About 11 days ago my nearly 7 year old Dobermann started weeing blood and also dripped afew drops of blood on the carpet and on his bedding. He was diagnosed with a suspected enlarged prostate (it did feel enlarged when the vet examined him, but they did say that they would expect it to be somewhat enlarged in an older dog anyway). He was given antibiotics just incase there was infection, although he shows no other sign of this, and was also given a Tardak injection to shrink the prostate. There is no longer any blood visible to the naked eye (since 7 days ago) although it is still showing up when his urine is tested.

Is castration my only option here? My dog is very nervous and tends to avoid other dogs and keep himself to himself. I would hate to take away the little bit of confidence he might have and for him to then go on the defensive. I haven't noticed any negative changes in him around other dogs or people since the Tardak injection. In fact he even let someone stroke him today for a few seconds (he is usually hiding behind me!). Would I have noticed by now if neutering would have any negative effect on his behaviour?

I read this which makes me think neutering may be for the best...? He is not having any problems weeing or pooing at the moment, but the blood can't be a good thing and I presume it will increase again as the Tardak injection wears off.

"The incidence of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH, enlarged prostate) increases with age in intact male dogs, and occurs in more than 80% of intact male dogs older than the age of 5 years. Most cases of BPH cause no problems, but in some cases the dog will have difficulty defecating or urinating. Neutering will prevent BPH. If neutering is done after the prostate has become enlarged, the enlarged prostate will shrink relatively quickly. BPH is linked to other problems of the prostate gland, including infections, abscesses, and cysts, which can sometimes have serious consequences."

Anyone elses dog had this problem?

A friends boy had this but it was decided to keep him on the Tardak jabs for life due to his age.

Tardak does no work the same as castration, I beleive it puts in masking female hormones, but does not remove the male ones.

so being OK behavioru wise on Tardak re confidence will nto mean he woudl be the same with the Testost3erone removed.

Thanks for that. Hrmmm, maybe I need to do some more research! I have read that Tardak is not suitable as a long term solution (although understand the age of the dog issue in your friends case). I know that there is also the implant, which I have read mimics castration so might give me a better idea on how it might change him behaviour wise, but I have read quite alot of negative stuff about that. Behaviour issues aside though, and even if the implant did result in unwanted behaviour, I'm not sure I have the option of leaving him as he is. I could really do without 44kg of Dobermann going demented at everything though (the reaction to a cat half a mile up the road is bad enough!).

i have just been through exactly this situation.
My Rottie started peeing more regular and seemed to be straining a little, then came the blood, we put him on a course of AB's and nothing improved, then he suddenly lost alot of thick clotted blood sunday night so straight off to the vets.

I was advised by my vet to castrate him as this should hopefully be a permanant solution, i was very worried about this as he is 8 1/2 so getting on for his breed, he sailed through the op and is happily home and playing.

My vet also told me the bleeding will not stop straight away and to give it about 2-3 weeks as it takes time for the prostate gland to shrink down so now we have to cross everything that things will all settle down in a couple of weeks.

I dont have any worries regarding his temperament or behaviour as he is a very confident dog, however in your case i cant see that at his age of 7 that the castration will have much affect on his behaviour either (i could be wrong)

hope you get him sorted soon

Thanks for the reply. Glad to hear that your boy is on the mend x Will let you know how things turn out for mine. He has just dribbled a small amount of wee this evening whilst sleeping, which can also be a prostate thing, so I will have to speak to the vet again. We were meant to be deciding whether to book him in for an ultrasound of various organs anyway as he keeps coming up with a particular high reading on urine and blood tests. There is a slight chance that the reading could be being caused by the enlarged prostate problem which would be preferable to the other things that have been mentioned!

One of my older males had this last year and it was treated once with antibiotics and seemed to disappear for a couple of months before coming back with a vengence. I got the vets to do a bacterial culture and it turned out he had prostatitus. An extented (3-4 week) course of targetted rather than broad spectrum antibiotics (Baytril) sorted it and no issues for over a year. I have him on PetAlive Prospet Drops which is a homeopathic remedy (saw palmetto) and apple cider vinegar every day to keep an acidic urinary tract. My lad is still intact as I wanted to avoid castration if at all possible. Hope the info helps. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply tricolourlover. Did your boy seem ill at all with the prostate infection? Infection was discussed and he was given antibiotics just incase (although only a 10 day course) but as he doesn't seem ill and didn't have a temperature or seem in pain when his prostate was examined infection was pretty much ruled out I think.

With prostate infection there isn't a temprature as it is a localised rather than systemic infection. My poor boy was very uncomfortable straining on the second occasion. The only signs the first time it occured was blood in the urine and trying to urinate more frequently than normal. On neither occasion did he appear unwell, just in discomfort. Often prostate infection is associated with beneign prostatic hypertrophy (enlarged prostate) which is ever so common in older entire males. Thankfully in my boy's case the prostate enlargement was mainly due to the infection. On the last check it was slighty larger than normal but not causing any problems. I check his faeces reguarly to ensure they are not thin and flattened which is a classic sign of prostate enlargement so if the problem reoccurs then I can spot it as early as possible. I think the homeopathic prostate treatement works for enlarged prostate (the saw palmetto) and the echanacia component gaurds against infection.