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  Discussion on Dribbling and tail abnormality
Author Message
New Member:
Beemer

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 23, 2002 - 1:27 pm:

Dr. O:
My 7 yr. old Morab gelding is dribbling urine and holding his tail to one side. I just noticed the dribbling last week. The urine is clear, the dribbling is intermitant, the amount dribbled is pretty light, and he is able to urinate and move his bowel normally and without difficulty. He started holding his tail to one side a couple months ago and it has gotten more exteme over this time. When he sleeps he smashes his tail up agaist a pipe rail--if that means anything. His gaits are normal with no observable change. He is a dressage horse and my instructor notes only continual improvement in his movement. Several months ago he had a mishap with getting his foot caught in his fly sheet strap but a subsequent chiropractic exam showed him to be without symptoms of any structural problems other than an old injury to his poll which he was able to correct. Despite him seeming to be healthy and happy, I took him in for an exam yesterday. Our vet found that he had no feeling in part of his tail. A rectal exam dertermined his bladder was a normal size and no large masses were present. A blood panel is being done. The vet says he does not fit the classic profile for either EPM, EDM, or Caudal Equina Nueritis but believes any of those could be a possibility and he is very, very concerned. I have read your articles on these diseases but none of them hits the nail on the head as far as my horse is concerned. He is going to have bladder scoping tommorrow and it sounds like we could go through a lot of diagnostics before finding out there may be nothing we can do for him. Any light bulbs going off as to what you think could be the problem? Is it possible the problem could be less disasterous than the diseases we are looking at? Thank you, I appreciate your help with this.
Member:
Beemer

Posted on Thursday, Oct 24, 2002 - 6:40 pm:

Just following up with the bladder scan and ultrasound: all clear and normal. Could not get a sterile urine sample for testing. Going to try some antibiotics and bute for a week to see if there is any change.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Oct 25, 2002 - 5:18 am:

Hello Beth,
Thanks for the follow up. It seems likely that with the tail desensitization that there is damage to the nervous system and to answer your question about prognosis we have to know the nature of the disease process that caused the damage.

Any disease process is possible and this may or may not be a progressive problem but because the disease is likely to be inside the sacral region (CEN would be the one exception) of the spinal cord it is difficult to visualize and diagnose.

Treatment with antibiotics and antiinflammatories that penetrate the CNS is a reasonable first attempt but may require longer than a week to evaluate.
DrO
Member:
Beemer

Posted on Sunday, Nov 3, 2002 - 12:01 pm:

Hi Dr. O,
Wanted to give you an update. Its been 10 days of antibiotics and bute and he is still dribbling. He tends to do it when he is eating and has a full bladder. He sprays a small amount of urine as he moves slightly--like when he takes a step toward his hay bin as he digs for hay. As far as his tail sensitivity, it varies. He moves his tail fine all the time although he still holds it to the side mostly. Sometimes I will touch the underpart of his tail and he jumps and other times he doesn't. Depends on how occupied he is. He still seems to be a healthy and happy guy but the thought of this being an incurable disease is making me sick. Any thoughts?
Board Administrator
Username: Admin

Posted on Monday, Nov 4, 2002 - 10:36 am:

Yes I have some thoughts that are mostly expressed in the following discussion: » Equine Diseases » Urinary System » Excessive or Uncontrolled Urination » Loss of sphincter tone in young mare. It will give you some treatment ideas.
DrO
Member:
Beemer

Posted on Monday, Nov 4, 2002 - 11:29 am:

Interesting, there are some parallels with that situation. I will discuss that with my vet. My dog is on phenylpropanolamine. Maybe all my animals need to be on uppers! Thanks. I will let you know how things work out.
Member:
Beemer

Posted on Monday, Dec 16, 2002 - 10:17 pm:

Hi Dr. O.
Wanted to let you know how things were going with the dribbling gelding. We were forced by other pressing issues to put my beloved horse's health on the back burner for a few weeks during which he did not get any worse. In fact, his tail developed more tone although he still appears to have a rudder problem. Our vet had contacted a university, in the mean time, and learned that there are some cases of mild neurological problems of unidentifiable origin that cause dribbling but do not have the progressive nature of some of the diseases he had been considering. Rather than put the happy boy through some more invasive diagnostic testing, we decided to let time tell. He is comfortable, oblivious to his lapses in control, has not developed any gait abnormalities, and still has shown no decline in health. If he grows less comfortable with the situation, we will opt to try the medication you suggested in your other post which reportedly has been successful in similar circumstances. Thank you very much for you help. We appreciate it. The best to you and yours.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 18, 2002 - 7:26 am:

Thanks for the update. At this point keep the vaseline handy to help prevent scalding and let us know how this story plays out.
DrO
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