Yes this dog had a urethra FULL of stones - from where it exits the pelvic canal to just before the "os penis" - which is, yes, a small bone IN the penis of male dogs and a great area for stones to lodge (the urethra cannot expand as it passes through this U shaped little bone.)
What was even more amazing was this dog somehow could still pee and had a small bladder. Of course he was very uncomfortable.
In cases like this we try to flush the stones back into the bladder where it's much easier to extract them. This is unlikely in a case of this severity and indeed, the surgeon had to open the urethra up to get some of them out. This is tough because it's already a small tube and can very easily stricture or get much narrower if sutured so we often leave it open to heal with a little time. They do quite well. In the meantime, the dog urinates out of the little hole there.
This dog is doing very well post - op!
PS. For the person with the answer of a constipation issue : that never "presented" itself and was never an issue after surgery. However, your assessment on the radiograph was not wrong.
Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this dog? And what can we do to help him?
Of course it's always good to get scientific evidence but this makes sense and seems logical. All of us, no matter the species, age as do our brain cells.
We already recognize "Cognitive Dysfunction" in dogs - aka "doggy Alzheimers." So I am not surprised we find it in our felines too.
CHECK THIS OUT
Excuse me if I"m a little tipsy..a bit sugared out from my wonderful experience as a judge in the Pocono Cupcake Wars. Oh the things one must endure. But hey, it was a dream come true.
I'll throw in a nice happy, non sick or disgusting pet photo from today!
Yesterday, Sue correctly guessed it was Feline Leukemia and FIV (or "kitty AIDS") Snap test that shows a Leukemia positive.
The top blue dot (think 12 o'clock) should always be present. It's the control dot and means the test ran correctly. There should be no other dots. One at 3 o'clock is FELV, one at 9 o'clock is FIV. And yes, you can have both.
This test takes just 10 mins and 0.1 mls (a VERY small amount) of blood to run in your veterinarian's office. It's recommended for any NEW cat - kitten or adult and for sick cats, even ones that were previously tested.
This cat was not well and was a feral cat in for a neuter and release type situation. Shelters are already FULL to overflowing and there are few homes or places that will take in a FELV + cat. This disease is spread by casual contact between cats. There is an effective vaccine against it. However, many people have multiple cats and may not want to vaccinate their whole "herd" to take a positive cat in (unless they have cats that go out too - in which case they REALLY should be vaccinated anyhow.) In addition, feral or unfriendly cats, are not the easiest to adopt. There are already (very sadly) a ton of sweet healthy kittens and cats that need homes.
What is this? Does anyone know? And what does it tell us?
