Daggone it...urinary calculi

[cmjust0]

Yep, I see what you are saying.

There are other surgical ways to go about helping him without euthanization though.

What other surgeries do you know of? Urethrostomy -- turn him into a girl, basically -- was all the vet mentioned, and he said they usually have problems down the road.

I don't wanna do that.

They can also run tests to determine the type of stone so that they can accurately prescribe the right medications......

Just some thoughts,...

The UC itself cleared up pretty quick, actually...we're pretty sure it was the swelling that got him.

If he can dribble through life and be fine, than that is good, but dribbling to me says infection is on the way!!! I hope I'm not right, but that is what dribbling tends to lead to....

Yep...especially as wet as it's been here lately. It's been an excellent year for bugs and bacteria so far.

 

[trestlecreek]

Yes, they can "turn him into a girl", which could be one of the last options if he blocks again or gets an infection.

They can also surgically open him up or drain him, look for stones, test the stones and find out what they consist of.

Yes, scar tissue may be what is causing him to dribble.

Dribbling means retention of urine. When they retain urine, bacteria tends to grow......

If I have this problem happen here with one of mine, I honestly may be happy with a dribble if the vet gave me that as the only option. I do understand that further tests/procedures do cost $$$ and one may not want to spend it or can not rationalize it.

I'm just pointing out some options and insight......

Has your vet talked about life-long antibiotics?

 

[cmjust0]

Yes, they can "turn him into a girl", which could be one of the last options if he blocks again or gets an infection.

Not an option, really.. I'd put him down before I'd do that. It's not the money, either...vet said they tend to have complications down the road.

They can also surgically open him up or drain him, look for stones, test the stones and find out what they consist of.

We "saw" the stones, in a manner of speaking, through an ultrasound. His bladder was literally about 1/2 full. We actually caught some from the urethral process and it was like sand.

Whatever they were made of, they were gone in a week or so after ammonium chloride drenching and using Acid Pack 4-Way 2X..

Also, he more or less drains himself...I should point that out. More on that in a second..

Yes, scar tissue may be what is causing him to dribble.

Pretty sure that's what's going on now.

Dribbling means retention of urine. When they retain urine, bacteria tends to grow......

Ok, so as for the dribbling...he doesn't walk around dribbling anymore like he used to. He did that when we had him on dibenzyline, which I'm fairly certain prevented him from being able to hold his bladder at all.. He walked around and dribbled about all the time, but he was also on Dexamethasone, and therefore penicillin.

Since he's been off all his meds, though, he doesn't dribble as he walks. Usually, he just does his thing without any noticable dribbling until he decides he has to pee, at which point he stretches way out and starts dripping.. The drips tend to start out slow, then increase in frequency to the point of a split second, near-stream at times when he pushes a little...then they sorta taper off to infrequent drips toward the end. When it's just the occasional drip or no drips at all, he usually walks off and goes back to doing whatever he was doing. It takes him several minutes at a time, but I'm pretty sure he's able to empty himself adequately.

If I have this problem happen here with one of mine, I honestly may be happy with a dribble if the vet gave me that as the only option. I do understand that further tests/procedures do cost $$$ and one may not want to spend it or can not rationalize it.

I'm just pointing out some options and insight......

I totally appreciate it, too..

FWIW, money's not the thing.. Not that it isn't a thing in my life -- it is, believe me -- but the vet and I pretty much came to a point where we said "Now what?" and the only logical answer was to wait and see what happens..

I sorta expected that he'd plug back up and either kick the bucket, or have to be put down...not so. Instead, he seems to be adjusting to it and moving on with his life..

SO FAR, anyway..

I may well revisit his condition with the vet down the road, but for now...I'm just feeding him and petting him and letting him enjoy not getting stuck with needles and having the cold steel of a drench gun stuck down his throat every...single...fricken...day.

He seems to appreciate that so far.

But, seriously...I'll take all the ideas I can get.

 

[trestlecreek]

You're welcome.
If it were me and this point, I would talk to the vet about a low dose oral anti-biotic(like smz-tmp) just to be safe while you watch and wait.

