Hi there,

Thanks for your question regarding your 5 year old Peekapoo boy who still has bloody urine a couple of weeks after having a cystotomy performed. As your Vet has said - this is very common after surgery - as is him wanting to urinate more frequently as well. The bladder is typically closed in two layers in such a way that no stitches come in to contact with urine within the bladder (the stitches are inverting ones typically).

It takes around 3 - 4 weeks for the bladder to heal, and usually 2 - 3 months for the sutures to dissolve (depending on the type of suture material used by your Vet. We would probably expect some degree of blood in the urine while the bladder is healing (another 1 - 2 weeks yet). If after another week you are still noticing a large amount of blood, then you will need to get a fresh urine sample to your Vet. Here they can check for crystals (which is very important if Buddy has a stone or stones removed from the bladder).

It is most likely that within the next couple of weeks, you will notice the amount of blood in the urine subside and the frequency Buddy needs to urinate to lower as well. It is a relatively major surgery he has had, however the post op blood in the urine is an occurence with every cystotomy.

I hope this gives you some peace of mind. You will need to follow up with your vet again in a week or two if there is still a noticeable amount of blood in his urine however. Best of luck and do let me know how you get on. Don't forget to click an excited face :-D if this has been helpful. Please be sure to reply using the REPLY TO EXPERT button if you need any further help or advice.

Kind Regards,

Dr M D Edwards

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Hi again,

This really depends on the type of stones that were removed. Did your Vet say what the stones were? Oxalate? Struvite? etc. The diagnosis as to the type of stone dictates what action (if any) to follow up with. Some stones like Oxalate cannot be dissolved by a change in diet and the only option is to remove them. AFTER surgery however, a change in diet to something like Hill's U/D or RCW urinary helps to prevent the reformation of these stones.

Thankfully as the cystotomy was carried out - your Vet would have had a clear and full view of the bladder - so if there was cancer there, it would have been relatively obvious as the time of surgery. So don't panic about cancer in your boy's case.

I hope this helps. Just reply if you know the name of the stones he had removed so I can give you more info.

Thanks,

Dr Edwards

No problem at all Kim (and Buddy - give him a pat from me). Just let me know if you have any further questions later on.

Don't forget to click an excited :-D face if this has been helpful.

Kind Regards,

Dr Edwards