When tissue comes out the back end of a pig, you have hours, not days. Rectal, vaginal, and uterine prolapse (locally "buwa") all show up on PH backyard farms, usually from mouldy corn, low-fibre feed, or a heavily pregnant sow on a sloped pen. Sugar shrinks the swelling. Some cases are slaughter cases. Tell them apart in ten minutes.
First, Tell The Three Types Apart
| Type | What you see | Who gets it |
|---|---|---|
| Rectal | Pink/red ring or tube from the anus, smooth surface | Any age, any sex; often after diarrhoea, coughing, or cold pile-ups |
| Vaginal | Smooth pink mass from the vulva; pops out when sow lies, may go back when she stands | Late-pregnancy sow, usually 5th parity or older |
| Uterine | Large RED mass, BUMPY with caruncles like meatballs, hangs to the hocks | Within 24 hours after farrowing |
Smooth pink = vaginal. Red and bumpy = uterine. That single visual difference tells you whether you can buy yourself half a day or whether you need a vet immediately.
How bad is the rectal one?
The Merck Veterinary Manual splits rectal prolapse into incomplete (only the inner lining out) and complete (every layer out). Incomplete is a short soft "donut" that may slip back once straining stops. Complete is a thick sausage; reduce it now. Merck warns that amputating a damaged prolapse carries a higher stricture risk in swine, so that one is a vet job. NADIS warns pen mates may eat a prolapse, leaving only blood on the floor, so fresh blood in a grower pen means checking every rear end (NADIS).
The Reduction Protocol
Works for fresh rectal and small vaginal prolapses. Uterine prolapse is a vet job; skip to the next section.
- Isolate. Penmates will chew the prolapsed tissue within hours. Move the pig to a clean separate pen with soft bedding (rice hull, kogon).
- Clean. Warm water plus dilute povidone-iodine (Betadine 60mL from any drugstore). Rinse off feces, shavings, dirt.
- Shrink the swelling. Sprinkle table sugar generously over the prolapse and wait 20-30 minutes. Plain sugar is gentler; salt works in a pinch.
- Lubricate. KY jelly, petroleum jelly, or clean cooking oil. Coat the tissue and the surrounding skin.
- Reduce. Push the tissue back gently with the palm of a clean hand or folded cloth, working inward in small increments. No fingers poked into the tissue, no sharp objects.
- Hold or suture. If it stays in 5 minutes, observe. If it pops out, the pig is still straining; suture next.
When To Suture, When To Skip, When To Call A Vet
A purse-string suture closes the anus loosely around a finger's width. Stays in 5-7 days for rectal, longer for late-gestation vaginal.
Suture if: the prolapse pops out again within minutes of reduction, or the pig is still straining hard. Use 0 or 2-0 nylon from a vet supply shop (some farmers in remote barangays use clean fishing line as a fallback). Local lidocaine 2% if you can get it.
Call a vet (don't suture yourself) if: late-pregnancy sow with vaginal prolapse (wrong stitch can kill the litter), pig past slaughter weight (just slaughter), or second recurrence (heritable, cull her).
Uterine prolapse is a vet emergency. The Merck Veterinary Manual says prompt treatment is required to preserve the sow's life, and the prognosis is favorable only when the uterus is clean, minimally traumatized and promptly replaced. Keep the sow calm, prolapse clean and elevated, call. If no vet and the sow is bleeding or shocked, humane slaughter is the kinder option. See the difficult farrowing guide.
Provincial private vet farm calls run ₱500-₱1,500; government vets cheaper but slower.
When To Slaughter Without Trying
Be honest with yourself. Slaughter humanely (or call the vet to euthanise) if ANY of these:
- Tissue is black, cold, leathery, or foul-smelling: necrosis is past the point of return.
- Bowel or intestine is visible through a torn wall: perforation.
- Continuous bleeding that pressure won't stop.
- The pig is at slaughter weight (~85 kg+): the economics are clear.
- Repeat prolapse after two reductions in the same animal.
The odds run in order of freshness: a rectal prolapse that is still fresh, pink and undamaged is the best bet, a late-pregnancy vaginal prolapse needs a vet's stitch, and a uterine prolapse is the worst of the three. Past 24 hours untreated, assume non-viable.
Treat or sell? The backyard math
The kit is kitchen and drugstore items plus one bottle of Robipenstrep (₱267 on sale, ₱500 regular on Viddavet when I checked on 18 October 2026), so a fresh prolapse in a grower is worth one try. Near market weight (check with the pig weight calculator), sell instead, because an injected pig is stuck until the label withdrawal period passes. Stricture (below) makes a pig a total loss, so I sell a once-prolapsed grower early.
