Hair wrapped around penis!
 

Our 3 year old Yorkie, Oscar, is a rescue and our current problem is that his penis is always extended. On further inspection we note that he always seems to have hair well and truly wrapped around his penis and is perpetually licking at it. Our first vet visit had the vet note the issue but offer no advice on how to deal with it. Very very aggravating and frankly we are a little ticked off. Well, our Oscar is now on his way back to the vet. He won't let us near the problem at all. Any suggestions on dealing with this hair tourniquet ? Constant warm baths and the use of K jelly have been suggested but surely there must be something more preventative possible. PLEASE help. We rescued with good intent but are having trouble with ALL of the issues. He is a sweet little thing. Thanks in advance.

Poor Oscar. How about shaving the hair on the penis? I do not shave my boys' so I'm not sure about the logistics. Would like to hear from people who do (we have a couple members who are groomers), because as my boys age, their hair is growing thicker and in more areas of their undercarriage.

Also, I have been told by a friend whose boy has the occasional problem of getting stuck that cold air helps. Maybe cool water would be better?

I'm sure you will receive more suggestions.

Do you take him to the groomer? I keep the hair in that area clipped close with a "pee string". I'm sure that this is painful to him. What I can tell you is that once there are matts wetting the hair just makes the them tighter contributing to the problem you are trying to solve. Ask the vet to use their clippers to trim his hair back along with the matts.

By the way. Warm baths and KY jelly offer little relief. We wouldn't dare but at this point a pair of scissors to release the hair tourniquet seems most efficient.

By the way. Warm baths and KY jelly offer little relief. We wouldn't dare but at this point a pair of scissors to release the hair tourniquet seems most efficient.

Is the hair long / long-ish? If so, I'd trim the hair to very short so that it can't wrap anywhere.

I am NOT a groomer, so what I do is probably not very "glamorous".....hair arapped tightly around his penis can cause MAJOR problems....I would clip the hair on his tummy and back around his man parts, including the family jewels and around his rectum, very short....the vet MUST get that hair from wrapped around his penis. If he wont do it, you will need to get another vet or maybe a good groomer, to clip/unwrap that hair!

SO. Here is the resolution. Not very pleased with Vets in general right now. As of late they have all seemed to be out for the almighty dollar and tend not to share all the information the pet owner needs to know.

We insisted that ALL of the long hairs around the male parts be trimmed right back to naught. The vet had to get SUTURE SCISSORS in order to remove the hair tournequette that enveloped Oscar's penis, trim all of the longer hairs. Oscar's penis then retracted inside his foreskin (?) and was covered for the first time since we adopted him six weeks ago.

If a dog could smile, Oscar was smiling. No longer in pain or discomfort. It was quite a fight to get him into position and hold him steady for the trimming and we were about to muzzle Oscar but avoided this.

Oscar's penis is now covered by the foreskin and the first thing he did on reaching home was take a trip to the back yard and fill up on fresh, cool water. He laid down on our warm back deck and rolled over on his back spreading his legs and exposing his covered "peeps".

I take note: on preliminary investigation by the vet when he was told that Oscar's penis was perpetually exposed he pulled out a clump of hair and left it at that; no further investigation and no further instructions. Three hundred and change dollars later (remember, this is a rescue animal) we were told to come back in a few weeks for x-rays and further tests. Sic.

I know that there are good vets our there in the Toronto area and wish we could find the vets that we used to use that tended to everything from barnyard animals to pet mice. They were the best!

Anyway, thanks for everyone's advice and support. Hit the nails right on the head and we went in knowledgeable with a pretty good idea of what we were looking for (although I'm not sure that we got a proper "trim" of all of the hair - it was suggested that perhaps we might want to have Oscar semi-circumcised at first. Sic.) It was very good knowing something before opening our mouths and being able to show that fact. As a result, I feel that the vet gave us just exactly what was necessary. Still charged us $60+ for trimming that hair tournequette but I'm not complaining now that Oscar is a happy doggy.

You cannot imagine the difference in demeanor that Oscan exhibits.

Now we need to tend to Oscar's little issue of urinating and defecating about the house. We have pretty much eliminated this issue over the past few weeks by keeping him "locked up" in the bedroom at night (NOT ON THE BED) and locked up in the living room area during the day where his "travel cage" is kept (door open and unlocked as a place for safety and security comfort for him). When he defecates elsewhere for whatever reason we dump this in the back yard for him to sniff. When he urinates indoors, we immediately use a special cleaner to clean the floor and eliminate the odour. The problem is close to 100% resolved as long as we leave things restricted like this. We are working towards 100% clean without having to restrict him. Getting close. Think that he was abused by one of the male humans in the home where he was rescued from as he tends to get riled up around dark shoes that are moving about until he trusts you. And when you go to pet him he cowers. Working on it. One thing for sure - he is a happier doggy since moving in and he is a very lucky Yorkie for having a community like this to provide information.

Thank you to everyone for your input and for your assistance.

(P.S. We tend to bathe Oscar about once a week or so with a mild doggy soap/conditioner. He tends to be a REAL BIG snuggle bunny and if we should lay down on the couch he will jump up and go to sleep on top of either of us in an instant. I am wondering if this is poor "pack management" from our standpoint and as The Dog Whisperer would suggest.)

Bubba, occasionally, has the same problem. Is your dog neutered? Bubba is but after dinner, every night, he likes to dominate his bed ;) So when we do his sanitary trim we shave up to his rib cage on his belly but we leave a little pee string.

If he has this problem again try to get all the hair unwound before cutting it so it doesn't go inside with the penis. There are many suggestion for getting the penis to retract. But leaving it exposed for long periods of time can cause problems.

Welcome to YT and thank you for rescuing him.

I'm so glad you were able to find a solution. All it took was a haircut, yay!! As for your biotin note, if it's poor pack management I don't want to be right. Kaji constantly sleeps near me, on me, around me, anywhere really. I just love it!! He's such a snuggle bunny. :love:

Welcome to YorkieTalk! I am glad you posted on here and that Oscar finally got relief. I groom my yorkies and I keep my male yorkies hair down there trimmed. I have never had issues with it wrapping around because I don't let it get that long. You can easily maintain it yourself with a pair of small scissors and a steady hand.

As for pack leadership, I would take Cesar Milan's advice lightly...

Well, so far so good. We keep him trimmed right back all around his equipment. He is due for another vet visit pretty soon and we are going to get his anal glands expressed if needed. We are now looking for a vet that won't kill our bank account to clean Oscar's teeth. Another thread coming.

I am so happy for that outcome for Oscar. Just think how miserable he has been! I bet you see a different little guy now. he is a lucky little guy to have had you rescue him♥