Hemateuria Questions

[a_daerr]

Hi guys. It has been a while since I’ve been on GT. I am hoping you can help me with a medical question. My 9-year-old AKC greyhound, Truman, was at the vet last week. I’d noticed he was acting a little more grumpy than usual, a little slower to get up, and having pee accidents at night. Didn’t think too much of it- maybe some arthritis, as the weather is getting colder, and he had a major neck surgery some years ago. My puppy is almost an old man. Bloodwork was fine, but the vet called today with urinalysis results. Red blood cells were about 5x what the reference range for normal should be. The sample was done by clean catch, so there really shouldn’t have been any blood. She mentioned some possibilities including bladder stones or bladder/prostate cancer. I am in the process of requesting the actual test results. He’s a nervy dog to begin with, so we’re scheduled to have him anesthetized for further testing including prostate exam and x-rays. In the meantime, I am worried sick.

Anyone have experience with this issue in greyhounds? 

[tbhounds]

The first thing that comes to mind are stones....did you have the rads done already?  Sometimes an ultrasound will be more definitive if you don’t initially see anything.

[a_daerr]

He was put under for a prostate exam and x-rays on Wednesday. The prostate was reportedly a little enlarged. No stones or obvious masses seen on x-ray. The working diagnoses right now is prostatitis. It's not super common for a neutered male to have a prostate infection, but stranger things have happened. She's going to try him on a two week course of Cipro and repeat the urinalysis then. If there's still high amounts of blood, the plan is to move forward with urine culture, ultrasound, and FNA of the prostate. Really keeping my fingers crossed that it's anything but cancer.  

[macoduck]

Poor Truman. I remember meeting him at Dewey. I hope you finally get some answers on the retesting and that it's an easy fix.

For Truman --->

[mom2four]

Hi there I was sent this way by Ducky.  Our 10.5 year old Galgo, Baltasar is having prostate problems as well.  Here is his story:

3.5 months ago I noticed pussy, bloody drips coming from his penis all of a sudden.  My first thought was a bladder infection.  I took him to the emergency vet, they took a urine sample, saw greater than normal epithelial cells but not many blood cells.  The vet also did a prostate exam and a quick ultrasound which showed his prostate was enlarged and had some vacuoles (holes) in it. I was told it may or may not be related. They gave him a week of  clavamox which cleared it up.  

2 weeks ago, exactly 3 months after his first episode I saw the drops on the kitchen floor again.  I took him back to the emergency vet (these things always happen on weekends it seems).  I told a different vet his history, including about the enlarged prostate. She did both a quick urinalysis which showed some epithelial cells and red blood cells like before and a sterile urine sample (needle into his bladder, which came back a week later showing no infection, nothing.) At the time she also did a prostate exam and found it to be quite enlarged.  We discussed a prostate gland infection which would be better tackled by Baytril as it penetrates the prostate gland better.  It would be a month’s worth of Baytril that would be needed (quite $$$. $100 CAD per week.) She wanted a recheck at 2 weeks to check the size of his prostate and any possible change in treatment.   We agreed that was the best thing to try for now.

This past Friday I went back for a recheck.  His prostate was half the size it was before but one side was larger than the other- the vet thought it could be a vacuole or a cyst (or cancer at worst .). He is on another 2 weeks of Baytril.  On Nov 24 he is going to have a good ultrasound to see what’s going on.  If it shows cysts there is a medication he can take we were told (don’t know the name right now.)

Overall his dripping is getting less (it increased Friday night after his prostate exam).  He wears a belly band with an incontinence pad, so we can keep an eye on what comes out. He is eating well and acting fine.

I hope this helps a bit with Truman’s problem.  

[a_daerr]

Thanks for chiming in, guys.

He actually does seem to be improving on the antibiotic. He's been making it through the night without accidents, so hopefully that's a good sign.

[a_daerr]

We went back this week for Truman. The blood in his urine decreased by about half (yay!) but it's still lingering in the 50's, which is still high. We switched the antibiotics from Cipro to Baytril. The vet feels confident that we're on the right track and improving. I asked her directly, if she thought it was a neoplasia, would she have expected to see any improvement in response to the antibiotics. She didn't think so. I hope that's good news. We're going to do another two weeks on Baytril and re-check the urine. If there's still a lot of blood, we'll move in the direction of urine culture by cystocentesis. 

[a_daerr]

Well, unfortunately, the RBCs in Truman's urine were back up in the 100's at the recheck. Vet didn't seem so optimistic this time. He's having an ultrasound today with a cystocentesis/urine culture. Trying to stay positive, but I have an overwhelming feeling of dread. Asking for good vibes for my boy.

[MerseyGrey]

Sending some your way. Good luck 🤞

[Time4ANap]

Sending good vibes to Truman.  Love that boy all of his complaints about his x-pen when I met him at Dewey. 

[Remolacha]

hoping for a good outcome!

[Shannon]

Sending good thoughts to you and your boy.  

 

 

 

[BatterseaBrindl]

 

[a_daerr]

Welp, here's what we found out from the ultrasound. The bladder, prostate, and urinary tract all looked fine. They were able to get a sterile sample of urine, which was visibly very bloody. The major concern is that his spleen was enlarged and had multiple nodules. This could be an incidental finding, but strong possibility of hemangiosarcoma. They took some cells from the spleen and sent them out to pathology. We should get the cytology and pathology results back within a week.  

If we're looking at splenic hemangio, the vet estimates he'll have six months or less (even with aggressive treatment). We'll most likely move forward with a splenectomy to eliminate the possibility of a rupture. After that, it will probably just be palliative care. Just going to take it day by day for now.

[Remolacha]