Small animal veterinary case study – Mika the dachshund

Case provided by Yvonne McGrotty BVMS CertSAM DipECVIM-CA MRCVS
European Specialist in Veterinary Internal Medicine
RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Internal Medicine

History
Mika was presented on 01/12/2014  with a 3 month history of dribbling urine unconsciously while asleep and excessive licking of the preputial region. More recently he had been straining to urinate and only passing small volumes of urine or interrupted streams of urine. Frequency of urination was increased. Appetite was now reduced but there was no history of vomiting nor diarrhoea. Thirst was normal. Mika had been whining and yelping recently also. Urinalysis revealed concentrated urine with an inactive sediment. He was medicated with Propalin syrup which reduced the frequency of the dribbling and antibiotics which the owner also felt resulted in some improvement.

Mika originates from a rescue centre in Croatia

Physical examination
On clinical examination Mika was very bright and alert and in good body condition at 6.4kg. Mucous membranes were pink and moist and pulse quality was good. Thoracic auscultation was unremarkable. Mika showed signs of pain on palpation of the caudal abdomen over the bladder. The bladder felt fairly small. There was no evidence of any lesions on the prepuce or penis and no penile discharge.

Clinical pathology
Urine collected by cystocentesis contained 4+ blood. Crystals were not identified on a deposit exam. Biochemistry and electrolytes were unremarkable. Urine has been submitted for further culture and results are pending.

Diagnostic imaging
Following sedation, an abdominal ultrasound was performed. There was no free fluid and no enlarged LNs. The liver and spleen were unremarkable. The gastrointestinal tract was unremarkable. Both kidneys were fairly unremarkable with good peripheral blood flow and no evidence of pelvic dilation. The bladder was moderately distended and contained a large volume of hyperechoic corpuscular debris. The bladder wall was thickened and irregular both cranioventrally and towards the trigone.

Radiographs of the caudal abdomen were then performed. There is a nonunion fracture of the right acetabulum with lateral displacement of the iliac fracture segment. Moderate remodeling changes of the right femoral head are noted. There are also chronic nonunion fractures of the left and right pubic and ischial bones.

Under sedation we attempted to catheterise the urethra. An obstruction to passage of a small gauge catheter was noted approx. 4cm inside the urethra; once this region had been passed the catheter was advanced to a distance of 18cm at which point we were unable to advance the catheter further.

Enemas were performed and a general anaesthetic administered. A retrograde urethrogram was then performed.  There is persistent focal narrowing of the prostatic urethra with focal mild dilation on either side of the narrowed region. No other significant urethral abnormalities are seen. There is a mild amount of reflux of contrast into the prostate. There is no evidence of reflux of contrast in the ureters. There is unremarkable contrast filling of the urinary bladder. The focal narrowing of the prostatic urethra is concerning for fibrosis or cicatrization from previous trauma given the healed/chronic pelvic fractures.

Diagnosis: Urethral stricture and pelvic fractures

Plan – attempts will be made to use a balloon dilator to stretch the stricture, or a urethral stent will be considered.