Rolling Dog Farm Blog

I hauled little Brynn — our blind foal with the chronic urinary problem — into Missoula today for a ‘deep cleaning’ at our equine vet clinic.  Because Brynn doesn’t like anyone working around her backside … we need to clean between her thighs, around her vulva, and other sensitive areas … she needs to be sedated so we can wash her and scrub off the urine scalds.  What she has, in effect, is a severe case of equine diaper rash, and when it gets this bad, the only way to get the job done is with sedation.

I took the photo of Linda G., a vet tech who works for Dr. Bill Brown, giving Brynn her ‘spa treatment.’  I had been cleaning the other side of Brynn when I stopped to get the photo of Linda scrubbing away.

After going through this yet again, and seeing how raw and inflamed Brynn’s
skin is, I was so incredibly thankful that we have the money now to pay
for surgery to hopefully fix this once and for all.

Bill discussed Brynn’s case with Dr. Claude Ragle, the surgeon at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, again today.  I will be calling the equine surgery department tomorrow to schedule Brynn’s appointment.

After we got Brynn cleaned up and while she was still sedated, Bill examined Brynn with an endoscope — an optical tube that allows doctors to see inside the body.  The last time we tried this Brynn was too small and the endoscope too big to use with her.  Today we got a good look inside her plumbing, and that’s what you see us doing in this photo. 

I’m inserting the endoscope while Bill peers in the viewfinder and is giving me directions:  "Move forward … hold it there … come back a bit … hold it … okay, go forward …"  We also found where the ectopic ureter is coming out — not inside her uterus as it had earlier appeared on ultrasound, but actually inside her vagina.  We could watch this little slit in the vaginal wall open and close, and each time small amounts of urine would squirt out.

After nearly two hours of endoscopy, I’m sure Brynn was thinking, "What kind of spa is this, fellas?"