Symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia in dogs: a retrospective study (2001-2007)

The database of clinical cases records at the Clinical Veterinary Department of Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna was searched for sexually intact male dogs at least 1 year old, observed between January 2001 and January 2007. From these, animals presenting the most common symptoms referable to BPH have been selected. The BPH clinical signs have been divided into lower urinary tract or gastrointestinal symptoms. On a total of 5065 intact male dogs observed, 173/5065 (3.60%) showed the lower urinary tract symptomatology mentioned above and 125 of them (72%) were diagnosed as affected by BPH. In 165/5065 (3.12%) dogs, gastrointestinal clinical signs above described were identified and 38 (23%) of these animals resulted affected by BPH. In conclusion, BPH unassociated to other pathologies was diagnosed in a total of 170/5065 (3.36%) dogs. The remainder of the animals (n = 168) resulted affected by different diseases that caused the symptoms reported.This paper, besides the occurrence of symptomatic BPH, analyzes the relationship between BPH referable symptoms and the real presence of this pathology. This provides useful data about the possibility to detect BPH in sexually intact male dogs showing the lower urinary tract or gastrointestinal symptoms mentioned above.