I spoke to the owner of A dog I have bred this morning. He is a Beardie and is 18 months old. A couple of days ago, after his usual walk he came home and was out of sorts and not looking too well. Owner noticed he hadn't urinated very much while out and so  (being a nurse) she examined his penis. The inside of shaft was red and inflamed and had some crystallization inside. Dog was taken to vet immediately where he was sedated and a full examination was carried out, a full blood and urinary count was done. The only thing which showed up was a high alkaline level. Today the crystallization is also external on the penis and looks angry. He is eating a little and drinking with encouragement. Vet has given the usual.. Synolox, metacam, cream for soreness, and steroid injection. Poor boy is down in the dumps and not hims usual self
Having bred this beautiful boy and loving all animals anyway, I am distraught and ask if anyone out there has any suggestions or thought as to what this could be . Vet doesn't really know what the problem is ! .

Have they checked for bladder sand?    Was the bladder checked to see whether it was full?

This can cause a blockage at worst, or intermittent difficulty in urinating.  It can also cause incomplete emtying of the bladder, which can result infections.    If the ureter is blocked and the bladder full, it's an emergency and it needs emptying by catheter.   A chronically overfull bladder can affect kidney function too.

http://www.2ndchance.info/calculi.htm

There are treatments available, but a proper diagnosis is needed first.

Many thanks, will pass this onto owner
I know they have sedated him and checked bladder which they said was sausage shaped rather than round but they weren't too worried about that. Vet doesn't seem to know what's wrong and given the usual treatment of sylonox, metacam and steroid inj. Seems to cover a multitude of sins !

I would ask them to xray the dog to check for bladder stones. My rescue WSD was having trouble weeing one Sunday morning last October- stop start tiny dribbles and kept needing to go out to try again -  and as I was booked in to take one of the other dogs for his boosters I took him with me too and asked them to check him over thinking he had a urine infection.

He was xrayed and had huge bladder stones that were causing a blockage and needed emergency surgery straight away or I would have lost him. He had 16 stones and one was the size of a walnut - absolutely huge. The others were of varying sizes but most were the size of peas. It was a big operation and he then had to have a further emergency operation just two days later as the muscle gave way and the stitches just opened up like a zip - luckily I was at the vets at the time. I had noticed a tiny opening in the stitches and had taken him back as a precaution. As we were sitting in the waiting room I saw some blood on the floor underneath him and as he moved the whole wound opened up - around 8"- and the muscle and fatty layer started to literally pour out of the wound. I had to hold it all in with my hands whilst the vets rushed out of the 2 surgeries to help him. They couldn't put back anything that had been exposed due to risk of infection and it was touch and go for a while as to whether he would survive. Really, really scary and I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn't been at the surgery at the time.

The stones were sent off for analysis and luckily were of a type caused by a previous untreated infection - he was a farm dog who had spent his short life on a chain and didn't have a great diet. He is having monthly urine checks for 3 months and so far all is well and the stones aren't expected to return.

If a small stone - gravel size or smaller - manages to travel into the tiny tubes and causes a blockage there is every chance a dog won't survive. I would definitely urge them to have an xray to be on the safe side. It happened so quickly and didn't seem that urgent at first - but became a life and death situation very, very quickly.

>If a small stone - gravel size or smaller - manages to travel into the tiny tubes and causes a blockage there is every chance a dog won't survive.

When Piglet had his emergency surgery for just such a blockage the only stone found in his whole bladder and urethra was a mere 4mm by 3mm; it had managed to get itself lodged in just the wrong place.

I  hope this dog has bbeen sorted outand catheterised if needed.

If not emptied a full bladder is really painful, and very dangerous. Can cause kidney damage etc.

And it's not nice seeing a dog in a uraemic fit!

We eventually lost a dog to kidney failure because of this problem. Cost thousands in todays money, but eventually his kidneys gave out.

Hope they get to the bottom of this quickly.