Watch For Rectal Stricture 2-4 Weeks Later
A prolapse that goes back fine can still leave scar tissue that slowly tightens the rectum. The 3tres3 disease page puts the swollen belly at 2-4 weeks after the prolapse. NADIS adds weight loss and a gaunt, hairy look, and calls these pigs unfit for human consumption. The pig eats but stops gaining, pot-bellied, droppings thin. Humane destruction is the answer. Paint-mark every prolapsed pig and check it daily for a month.
The PH Prolapse Kit
| Item | What it's for | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Table sugar (1 kg) | Osmotic shrink | Any sari-sari store |
| Povidone-iodine 60mL | Wash | Any drugstore |
| KY jelly or petroleum jelly | Lubricant | Any drugstore |
| Robipenstrep P 100mL | Antibiotic cover after reduction | Agrivet; ₱267 sale / ₱500 regular on Viddavet, 18 Oct 2026 |
| Nylon suture 0 or 2-0 | Purse-string | Vet supply shop |
| Lidocaine 2% (Rx) | Local anaesthetic | Through your vet |
| Mycotoxin binder (Toxoff 1L) | Prevention during rainy months | Agrivet |
| Mineral oil 100mL | Mild laxative | Drugstore |
I only list a price where I could open a PH listing for it. Drugstore items vary by town, so ask at the counter.
For Robipenstrep IM technique, see how to inject pigs. Same sow-stress causes show up in lameness; see the pig limping guide.
Why It Happened (And How To Stop The Next One)
Mouldy corn is the most common backyard trigger. Zearalenone (the mycotoxin in humid-stored corn) causes vulvar swelling and constant straining, which pushes vagina, rectum, or uterus out. Inspect every batch, discard mouldy bags, add a binder (Toxoff, Mycosorb, or activated charcoal as a budget fallback) through May to November.
Other fixes:
- Boost fibre. Add 10-15% rice bran (darak) to commercial finisher. Pure pellets cause hard stools and chronic straining. See feed economics.
- Water 24/7. Check nipple flow daily. Dehydrated pigs strain.
- Flat dry pens. Sloped or wet floors push abdominal pressure the wrong way.
- Cull repeat offenders. Vaginal and uterine prolapse have a heritable component.
For multi-pig outbreaks, suspect the feed batch first; see the outbreak response guide.
The other causes in growers
Mouldy corn isn't the only suspect. 3tres3 names growers of 8 to 20 weeks as a common age. The grower triggers from 3tres3 and NADIS, in the order I'd check them:
- Coughing. Respiratory disease, listed by both.
- Diarrhoea, especially Salmonella (3tres3).
- Cold pile-ups (NADIS); think amihan nights in an open-sided pen. Tarp the windward side.
- Fast growth: NADIS flags 30-60 kg pigs on very high-density diets.
- Medicines: NADIS links tylosin and lincomycin to rectal swelling, mainly at high doses.
- Tails docked too short, which 3tres3 says can damage the anal sphincter nerves.
When two or more pigs in one pen prolapse
Two in one pen within a couple of weeks is a pen problem; NADIS puts losses on a typically affected farm at about 2% of growing pigs. Listen for night coughing, check droppings, smell the feed, test each nipple, and check stocking with the pen space calculator. Call the MAO if coughing or scouring spreads.
Bisaya / Cebuano
Para sa mga mag-uuma
Ang buwa, dili kana drama. Pipila ra ka oras ang imong panahon ayha mangitngit ug motig-a ang tissue ug dili na ma-balik. Una, ibulag ang baboy aron dili lamuyon sa kauban. Hugasi ug Betadine. Sabwagi og asukar (table sugar), pahuwaya 20-30 minuto aron mokulo ang hubag. Lubricant (KY o petroleum jelly), unya itulod gamay-gamay gamit ang luag nga palad. Kung mobalik dayon, kinahanglan og purse-string stitch. Sa lutahan nga buwa sa baboy nga buntis, tawga ang vet, ayaw og kaugalingong stitch.
Ayaw na lang sulayi: kung itom o bugnaw ang tissue, kung naa nay basa o nana ug baho, o kung naa nay tinai nga makita gawas. Patyon na lang nga maayo.
Ang dakong hinungdan dinhi sa Pilipinas: agup-op nga mais sa irigasyon. Ihatag og toxin binder sa pagkaon sa panahon nga ulan-ulan, dugangi og darak para makalibang.
Sources
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Rectal Prolapse in Animals
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Mycotoxin-Associated Estrogenism (zearalenone)
- NADIS: Rectal Prolapse and Rectal Stricture
- 3tres3: Rectal Prolapse (Prolapse of the Rectum)
- Pig333 Atlas: Rectal Prolapse
- Pig333: Uterine Prolapse
- Robipenstrep P (Viddavet PH product page) (₱267 sale / ₱500 regular; no dose on the page)
- Interchemie Penstrep-400 label (200,000 IU penicillin + 200 mg dihydrostreptomycin per mL; 1 mL/10 kg IM for 3 days; 21-day meat withdrawal)
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Uterine Prolapse and Eversion in Animals
