surgical

Surgical Excision of PFs

WARNING: The following contains explicitly detailed photographs that may not be suitable for all viewers. Not recommended for viewing by children or people with a weak stomach.

Sometimes surgical excision is needed in order to combat perianal fistulas. This was the case with 2 of my German Shepherd Dogs who developed PFs.

I am privileged to have a wonderful Veterinarian who takes my interest in all aspects of my dogs' lives seriously (especially because of the book I am writing on the German Shepherd Dog breed). I have a Veterinarian who explains everything to me along the way so that I may have a clear understanding of what is happening in surgery.

The following photographs were taken during my younger male German Shepherd Dog, Lance's, surgery December 1, 1997, to remove his perianal fistulas. We had removed Lance's anal gland sacs May 15, 1997 with the hopes that it would prevent PFs.

Unfortunately Lance's PFs were back December 29, 1997. He is still battling them.

My older male German Shepherd Dog, Teddy, went through the same surgery on June 9, 1997 and so far his has been completely successful. Teddy's PFs were made more complicated by the fact that both his anal gland sacs had blown out.

Please be patient. There are several photos that have to load.

The surgical procedure for removal of perianal fistulas:

The reddened areas are the fistulas before surgery. As you can see they are almost 180 degrees around the anal opening.

Here the Vet is cutting the actual diseased tissue out and away from the good tissue.

The Vet must follow every track made by the fistulas. In Teddy's case there were several different tracks to follow because of the blown out anal gland sacs making it very difficult to find and follow each one. In Lance's case his were all pretty clustered together so the entire area of diseased tissue was cut away in one piece making it a much cleaner area to close later.

Once the diseased tissue is believed to be removed the Vet must go back and recheck the entire area to look for any missed fistulas.

It can really get messy. I was afraid Lance would lose his ability to use the spincter muscles but the Vet reminded me that Teddy's butt looked much worse (thus the reason I am using Lance's photos) and I immediately felt more relaxed.

< It is extremely important to cauterize the tissue left behind where the fistulas were so as to try and prevent a return of the fistulas. What will sometimes happen (as in Lance's case) is the fistulas return in new areas.

This is the fistula removed from Lance's anal area. You can see by the size of the surgical blades that the fistulas are large.

It took 11 sutures to close up the opening left by the fistulas. That is one very sore butt folks!

And this is one very brave dog! He continues to fight for his life.

They call perianal fistulas the silent killer because there is no way of knowing the extent to which the fistula tracks have traveled. Fistulas of this type are like the roots of a plant. They will grow and branch out without any specific pattern and it becomes very difficult to follow all of the tracks made. If left untreated the fistulas will eat through the flesh eventually causing a very painful death.

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Last updated May 12, 1999

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