Urethral obstruction secondary to hyperplasia of seminal vesicle glands in an intact male African pygmy hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris)

Kasalova, Lucia (author), Černochová, Hana (author), Dvořáková, Radka (author), Angelová, Aneta (author), Knotek, Zdenek (author)

A 4-year-old, male, intact African pygmy hedgehog was presented at the clinic with a 2-day history of weakness. Clinical examination revealed a large fluid-like mass, suspected to be the urinary bladder. The surveying ultrasound confirmed an enlarged urinary bladder with anechoic content and a small amount of floating echoic material. The patient was not able to urinate nor was it possible to place an urinary catheter. After three days he continued to be non-responding to any medical approach. The patient was prepared for explorative surgery, during which he collapsed and was declared deceased. The following autopsy revealed an extramural urethral obstruction caused by the enlarged seminal vesicle glands. The histology examination confirmed hyperplasia of the glandular epithelial cells, with focal squamous metaplasia. A focal mild perivascular inflammatory infiltrate was also present, formed mainly by lymphocytes and plasma cells with isolated macrophages and admixtures of eosinophilic granulocytes.

• Language: English
• Keywords: accessory sex glands, small mammals, reproductive tract
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.03 - Other scientific articles
• Organization: VF - Veterinary Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 61-66
• Numbering: Vol. 63, Iss. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185569
• UDC: 636.09:616.6:636.96
• ISSN on article: 2385-8761
• DOI: 0.26873/SVR-2103-2025
• COBISS.SI-ID: 285244675
• Publication date in RUL: 10.08.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Slovenian veterinary research
• Publisher: Veterinarska fakulteta, Veterinarska fakulteta, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2385-8761
• COBISS.SI-ID: 275836160

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Obstrukcija sečnice zaradi hiperplazije mehurnice pri nekastriranem samcu afriškega beloprsega ježa (Atelerix albiventris)

Abstract

Štiriletnega nekastriranega samca afriškega beloprsega ježa so pripeljali na kliniko zaradi znakov oslabelosti, ki so trajali dva dni. Klinični pregled je pokazal veliko tekočini podobno maso, za katero se je domnevalo, da gre za sečni mehur. Ultrazvočni pregled je potrdil povečan sečni mehur z anehogeno vsebino in majhno količino plavajočega ehogenega materiala. Jež ni mogel urinirati, prav tako ni bilo mogoče namestiti urinskega katetra. Po treh dneh se še naprej ni odzival na noben način zdravljenja. Izveden je bil eksplorativni kirurški poseg, med katerim je poginil. Pri obdukciji je bila ugotovljena ekstramuralna obstrukcija sečnice, ki jo je povzročila povečana mehurnica. Histološka preiskava je potrdila hiperplazijo žleznih epitelijskih celic z žariščno skvamozno metaplazijo. Prisoten je bil tudi blag žariščni perivaskularni vnetni infiltrat, ki so ga sestavljali pretežno limfociti in plazmatke s posameznimi makrofagi ter primesmi eozinofilnih granulocitov.

• Keywords: pomožne spolne žleze, mali sesalci, reproduktivni trakt