My dog's prolapsed urethra: Why did vet suggest ointment, not surgery?

It looks like Spanky might have a urethral prolapse in your picture. I would recommend having him examined by a veterinarian right away since the prolapsed tissue could become damaged and it could affect his ability to urinate normally. A veterinarian might place some suture around the penis if they are able to reduce the prolapse, but other times more in-depth surgery is needed.

This is a partial rectal prolapse or intussuseption (less likely). These two conditions can be usually told apart by doing rectal examination. I understand that your vet did rectal examination and diagnosed partial rectal prolapse. The alternative treatment for rectal prolapse is a minor surgery, when we put the butt back in place and we place a suture around the butt to make sure the rectum doesn't prolapse again. In Mia's case that sounds like the best treatment option to make sure the rectum does not prolapse again.

A rectal prolapse can be cause by intestinal parasites, diet or straining to defecate in puppies. If it is a small prolapse, they can do a purse string procedure to hold things in place temporally until the underlying condition is fixed. If this fails or the prolapse is too large, then a major surgery through the abdomen will be needed to permanently tact down the colon to the abdominal wall so it cannot be pushed outward. Once this procedure is done, there is usually no lasting problems or evidence.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Oh goodness, poor Bubbles! I agree, if reducing the prolapse and tacking it did not work then spaying her and removing her uterus was the right thing to do. I am not sure if you had a specific question or not but I am glad that the problem is now fixed. Please let me know if we can help you further! I wish you and Bubbles the very best!

I agree that does look pretty severe, and I'm concerned with how red the tissue is in the picture. The problem with a rectal prolapse is that if it is left uncorrected for too long, the circulation of blood to that area becomes compromised and the tissue can die. Quinn needs to see a vet now to have this treated. I can't say how much it would cost to fix, as it may be able to be replaced manually, but it may require stitches to keep it in place. In addition, she may need sedation to have it replaced, and she may need testing to diagnose the initial cause of the rectal prolapse so that can be treated to prevent this from happening again. Please take her into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website. Best of luck.

Yes, it is possible to cut through the muscles which are helping to hold the penis within the prepuce. Penis prolapse is usually transient and as long as the wound is healed up the penis funcion is back to normal. 30 days after the surgery the penis should be going back in easily so I am concerned why the function is still not back to normal. The only advise I could give you in this case is to take Booboo back to your vet as your dog has to have full clinical examination to find out what is going on.

Aside from the vulvoplasty surgery which can be very successful, make sure your pet is at a healthy weight. If she is at all overweight, that can cause the skin folds to become deeper and more difficult to manage.