30. What is the cure for tail gland hyperplasia in the male Husky?

Case: Male Siberian Husky, 9 years old.



History:
3 years ago, the Husky bit away all hairs of his backside and tail due to tail gland hyperplasia. The disease was controlled using steroids and antibiotics given by Vet 1. Then, the dog started biting his tail gland area again, as if possessed.

Is there a complete cure for the tail gland disease in dogs? Various treatments are proposed but the owner needs a complete cure. Here are my thoughts on this subject.

Surgery:
1. Tail Gland Skin area excised. Removal of the hyperplastic skin area. This is quite a large area of over 3 cm x 3 cm leaving a big hole and a very tight area to stitch up. If there is infection due to stitch breakdown, the result will be worse for the dog. Will electrosurgery do the job? Maybe, if the area is small and seen during the first time. There is no guarantee. In this dog, there seems to be another nearby area with the same problem.

2. Tail amputation. Will this method definitely resolves the problem of tail biting? Most likely since the tail gland area is removed. But the owner did not want a tail-less Husky.

3. Castration. Since this disease happens mostly in male dogs, testosterone hormone may play a part. The Husky is already 9 years old and his testicles were checked and found to be normal by palpation. No pain, nor enlargement or irregular lumps. The owner did not wish to have him neutered. I can't guarantee that neutering will resolve this problem too.

Now, in some skin disease cases in female dogs, spaying resolves the problem based on anecdotal evidence. In such cases, hormonal imbalances could be the cause of skin inflammation and itchiness. But not all cases are resolved and some skin disease occurs due to hormonal deficiency after sterilisation. Therefore sterilisation may or may not help.

This Husky was given a second intra-lesion steroid and we have to wait and see. Updated info will be at www.toapayohvets.com. Please accept my apologies. Not much time to update my blog.

28. Post-op irrigation of the bladder

SHARING SOME POST-OP MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCES

Poodle, Male, 5 years

Swollen painful abdomen, peeing dark red urine. Bladder about to rupture. Vomiting brown yellow fluid. High surgical risk. No choice but to do emergency surgery as dog would die soon. Cystostomy opened up the bladder to get spiky stones attached to bladder wall removed by using forceps. IV Hartman's 1 hour and blood collection.

In this case, the dog's bladder was thoroughly flushed. I used normal saline and a rigid catheter from bladder to flush out any spiky urinary stones in the urethra. Then I used a smaller sized catheter to flush urine from the penile opening.



Post-op

The following occurred.
1. DAY 1: Urine backflow from prepuce to under the penile skin. Swollen penile area. A catheter was not stitched earlier as the dog would usually pull it out despite wearing an e-collar. He would not pee normally, so urine collected in this way.
Solution: A catheter was inserted and the urine pool removed. One side near the penile opening was taped to the skin using elastoplast (see pic). Urine stained the elastoplast by Day 3. Elastoplast removed. No more catheter.

2. Irrigation of urine daily for 5 days to remove blood clots from the bladder. Urine still bloody. Small clots seen even on Day 2(Oct 6).

3. Acidify urine, antibitoics and close monitoring. Dog is eating and should recover. He could not pee normally due to pain. Pain-killers given.

Owner wanted the dog home after 5 days. Dog was still passing blood in the urine. No more complaints for the next 14 days. Updated info will be at www.toapayohvets.com