I'd be grateful for some advice, please.  My 4-year-old entire male shed some drops of blood (bright red) in his urine this morning during his on-lead walk.  When I dabbed him with a tissue, the tip of his pen*s was visible and there was blood (not loads, and I know a little blood goes a very long way) on the tissue.  I rechecked him again when we got home and there was again a little blood on the tissue. 

He is fine in himself, not licking and not attracting any attention in that area from my older male.  The only thing out of the ordinary is that he was "air-humping" early this morning (about 4.5 hours before the blood-in-urine episode).  He has "air-humped" on previous occasions and there has been no blood-in-urine.

I have a vet's appointment for 5 this evening.  What I really need to know is, is it rational to worry about it or am I being over-protective and panicky over something I could manage by observation over a day or so?

Hi I haven't had this with my boy but it's my first experience of owning a male dog. I would do as you have and called vet for advice and go to appointment. Hope it's nothing serious sending positive  vibes  x

No, get it checked. Blood from the pen*s can often be a sign of prostate problems. I had a panic when my entire male had a couple of drops last year, panicked, got to the vet first thing but his was because our bitch was in season and for a few other reasons he was a bit OTT testosterone wise and had got a bit over excited and burst a little blood vessel. If your dog is humping this could be all it is.

So no need to panic hugely, an appointment this evening would be fine, but certainly something to check. Of course, it could be many things, UTI etc. Prostate is fairly common with this symptom but is certainly not the only explanation. It is rational to worry because they are precious.

Thank you for your good wishes, saxonjus.  This is my fourth male (3 entires and 1 neutered) but I've not had this before.

Thank you very much, Tectona.  I hope it is only the result of over-excited humping, but your suggestion of possible prostate problems does need checking.  (I'd take him this afternoon if I didn't have an appointment of my own then. Or if he seemed out-of-sorts.)

You are absolutely right, they are very precious, and this is the one I fell in love with when I saw his photo at 5 days old .

Is that really such an offensive word it has to be edited?!?!?!?! Good grief!!

Sorry I meant to say my little prince who still has his dingly danglies had a couple of pristine droplets of red life juice flutter from his gentleman's protrusion.

But the nice man in the shiny building said it was ok because he was just being a randy beggar.

> Is that really such an offensive word it has to be edited?!?!?!?! Good grief!!

  I was amazed - especially since he's what I suppose I should now call a c*cker spaniel

Well, my Little Prince saw a nice lady in the shiny building, who looked at all his boy bits, and put a nasty thermometer into his little botty.  Then she felt his boy-bit gland and said it was a bit big and asked if I'd thought about having two of his dingly-danglies cut off (I had, but didn't do it).

So (I can't do twee-speak any more ) he has a week's course of antibiotics and metacam, with a follow-up appointment next week.  There was blood in his wee, so I have to keep an eye on him for the week.  She was quite keen on the idea of prostate problem, so if it hasn't cleared up I think the next thing may be a "flush and scan".  But next week we'll be seeing the vet we see most often and take it on from there.

Prostate problems aren't terribly uncommon. I think castration does tend to clear the problem up though, if he does have a prostate problem. Something tells me suprelorin would be an option for treatment too, but castration is possibly just as well if it's going to be an ongoing problem.

Hopefully the meds will kick in and that'll be the end of it, but at least you know to look for symptoms should they come up again. (Look for difficulty in the passing of golden kidney liquid, the presence of pristine red life juice and a struggle to release yesterday's Prince's feast from the rear sphincter of brown gifts.)

PS. Seems the pen*s blocker is a spam type thing. But that's not as funny. I liked your twee-speak.

If it is an ongoing prostate problem, then I'll have to have him castrated, but (other than this) he's fine au naturel and his masculinity causes no problems.  I have left him entire so far because of that and to avoid the possibility of weight gain and coat change following castration.

Well, here we go for a week's monitoring of outputs of golden kidney liquid, red life juice and brown gifts

Totally agree :) Hope he doesn't have any further problems.

Didn't they check for uti as well ?

> Didn't they check for uti as well ?

Good point - I took them in a urine sample.  They looked for blood and found white blood cells in it but didn't - I think - do a proper bacteriological check.  He does have antibiotics, though (on the "AB-it and see" principle, I think).  Thanks for the reminder, I'll phone them tomorrow and see if they found infection.  My bad, I was on the wrong foot after a busy afternoon .

The vet, whom I haven't seen before, was quite keen on pushing the prostate/castration line, so I was fending her off on that.  I'm glad the follow-up is with my favourite vet who knows me and my dogs.

Certainly theu need to look at the more simple stuff first .also if it's prostrate I would do some research in how important castration is as a prevention / treatment especially if he is  younger

I am crying with hysterical laughter at "gentleman's protrusion"!

Currently doing some grooming training, which looks a lot like me sitting on the sofa with a puppy in my lap who is knawing a lambs ear while I stick my fingers in his ears repeatedly. He dropped his ear at my guffawing. I'm glad the gentleman's protrusion is well, my old dog once had a similar episode after enthusiastically making love at a mesh fire guard. And he was castrated. (also a bit bonkers). After that episode we redirected him to his poor blanket and it never happened again. Not looking forward to humping but will gladly swap it for the mouthing....

