Persistent urinary incontinence in female Golden Retrievers following laser ablation of intramural ectopic ureters may be associated with the presence of historical urinary tract infection.

OBJECTIVE

To identify predictive factors for postoperative continence in female Golden Retrievers following cystoscopic-guided laser ablation of intramural ectopic ureters (CLA-EU).

ANIMALS: 41 client-owned female entire Golden Retrievers with uni- or bilateral intramural ectopic ureter(s) were retrospectively enrolled.

METHODS

Patients were diagnosed with ectopic ureters with a combination of ultrasonography and cystoscopy. CLA-EU was performed for all dogs so that each ureteral opening was considered to be in an appropriate position by a single operator. All dogs had short-term follow-up 4 weeks and long-term follow up > 10 weeks after the procedure via telephone, which included urinary continence scoring. Clinical factors and ultrasonographic and cystoscopic findings from initial presentation were evaluated to identify predictive factors for postoperative continence.

RESULTS

Short-term urinary continence was achieved in 46.3% of dogs with no additional medical therapies. Presence of historical urinary tract infections prior to CLA-EU (OR, 0.130; 95% CI, 0.020 to 0.621; P = .018) was negatively correlated and ureteral dilatation (OR, 34.260; 95% CI, 1.813 to 2,143; P = .043) was positively correlated with likelihood of urinary continence. Long-term urinary continence was achieved in 63.4% of dogs, and presence of historical urinary tract infections was negatively prognostic (OR, 0.173; 95% CI, 0.023 to 0.856; P = .048).

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Female Golden Retrievers undergoing CLA-EU have similar outcomes to those reported for other mixed-breed cohorts with > 30% of dogs failing to regain urinary continence. Historical urinary tract infections were significantly associated with both short- and long-term urinary continence in our population.