Patent Urachus

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Maybe I should have expanded on my question about this... I have a bull calf that has a constant drip of urine and this is what the vet says he has. He has surgery on Friday to correct the problem. I was wondering if anyone has experienced this? What was your outcome?
 
oh my. That sounds dismal. My vet seems confident that they will fix this and he will be fine.... He has been doing good, gaining and growing, he is 251# at two months. I noticed the leaking and called the vet to come and check him, he isn't sick, no temp, no infection. Just leaking and there is a hard lump on his navel. He goes to MSU for surgery on Friday. They said that the umbilical cord has several "channels" and sometimes they don't seal, they will go in and seal off the leak. Good grief I hope I don't experience what the folks in that thread did.
 
I'd be asking for numbers - like percentages. "Think he'll be fine" can mean anything, unfortunately. If the vet doesn't give a 90% chance or better of complete recovery I'm not sure I'd mess with it. Sounds like he's doing OK without the surgery - he might even be able to be finished out without problems.
 
Well, with this little guys bloodlines my plans for him are for breeding. He is leaking from the sheath not the navel. Vets said that sometimes all of the "channels" in the cord do not seal and that it appears the urine channel is leaking. There is no open sore/lesion just the lump in his navel. I was worried before but am even more so now.... I think I will go ahead with their recommendation and pray for the best.
 
CKC1586":3smht9zq said:
Well, with this little guys bloodlines my plans for him are for breeding.
Click to expand...

Yes, because thats the kind of defect I look for in all my breeding stock.

Seriously, I don't know if this is a heritable trait, but I would never risk a batch of calfs with the same defect 3 years down the line.
 
It is not a heritable trait. I did some google searches and it is a random occurrance with no specific explanation as to why it happens. Our vets are very familiar with our operation and I doubt if they would recommend fixing a problem that would not allow the animal to go on to his full potential. I am going to trust their educated recommendation. I had not heard of anyone experiencing this and was looking for someone that had tell me what their outcome was.
 
Well I certainly hope the calf recovers like the vet thinks it will. Keep us updated, OK? :)
 
Well, we took Oh Baby out to MSU and they ultra sounded him and it is NOT patent urachus. He has an abcess on the umbilical (internal) and it was putting pressure on the bladder thus the leaking. It was a large abcess that they drained (2 1/2 liters) and have left him open to drain, he will be there for a few days for them to flush the opening and keep a close watch on him. He did well thru the surgery and was up and nursing so hopefully his recovery will go as planned.
 
Thanks. He did real well thru the weekend, perkier each day. I will find out today how much longer they would like to keep him. Quite an impressive facility that they have!
 
Well, we got him home Friday and he is doing good. The surgical wound is healing. Will continue to flush it until I can no longer get the cathetar into the opening, it is no longer producing anything so hopefully things will continue in this forward momentum!
 

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