8/5/21 – Please welcome Otto! He joins us from another rescue. They pulled him from their local shelter after his owner dumped him there. Apparently, he had been living outside and had no vet care before joining the other rescue. He was neutered at the shelter before going to rescue. When the rescue volunteer picked him up from the shelter he was soaked in urine and feces. He was leaking poop everywhere. Their vet found that he has multiple parasites and thought perhaps he has an enlarged and/or irritated colon. They decided to go surgery to remove part of his tail that was pressing up against his body. They also did an ultrasound but did not see any masses or tumors. They decided to treat for IBD and reach out to us for help.
We took him into rescue and continued to the treatment for IBD and we quickly realized he is also leaking urine at all times. We consulted with the specialist for an ultrasound and here is the report:
Imaging: Abdominal radiographs non-remarkable.
Abdominal ultrasound: The prostate is mildly enlarged (unknown when pet was neutered)
Comments/recommendations: The prostate is mildly enlarged, but that would be appropriate if the pet was only recently neutered. There are no other anatomic abnormalities on the ultrasound that would account for the urinary leakage and poor rectal tone. These findings are more supportive of neurologic disease or injury. The pet reportedly recently had tail surgery as well. It is unclear if the urinary leakage was occurring prior to the tail surgery, but traction on the tail could explain some neuropraxia. If the nerves can recover function, we would also want to keep the bladder as empty as possible to maintain bladder muscle function. That can be accomplished via expression, catheter or possibly with bethanecol. I would also keep in mind that the atonic bladder will be predisposed to urinary tract infection.
We attempted the keep the bladder empty by placing a catheter in for a few days and giving him medication for a few days. This was unsuccessful.
We decided to put him on a raw diet to make his poop as minimal as possible.
Medically there is nothing more to be done for him, he will live his life as a “diaper dog”. He doesn’t love his diaper changes, but he loves life! He is happy, sweet and well behaved.
His ideal home with have someone home throughout the day to change his diaper and something willing to give him diaper free time throughout the day or during bedtime. He will need to continue on a raw or dehydrated diet to control the amount and consistency of his poops (this makes living in a diaper better for him). He will likely need regular enemas to help keep things moving on the inside.
12/1/21 – Otto is loving life and ready to find his forever family.
8/26/22 – Otto has been adopted. Congrats Otto, Anna and Jimmy!
approximate age: 3
approximate weight: 55
likes dogs: yes
likes cats: we have not seen him around cats
likes kids: we have not seen him around kids
food: Primal Raw and Honest Kitchen dehydrated
lifelong medications: none
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Carol Robertelli, The Foy Family, Ruthie Ard, Kathy Cowart
