Pet Forum / Miscellaneous / Animal Health / December 2005

Hi all,

I'm new to the group here & of course have a question about my dogs
health...  I think I know that it's not going to be a good outcome, but
thought that I'd check and see if there's anything that my vet may be
missing or something else that can be tried.

Here's the situation...  14 year old unaltered male who is outwardly very
healthy & energenic (still runs, fetches, etc).

Two weeks ago he was kenneled for the weekend...  upon return we found his
penis erect and constricted at the base (below the sex glands) by the
prepuce.  The vet had to perform minor surgery to enlarge the prepuce so
that the penis could retract into it.

For several days after he had a somewhat persistant erection that we have
to manually push back into the prepuce to help prevent it from being
consticted.  After those several days, the erection went away and the wound
from the surgery was healed.  Things were normal for 4 or 5 days.

This morning, while cleaning himself he became erect again and we noticed
some necrotic patches of skin on the penis, so we took him back into the
vet again for her to check it.  She was able to manually push it back in &
the erection subsided after a few hours.

Basically, the vets sums up the varios ascpects like this:

1. The patches are necrotic...  it may spread or the skin there may shluff
off and regenerate.  She doesn't have a prediction & says only time will
tell.  If it spreads she said the only option would be amputation & she
doesn't recommend it for a dog his age :(

2. The erections may be a result of him sensing a female in heat, but she
suspects more that it may be an internal tumor or a neuro problem that is
causing it.  She say his prostrate has become enlarged over two weeks since
she first checked him.

She's treating him with the following as an attempt as a "conservative"
treatment due to his age & we have a checkup in another week.

1. Torbutrol/Butorphanol for sedation.
2. DES (estrogen) - 5 day run to counteract his testosterone.
3. SMZ-TMP 480mg (antibiotic) 2x a day for infection

I guess my questions are this...

1. Is there anything else to try to make the erections subside?
2. In what % of the time would a necrotic spot like this subside versus
spread?

Here a some links to (graphic) pictures of the necrotic spots:

http://s89590755.onlinehome.us/dp1.jpg
http://s89590755.onlinehome.us/dp2.jpg
http://s89590755.onlinehome.us/dp3.jpg

Thanks for reading all of this & I look forward to your responses.