998. Sunday's interesting case. An old Beagle drips lots of reddish brown urine

Sunday May 13, 2012

I was at the Surgery in the morning and saw a large amount of reddish brown urine drops in the waiting and consultation room. Dr Daniel was consulting with the owners and Mr Min was mopping the floor. If I were Dr Daniel, I would restrain the dog on the consultation table but each vet does his own thing and so this situation led to bloody urine every where. I mean, if the waiting room was full, the other clients would be most unhappy to see blood everywhere.

This is what I mean by "common sense" in a vet who handles a case.  Restrict the dog's movement or crate her. I did my trust and audit in this case. The X-ray showed around 6 small radio-opaque stones of around 4 mm x 6 mm and other sizes. Dr Daniel said were unlikely to cause so much bladder bleeding. Each vet has his own opinion and so that is life.

I disagreed with him as there was one stone with a sharp edge, like a dagger.  This sharp stone swished about inside the bladder would have stabbed the bladder mucosa and cause bleeding. "This is not chronic cystitis," Dr Daniel disagreed with me. "The blood in the urine occurred only 2 weeks ago." This is a difference of opinion.

An old Beagle. Likely to be a bladder carcinoma as well.  Dr Daniel advised ultrasound and surgery with high anaesthetic risks of death on the op table. Since the dog's red blood cells were low, his opinion was that this dog would not survive the operation. So what to do? The consultation took more than 30 minutes and he was still talking.

I intervened by entering the consultation room which had a bloodied floor now. I said to the couple: "Basically, you have two options. Consent to an operation and know the high risks and get the stones removed. If there is cancer of the bladder, give us consent to euthanase the dog during surgery. The other option is to medicate and euthanase the dog when the drugs don't work as she is suffering from pain and incontinence. In the meantime, get the dog on the IV drip, painkillers and antibiotics for at least one day and before surgery."

Vets can't afford the luxury of time on a busy Sunday morning to handle a case for more than 30 minutes unless it is necessary. Others have to wait a longer time. Owners of hospitalised dogs need to be called. The sick dogs need to be checked and there are many things to do. So, it is not possible to keep on talking while the old Beagle keeps on dripping.