Advice Please - Has anyone come across a condition called Detrusor-Sphincter Reflex Dyssynergia

[julie madin]

My 13 month old Teddy has been diagnosed with the above by a process of ruling out everything else which is known to cause his issues by The Willows veterinary referral centre, Solihull.

His problems were urination related and he was seemingly getting infections one after another (infection symptoms but not proven infections but nevertheless he responded to antibiotics). This has been ongoing since March when he was 10 months. Another piece of information about Teddy which may or may not be related here is that he has one undescented testicle.

At times when he was likely to have a full bladder (first thing or after he had been left a while (once just 2 hours)) he has difficulty urinating. he starts with a good stream then has a stop/start pattern. then when he comes into the house and he is relaxed he passes urine walking around or just lying on his bed. When he leaks he licks himself which I am told can cause the infections. On Monday/Tuesday this week he had blood tests , urine cultures etc. scans and xrays of the bladder, kidneys, prostrate and urethra and everything appears normal. He stayed with them overnight and the vet took him out for his first we at 08.00 and saw the problem for herself. She says after 10 minutes outside and having cocked his leg numerous times when he returned to his kennel and lay down he flooded it. He also saw a neurologist to rule out trapped nerves etc.

Based on the above the diagnosed condition is basically poor coordination between the bladder muscles contracting to empty the bladder and the urethral muscles relaxing to allow urine to pass freely, which can be aggravated when the bladder becomes stretched (full). Although proving this problem is almost impossible. They have said he is not in pain but will feel uncomfortable when his flow of urine stops. We have been advised that the cause could be hormonal particularly as it only started when he reached 10 months.

Our options are to put him no a human drug called Phenoxybenzamine, whereby the known side effects are low blood pressure or have him castrated.

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library/phenoxybenzamine-dibenzyline/p...

 

We know we have to tackle the retained testicle sometime soon and The Willows think it unethical to leave one testicle remaining and would always castrate in these circumstances (i think they mean ongoing breeding issues). If he is going to have this op at least the Willows have recent xrays to show where the missing testicle is at this moment (im not sure if it moves around) and I think he would be in the right place for the operation should they find anything else.

Plus I dont really want to put him on meds maybe for life but it is hard to live with this urination problem as Teddy lives inside and has the run of the place and he is at risk of infections.

Should we remove the retained testicle and castrate now and only go to try the meds if this doesnt work.

If we do does anyone know of any supplements which would help his coat.

[Rosie Dudley]

Hello Julie, how is Teddy doing ?