March 2011
Chippy, the miniature schnauzer is one of our agility dogs. He always makes quite an announcement when he comes into the surgery! He lets us all know how put out he is that he is coming into the consulting room rather than down to the field to negotiate the different obstacles!
A few months ago, his owner popped in with him as he seemed to be doing lots and lots of small wees, and straining to do so. Having had Chippy since a youngster, the owner was sure that this was not just the usual marking of a non-castrated male dog. On examination, he was bright and largely normal but I could feel he had a very distended bladder.
Given the symptoms, I decided to try to pass a urinary catheter, but his “pipes(!)” were blocked. It is very important for animals to be able to pass urine properly and if the bladder cannot empty properly there are risks of rupture with toxins being released into the abdominal cavity and bloodstream.
We admitted Chippy to find out more about the blockage and his overall health status. We took a blood sample and performed a cystocentesis: where a long needle is placed through the abdominal wall and straight into the bladder to obtain a urine sample that is not complicated by substances entering the urine from the urethra. We also performed an ultrasound which revealed multiple stones within the lumen of the bladder. Abdominal x-rays showed a plug of stones within the narrow urethra (the reason we could not pass the urinary catheter into the bladder!).
Chippy was given a general anaesthetic and the stones were removed from his bladder. We then tried to flush the plug of stones that was in his urethra back into the bladder to remove them but they were impossible to dislodge. A small incision was made over this plug and the stones were removed directly taking care not to disrupt the tissue of the urethra.
This can be a very painful procedure but thankfully Chippy was extremely bright the following morning. He was passing a good stream of urine so was allowed to go home and we are continuing to monitor his urine regularly to make sure he stays ok.