Also had me doubled up laughing "Gentleman's Protrusion " almost something you would read in Jane Austen :

Did the vet ask "have you insurance?" Re not thinking uti? And possible flush and scan

Poodle noodle my tea was in my lap after image of your dog with a mesh fire guard!

Statistically castrated dog are at higher risk of developing prostate cancer than entire dogs. One treatment is the use of Superlorin it contains the same drugs that are used in humans to treat enlarged prostate as obviously castration is not usually an option for men

>> Is that really such an offensive word it has to be edited?!?!?!?! Good grief!!

For those whom do not already know: Certain words are edited for a reason. If you put certain words into a search engine you will be given links to those subjects. Anyone searching for pen*s, will be directed here (even though they are probably not looking for canine version of that word ). Things can get very 'colourful' (and even unpleasant) when that happens, so it is best not to have it happen in the first place.

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> obviously castration is not usually an option for men

Shame about that.  ROFL

It does depend on the reason for prostrate problems as to if castration is the best way forward .As tomee says some problems are exacerbated by castration others are not so a blanket answer is not possible. I would certainly get second opinions before doing anything operative . hoping its just a  uti, that can usually be treated with the right antibiotics

(Replying to several in one post):

furriefriends yes, we cannot go any further now until we see Fave Vet next Monday.  One of my other reasons not to castrate unnecessarily is that I have two entire males, and their relationship is just nicely in balance, and I don't want to disrupt it.  I'm hoping that it is just a uti and the enlargement of the prostate is connected to that. 

saxonjus oh yes, they know he's insured - it's printed out on the receipt! (they just haven't updated it from his puppy 4-weeker).

poodlenoodle mesh fireguard!  ouch!! just, ouch!!!

> Statistically castrated dog are at higher risk of developing prostate cancer than entire dogs.

Could you please give me a ref to some documentation on this?  It would be useful when I have The Conversation.

http://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/long-term-health-risks-benefits-spay-neuter-dogs/     
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/06/13/neutering-spaying-cancer-risk.aspx

That's a couple, there are quite a few others to trawl through   but be aware it depends on what type you are referring to when discussing neutering or not. Without a doubt research shows that the chances of many cancers are higher in castrated dogs  but its weighing up which is which. I would still be asking for a second opinion.
with regard to the insurance bit my view on this for what its worth is. yes vets possibly or at least some may increase the prices but I cant think of anyway to stop that its down to the vet.

Thank you for those links, furriefriends.

Re insurance:  if the insurers feel that the vet is charging out of line with other practices they can take it up with the vet .  I'd rather be confident I can give my dogs the appropriate treatment when they need it without worrying about paying for it.

The cost of insurance is a difficult one. I have had it happen once for a bottle of eye drops that were 50p ! above the amounts they will pay. We were talking about around £25 in my experience they don't take it up with the vet they just pay what they consider is fair. Any reimbursement is between you and your vet. unfortunately you are blind in this as until the vet has submitted bills and you have probably paid you wont know if the bills are above what the will pay for items. Even then its not like the insurance gives you a table of costs prior to treatment  that your vet could agree with . all that being outside the actual sum you are insured for and don't even start me on animal friends and their current practices on senior policies  
As you say it really is a sort of agreed code of practice that the vets and insurance need to sort out so we the client arnt out of pocket. However I doubt that day will come

I get given the bill and have to pay straight away after any visit or med given . If it's an ongoing treatment my vets ask for payment even if insured and I claim it back from insurance.

Same with mine they wont take direct payments anymore .guess the insurance companies have become difficult as the years go by and  some vets don't want to take risks of not being paid

Previously paid vet after every visit, but when at the end of last year we were there everyday for a fortnight & then a couple of times a week, kindly said to leave it to mount up & she'd put in a claim once a month, trusting considering payment comes to me & it's probably totalled close to £3,000! Joke their pension plan is going to be hit hard now we're down to one dog, but they also think I'm certifiable wanting to stay with our breed.

Just updating:  there's been no more visible blood in pee or transferred to tissue when his unmentionable parts are dabbed.

We saw our usual vet this morning, she confirmed there was no blood in his pee sample, examined him and gave him a clean bill of health.  She knows where I stand on castrating him, and, although she had to mention it as the previous suggestion is in the notes, she is happy for him to remain entire as long as he is healthy and happy.

His treatment for this episode had not come anywhere near exceeding his insurance excess -  I've never yet had to claim on insurance for him (touch wood, fingers and everything crossed!! , he's been a healthy little chap).

Very many thanks to everyone who gave advice, and also to those who joined in the merriment over the naming of parts .

so pleased all is well. Just a tip even if the current problem hasn't cost as much as the excess its worth putting it in as if anything reappears you will be able to add the two together if it comes with in their time limit and it goes towards the excess and not as two separate items.. It cost you less that way

Good news merrypaws

Thank you .

His insurance is due for renewal shortly, so unless anything else happens in the next week or so it will fall into the next insurance year anyway which would mean paying excess for each year. (Petplan).