7 month old pig white discharge

Question
I have a 7 month old miniature pig who was neutered not too long after birth. Every so often he's put out a rancid smell, which we always attributed to mating. Our vet never said anything about it. He's developed a clear discharge with small white chunks in it. I saw it tonight, and my husband found some a few days ago but didn't think much of it.

Is this something I need to try to get him into the vet for, or is this normal? Everything I've read says it happens in pigs that haven't been neutered, but he has been long ago.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Answer
This is normal, and it will fade away and stop eventually.

The preputial diverticulum is a pouch shaped organ in the middle of piggy's belly. It's job is to collect all sorts of body fluids and secrete an odor that female pigs adore, but most people find unpleasant. It's growth is controlled by hormones, so it grows quite large and smelly in unaltered male pigs.

Fixed pigs, even males that were fixed quite young, still have this pouch. Because pigs grow until they are about 5 years old, this pouch is still a bit active until then. Because neutered males have very little fluid in the pouch and empty it seldom, it smells quite bad when they do empty it.

Sometimes males empty this pouch when they sleep, and people think their pig wet the bet. Other times, the pig will empty this pouch when he's stressed or upset.

Occasionally, this pouch can become impacted or infected. Usually this is easy to fix by washing piggy's belly with a warm soapy cloth once or twice a day, emptying the pouch as much as possible each time.

If piggy is straining to pee, it's not the pouch, it's a UTI or blockage and could be dangerous. If piggy is straining really hard to pee, it may look like he's straining to poop. If piggy is having any trouble peeing, he needs to see a vet right away.