 

[cmjust0]

Wow, so it's been about eight months now since the last update here.. Time flies, huh?

Frank's still kickin. His bout with UC, I think, has left him with some general, overall health issues.. Or, at least, prone to other issues..

He got mites/lice/fungus/funk/Chinese-creeping-crud whereas the herdsire he's in with...nada...he's picture perfect. (Ivomec and better housing cured him, btw)

Frank's coat is rough and dull and dry and course.. The herdsire is slick and shiney. Same resources for both...only thing different is the goat.

Frank's got big fat horns and the herdsire's 'bawlhettit...yet, guess who gets shoved around? Franklin, of course.

Frank should be bigger than he is too, I think.

BUT...all that said...the complications from UC have lessened considerably. We'd all but stopped bothering to watch him pee, but I noticed recently that he kinda stretched out and made a pretty decent little stream!

Not a huge stream, and not a fast stream, but a stream nonetheless.. The stream gets a little dribbly at times, and he'll occasionally push a bit to get it going again, but it's a vast improvement over the fart-inducing grunts he used to have to crank out to get even a fast dribble going.

Overall, I'd have to say Frank's doing A-OK. Sure, he's got issues, but hell...we all gots issues...and he seems happy. I'll take live and happy any day of the week, considering how incredibly close he came to the big dirt nap.

 

[ksalvagno]

Glad to hear Frankie is still doing fine. Hopefully that will continue.

I'm going to be starting my boys on Hydrangea as soon as it comes in. That is supposed to work well on UC both getting rid of current and prevention. I know humans who use it and swear by it. Even having proof that it worked as they were already seeing a doctor for it. Of course there probably won't be any proof if my boys never get UC since they may not get it anyway but I don't want to take that chance after reading what you went through.

 

[cmjust0]

I actually just went back and reread the whole saga, from the very first post. Wow.. What a PITA the whole thing was for everyone involved..

BTW...if anyone ever wonders why I seem so INCREDIBLY CONCERNED about urinary calculi....read this whole thread.

 

[cmjust0]

So, more than a year has passed since Frank's bout with the dreaded urinary calculi...and he's still living. He pees pretty good streams now, actually, and can aaaaaaaalmost spray his face if he tries really hard.

Aside from that...I'm seriously about to double tap him and throw him in a sinkhole somewhere.

He's a "man in full," as it were, and as my former bottle baby, he has no fear of me whatsoever. When I walk into the buck pen, he's ready to do one of two things -- and they both start with a capital F.

One's fighting.. The other? Take a guess....

He actually rammed me last night, so I stuck the end of a gate handle in his right nostril and imparted 6kV directly to the tenderest of mucous membranes. That ended the fight -- but the war shall continue, I'm sure.

Funny how one can go from being so concerned about whether a $40 goat lives or dies to seriously wanting to send it away to freezer camp.



He's getting really mean, though. Like, seriously. I really might have to send him A) down the road, or B) across the rainbow bridge if he doesn't learn to get his countr'ass away from me when I have to be in the buckpen.

No good deed -- or $300+ vet bill -- goes unpunished. :/

 

[ksalvagno]

Isn't he a wether? I'm surprised he has gotten so bratty if he is! :/

 

[Roll farms]

You can't really blame it on the bottle baby part (at least not fully...).

I have had 2 MEAN bucks, both dam-reared and w/ horns. I've never had one of our bottle baby dehorned bucks come after me...ever.

I really think it's got as much to do w/ attitude as anything.

One of the mean ones is back here visiting our does....he's busted a tube gate and rammed a cattle panel to pieces, trying to get at the buck next to him. He doesn't challenge me, just my property.

The other one was a kiko and he got blood in his eyes when he saw me. I hated to, but HAD to, sell him, because one of us was going to die if I'd kept him.

I've had one horned, dam reared buck who was 'ok'...not friendly but didn't offer to kill me or tear stuff up, either.

Rider, Chaos, Hurricane, and Buddy are all dehorned sweeties who I raised (and taught some sense to as youngsters) and we get on fine.

(That's not to say they don't get a bit frisky when in rut....but frisky I can live with...mean / destructive, I can't.)