Urinary Obstruction in a Castrated Male Goat
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A 9-month-old, castrated male, Boer goat was presented to Cornell’s University Equine and Farm Animal Hospital as an emergency for possible urinary obstruction. The owner reported that the patient appeared to be well in the morning, but he was found to be straining and vocalizing while urinating in the late evening.
On presentation, the patient was quiet, alert and responsive. His vital parameters were within normal limits, and he continued to dribble urine during the physical examination but could not produce a stream of urine. The rest of the physical exam was unremarkable, and the point of care blood work (PCV, total protein, BUN, and glucose) revealed no abnormalities. On ultrasound examination, the bladder was enlarged, however, and there was no free fluid in the abdomen, suggesting the bladder wall was intact. The patient was sedated and an ultrasound guided percutaneous urinary catheter (Bananno suprapubic catheter) was placed into his bladder to alleviate the temporary urinary blockage. An IV catheter was also placed and the patient was placed on IV fluids overnight along with antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.
The following day radiographic studies of the caudal abdomen revealed there was a medium amount of mineral opacity, round, fine granular content in the distal penile urethra, proximal to the prepuce. These small stones were thought to be calcium carbonate based on their characteristic small, round, radiopaque stones. The patient was taken to surgery, where a urethral amputation, tube cystotomy and urethrotomy were performed.
Although there was no evidence of obstruction detected from post-operative radiographic studies, a stream of urine from prepuce was not observed for 8 days from the cystotomy tube placement. He continued straining to urinate or dripping urine from both prepuce and the tube. To enhance his urination from prepuce, “the clamping challenge” was introduced to his treatment plan. The first day, the tube was clamped for a short time approximately 15-20 minutes every 2 hours, then gradually increased the duration of time of clamping day by day. Soon after clamping challenge was applied, the patient started to drip his urine at much faster rate, however, he was not able to make a stream of urine for 3 days. By the end of 6 days of clamping challenge, the patient was finally able to make a stream of urine from his prepuce. The ultrasound exam was performed and the size of bladder was examined and confirmed that he had a small bladder, then Foley catheter was removed from his bladder. He was discharged to owner’s care advising them to have the nutritional consultation to prevent recurrence of urinary obstruction.
This presentation will discuss urinary obstruction commonly seen in male goats, surgeries, post-surgical management, and the challenge of nutritional management to prevent recurrence of the disease.