Maltese dog squealing in pain when he poos after being neutered

doyler442

Hi
I am in a strange situation, and hoping someone can offer some advice. My dog, a maltese, came to NZ with me about 12 months ago. When he arrived everything was good until I had to put him into a dog hotel for a few nights and they required that he be neutered. I had this done at the vet but he got very bruised around the stomach after it. Now every time he goes for a poo he squeals, and squeals, and appears to be in some amount of pain (this is going on since June last year). It's quite hard to explain it so I have a video if it here: dog squealing while pooing (not sure if I'm allowed provide this?) - I literally have people coming running out of their houses, or across the road, etc. asking if everything is OK, and that they thought something was being killed.
I have been back to the vet who did the neutering on numerous occasions to try find what it could be. The list of things we've tried are:

• rectal examination where everything was fine (anal glands are normal, and not constipated)
• possible psychological issue (3 weeks of xanax with no effect showed that it is not) 
• antibiotics (appeared to clear it but ultimately didn't)
• had no more ideas other than to suggest going to a university where they could do detailed x-rays but would ultimately cost a fortune

I wanted to get a second opinion so went to another vet. She was happy that the first vet did everything possible but had a few more ideas:

• after pressing around his lower back a little bit she got a similar squeal and wondered if its more to do with something in his back but couldn't provide any more suggestions in that regard
• put him on a diet to soften up his poo to see if that can control it a bit but ultimately doesn't tell us what the issue actually is - this hasn't worked
• has suggested it may have been something to do with a canal getting damaged when the dog was neutered but ultimately says he would have to go for the expensive x-rays and they might turn around and say we can't see anything
• also suggested a colonoscopy might give a better picture

I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen something like this, or has any ideas on what it might be? Any feedback at all would be greatly appreciated.

DBB

Jayney... I'm not *entirely* sure that's an entirely painful vocalisation... It's just not quite right.
However, if there is a suspicion that undiagnosed pain underlies an unusual behaviour, it's fairly standard for clued-in vets over here to try (powerful) pain killing medication (your vet might want to think along the lines of a nerve blocker... Standard anti-inflammatories aren't strong enough to be reasonably confident of a result)... And see what happens. If the behaviour alters, reduces or disappears under the influence of strong painkillers, then you know you're dealing with pain. If not, then there's a stronger indication that this is behavioural issue to explore.

doyler442

Thanks for the feedback. I had forgotten that this is actually what we done first - not sure how strong the painkiller was but it had no effect on him so thats when we moved to the psychological side where he was on some form of xanax for 3 weeks but this also had no effect on him.

DBB

Try to find out what that painkiller was. If a nerve-blocker (eg Gabapentin) has not been tried, then all options have not yet been exhausted

aonb

could the squealing be learned behaviour? - when he was neutered it hurt to poo and it became a habit to squeal??

Is when he poos the *ONLY* time he squeals like that?
Eating well? Walking well? able to jump up/down on sofa etc?

tk123

DBB wrote: »

Try to find out what that painkiller was. If a nerve-blocker (eg Gabapentin) has not been tried, then all options have not yet been exhausted

+1 and also painkillers from the other groups. If it IS pain you may need a combo of NSAID and the gabapentin. The gabapentin used to drive me mad as it's a capsule so harder to hide! . On one hand I wonder is he in pain because he moves as he's pooping and this is what Bailey does too sometimes or kind of runs away because squatting is painful for him.. BUT then I wonder if he's acting because he seems to look back at the camera like he's wondering are you watching OP!