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  Discussion on 14 y.o. QH gelding passing blood after normal urination
Author Message
Member:
melody

Posted on Sunday, Jan 16, 2011 - 5:18 pm:

On Jan.2, my 14 y.o. QH gelding began passing blood after normal urination. He urinates normally but after the last few squirts, he then squirts 10-15 shots of bright blood. No sign of pain and NO other symptoms, horse is behaving completely normally otherwise. Talked to my vet and we tried SMZ/TMP but after one week, no change and I had the vet out for vaccinations anyway and asked what I should do - he recommended taking the horse to a hospital for scoping/diagnosing and suspects a tumor.Because I happened to have the same symptoms in two of my dogs in the past year and they responded to anti-inflammatories, I kind of talked the vet into trying that, so he prescribed Depo-MeDrOl. He gave 400 mg. then I am supposed to give 200mg every 5 days for 8 times. No improvement as of yet (48 hours after 400mg). Am I being too impatient looking for a result? I'm afraid the prednisolone will only treat symptom, not cause. I just hate to stress the horse out taking him to hospital. He is insured for major medical - should I just take him in rather than wait and risk that his condition will deteriorate?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jan 16, 2011 - 6:07 pm:

Hello Melody,
I am assuming you are actually seeing the bloody urine as it is excreted and not just finding red colored urine on the ground, which is not likely to be blood (for more on this see Normal Urination in the Horse).

I cannot think of any acute non-infectious inflammatory disease of the urinary tract that would be treated with a course of steroids. That the blood comes at the end of urination in the manner you describe suggest that the source of the blood is the bladder or further up (ureter or kidney) the urinary tract. The first steps could be ultrasound evaluation of as much of the urinary tract as is possible, urinalysis with culture (not all infections are sensitive to TMP/SMA), and a serum renal profile. If you have to go to the hospital for these tests I am not sure how that is more stressful than a potential progressive urinary tract disease.
DrO
Member:
melody

Posted on Monday, Jan 17, 2011 - 12:16 pm:

Thank you, Dr. O, you have helped me make the decision to follow the course of action you(and my vet) recommend. I'm going to contact the hospital today.
Member:
melody

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 8, 2011 - 10:42 am:

Hi Dr. O: This is a follow up to previous 14y.o.gelding w/blood after urinating. The hospital found no abnormality during the scope nor during palpation of rectum - but they admitted there was too much blood to see the source. Was disappointed the hospital did not knock him out and do the scope properly, they only did standing sedation and they couldn't flush out the blood because he gave them trouble when they tried to blow air or water in to clean out the blood.They performed a p.u. (perineal urethrotomy) thinking it was damage to the urethra and to rest it even though they found blood in the distal bladder, but when he came home, he continued to pass urine normally but immediately after urination, passed blood thru the stoma, which healed quite quickly. Three days ago, he developed a swelling under one eye which caused the lower lid to evert. I watched it begin and progress at breakfast time. Called my vet, he said give 4G Bute, which helped temporarily, also exercise yesterday helped reduce it temporarily.Still giving 2G Bute am/pm. Today I can see swelling developing beneath the other eye as well. I'd been putting terramycin in the first eye just to lubricate and prevent infection, but now this. Horse's appetite, attitude, etc is FINE. No change in feed or anything else. Have not observed blood coming from urethra or stoma for 48 hours. I will call vet at 9a.m. but wanted to post this to you. The hospital said the blood work showed nothing except slightly low red blood cell count.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 8, 2011 - 6:00 pm:

Melody, did they conduct a ultrasound exam? It would have found tumors or stones. I cannot make a connection between the two unless the eyelid swellings are blood filled and your horse has some sort of bleeding abnormality. However this would be a very unusual presentation for such. Let me know what they find.
DrO
Member:
melody

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 9, 2011 - 12:18 pm:

Hi Dr. O - As you pointed out, and as I suspect is often the case, it appears the symptoms of eye swelling were unrelated to the bleeding. Likely the eyelid swelling was due to allergy caused by eating weeds on the trail because the swelling has resolved. Yes, the hospital did rule out tumors so I expect they did ultrasound. As of now, he is symptom-free of everything (knock on wood) so time will tell if everything has resolved. Thanks for your time and support, it means a lot to me!
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