Amber
,@griffin1300
0
Friends
I am the owner of a 2 year old English Bulldog. Last year his urethra prolapsed and he received a purse string suture and was neutered at the pet ER in Bel Air. The issue resolved itself and he had been doing well until this last week when the urethra prolapsed again. We took him through the Towson pet ER so he could see a surgical specialist. They evaluated him and suggested surgery. After surgery they sent him home to recover and stressed the importance of him staying calm. We stayed by his side, even staying home from work, to ensure that he didn’t do anything to distrupt the healing. We kept him in a play pen and carried him up and down the stairs to potty. Two days after the surgery (and lots of bloody laundry later) we noticed that he was extremely uncomfortable even while on the pain and sedative meds. We also noticed the protrusion of his urethra tissue. We took him back to the surgeon and they confirmed that the urethra has prolapsed and they have recommended that the surgery be performed for a second time (tomorrow). We have ruled out the obvious contributing factors that may cause pressure such as stones, uti, etc. Any thoughts for treatment options moving forward? Are we missing anything? I just want our little guy to start feeling well again! Thank you.
Amber
Hello.
These are really frustrating cases. I’m so sorry about your experience and I empathize completely. I guess my first concern is that we don’t often know why this happens. My second concern is that you are going to repeat the same surgery and it should be assumed the failure has a pretty fair chance of happening again. My preference as the surgeon for cases like these (and they happen to all of us) is to both offer a redo (although I will admit I rarely charge or I charge a nominal redo fee) is to also offer a different surgeon to try over. My concern is that failing twice is an awful big expenditure and a tough explanation as to why I didn’t see that coming. My personal preference is to refer these difficult refractory cases to the vet teaching hospitals. They have faster easier and better access to more minds and more diverse experience. You just can’t get that at a private facility. I use UPenn or va tech vet schools. They are often cheaper and give a broader access to options and experience. I hope this helps. Please let me know what happens. I would love to hear a follow up and I would love to hear about your previous surgery and experience. Especially to add this to our storylines page. It is such a unique case. Very best of luck. Krista.
Thank you so much for your reply and suggestions. We will move forward with the second attempt to repair the prolapse despite the low success rate and cost associated. If it is unsuccessful we will need to get another opinion. I hadn’t thought to consult with a vet school and I think that is great advice. I will certainly keep you posted along the way.
I want to second Dr. M’s recommendation of a vet school. UPenn is phenomenal – we drove up from Timonium. They couldn’t help my puppy but they literally threw everything they could at him to diagnose his issue, and it was more than the local vets could do.