Leo was out enjoying a winter walk and was tearing through the undergrowth when he suddenly yelped and started to bleed profusely from his penis. His owner couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the blood pouring from Leo, and the thought of what had happened – and where – brought a tear to his own eyes! He rushed Leo straight in to 387 Vets.
We had never seen a wound quite like it. There was a laceration of almost the entire circumference of Leo’s penis which needed immediate repair, not least to control the bleeding.
Lacerated wound around Leo’s penis
We took Leo straight in to theatre and sutured the wound closed to repair the damage. This was a real challenge because of the nature of the tissue involved, the shape of the wound and the fact that the tear was all the way round the penis from one side to the other. An additional complication was that the prepuce (foreskin) needed to be held out of the way throughout the entire procedure to enable access to the wound site.
The surgery went well and, despite significant bruising, Leo’s wound healed quickly. There was much debate about what could have caused such an injury. So much so, Leo’s owner retraced his steps and found an old piece of barbed wire lying in the undergrowth with some of Leo’s hair caught on one of the barbs. Culprit identified. Poor Leo. Really nasty stuff.
Immediately post-op
Immediately post-op
10 days after surgery