Colonic diverticulum in a dog - a case report

Abstract

The objectives of the current case report are to describe and report the diagnostics and surgical treatment of colonic diverticulum in a dog. A 13-year-old intact male Labrador retriever, suffering from the inability to defecate for 10 days, was diagnosed with a mass between the colon and the urinary bladder, filled with faeces. The diagnosis of a colonic diverticulum was obtained using plain abdominal radiography, ultrasonography, cystography and irigography. Native and contrast abdominal radiography and ultrasonography detected an abdominal mass with a diameter of 9 cm, filled with faeces, connected to the descending colon, and an enlarged prostatic gland. The dog was treated surgically with orchiectomy, exploratory celiotomy, partial resection of the colonic diverticulum wall, followed by reconstruction of the colon using the wall of the colonic diverticulum as a flap. The dog defecated 24 hours after surgery. On the 5th postoperative day, a wound infection was observed (redness, serous discharge from the ventral midline wound). The functional outcome was satisfactory. To the best of our knowledge, such a case report has not been reported before.