Day 32- Penis is the word!

     Penis's seem to be a popular injury for this rotation in the Food Animal Ward. We have two bulls in house that have penile injuries and are currently in treatment. Then, as mentioned yesterday, we admitted a camel for a penile injury. The plan for the camel today was a PU- Perineal Urostomy. This is a very strange but interesting surgery. To put it bluntly it is a sex change surgery! When there is an injury to the penis the PU surgery is used to save the animal and divert the function of the penis so that the animal may survive. In the PU surgery there is a small incision made under the rectum and the urethra is then incised and the walls of the urethra are sutured to the exterior wall of the skin. Basically this makes the male urinate like a female through a man made opening! It is done often in animals that get re-occurring blockages from bladder stones but can also be used for animals with extensive penile injuries. In addition to the PU surgery, our camel would also receive a penectomy (surgical removal of the penis). This all seems very strange to most I am sure, but in actuality they are amazing and interesting surgeries that are used more commonly than you would think!