Dog Prostatitis or Prostate Gland Infections

A condition which can cause great pain to your dog when it urinates or goes about it business as normal is prostatitis. Continue reading this article below to find out more about prostatitis and what you can do to cure it in case your dog is infected by it.

The symptoms of prostatitis or prostate gland infections are the following. If you notice any of these in your dog it is suggested that you visit the vet:

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1. The dog may take shorter strides and have stiff back legs.

2. The dog may walk with an arched back

3. There may be blood in the dog's urine

4. The dog passes urine in short intermittent spurts and it is often painful.

5. There may be a lack of appetite and the dog may have fever.

6. Condition only occurs in male dogs.

Infection and inflammation in the prostate gland causes this condition. The prostate gland is situated near the urethra, which is the tube inside the penis which the dog uses to urinate through, and it is small and spherical in shape. Its function is to produce fluids to carry and feed sperm during the dogs mating process.

The increased size of the gland causes the urethra tube to have a smaller opening which in turn causes pain to the dog while it urinates and which is why it urinates in short intermittent spurts.

When you take your dog to the vet they may start off by discussing the symptoms that you noticed in your dog. After this, they will probably check the temperature of the dog to check its fever. If the vet then suspects your dog to infected by prostate gland infections they will need to confirm this by feeling the enlarged prostate gland. They will do this with their fingers through the anus.

After this is done and it is confirmed that the dog is in fact infected by prostate gland infections the vet will treat the dog with a simple course of anti inflammatory, antibiotics and hormone injections.

In rare cases the dog may be infected with reoccurring prostatitis. If this is the case with your dog a castration may be advisable this will result in the prostate gland shrinking and thus there will be a decreased risk of infection.

In some cases even after castration and treatment the infection may have already travelled up to the dogs backbones. This will cause a condition known as discopondilitis and will be needed to be treated separately.

Dog Prostatitis or Prostate Gland Infections

For more information on dog prostatitis and prostate gland infections or Dog Health take a look at this Dog Behavior website.

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