Sirius is at the vet's office this morning having surgery to remove a rectal tumor, which is a small thing, probably benign. It is apparently interfering with him evacuating his anal glands properly, leading to recurrent anal gland infections. He's a mess back there!
I have posted previously about Sirius and some excessive drinking and peeing. When I go back and review my journal entries and my vet records, I see a pattern here. When his anal glands are infected and he is in pain, he is incontinent. When we put him on antibiotics and clear things up, he is not incontinent. For the past couple of weeks since we scheduled surgery I have had him on antibiotics and he has had absolutely no problems with peeing in the house, either in his crate or on the floor. Previously, when we did not realize he had an infection, he was peeing on himself in his crate, peeing on the floor, and when his pain was at its worst, right when we started antibiotics, he wouldn't even bother to ask to go out, and once did not even go out the open door to the outside to pee.
He has had an extensive workup for his kidneys and everything is completely normal, so I think I have stumbled upon the reason. We will see how he does after surgery. I am concerned about how you manage a large dog like this with stitches in his rectum, and a wound in a dirty location that can't be kept completely clean. It would be easier if it was on his trunk or on a limb, which could be dressed or wrapped and protected from dirt, but this is not the case. I guess he'll be on some kind of special diet, perhaps.
Fingers crossed - poor fellow!
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