Baby, when it's love, if it isn't rough, it isn't FUN!

Around 9am this morning, I was presented with a youngish male dog. He was not neutered. His chief complaint: bloody urine.

On physical exam, he was in splendid health and body condition. As he walked, small drops of hemorrhage fell from his penis. This was no bloody urine, this was pure blood.

I went to talk with his owners, and the story came out...he'd tied with a female the previous day. He'd never tied before, and the owners described his lovemaking skills as significantly less than gentle. In short: it was extremely violent, and the female dog that wandered into the yard was a less than accommodating partner (YET ANOTHER reason to spay/neuter your pets).

Since then, he'd been extremely lethargic, dripping blood from his penis.

Based on his physical exam and history (absence of a large or painful bladder on abdominal palpation), I suspected he'd suffered penile trauma during the tie. I recommended sedation to his owners so that I could fully extrude his penis and examine it.

I don't know how many of you have looked at a dog penis fully out of the sheath, but they are shaped like a lipstick, for lack of a better comparison. At that base on the penis is a bulbous area (called the bulbis). There are glands that live there that secrete fluids into the ejaculate and whatnot.

At any rate, as I pushed the penis out of the sheath, I was almost blinded by the amazing freshet of blood that came spurting up and out. Apparently, this poor dog had lacerated the entire base of his bulbis, including a large supplying artery and several smaller veins. AS soon as the penis was out of the sheath (which was acting as a decent tourniquet), blood began spewing!

I was horrified, as were all the males present. The whole base of the penis was bruised and swollen. It needed surgical repair, given the extent of tearing. I administered a dose of steroids to help with the swelling and inflammation, placed small, absorbable sutures in the vessels to stop the bleeding, and recommended hospitalization to the owners.

Due to finances, they took the dog home for the night. Hopefully, they'll follow up with their vet - as they promised - first thing in the morning! I can't imagine how uncomfortable that poor dog must have been.