone was healthy.

If this discharge was quite thick and white, it's very possible it could be a semen plug IF she was with a boar old enough to breed. Baby boars are not able to impregnate a sow until they are about a 4 mo old. I've tried and tried with different sows and different baby boars and the results were all the same. So if she was in a litter with brothers it's unlikely they were the culprits.

On another note, I've had pigs (especially babies) that had this happen. It is usually a one time occurrence. None of mine had any further instance of this discharge.  Human baby girls often have the same type of discharge if they are breast fed. . It's a hormonal effect from the estrogen they get through mother's breast milk. They often can have swollen nipple and appear to be growing little breasts. But again it is comin from mother's breast milk and does not stay.

I hope this helps you.  If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask again.