Emphysematous cystitis can appear in inflammatory processes of the urinary bladder. It is characterized by the presence of vesicles full of gas in the bladder wall. We present three cases of dogs that presented this rare complication. Two of the animals were diabetic and the third was not.

The patients were two females and one male, between 10 and 12 years of age. One of the females had been diagnosed diabetes mellitus and was being treated with insulin, but symptoms of hematuria and polydipsia persisted. The other female also presented diabetes mellitus and was also being treated with insulin. She presented hematuria and pollakiuria for 10 days. Both of these animals had normal blood analysis and biochemical parameters. The male was not diabetic but presented leishmaniosis and had hyperproteinemia and leucocytosis. The three animals were submitted to urinalysis, uroculture, x-rays and ultrasound of the caudal abdomen. In both females the urinalysis presented glucosuria and white blood cells were found in the three cases. E-coli was isolated from the three cultures. The radiological diagnoses presented an image compatible with emphysematous cystitis, presence of radiolucent vesicles in the bladder wall. Ultrasounds confirmed the diagnoses. The females were treated with cephalexin (22mg/kg/12hr) and the male with enrofloxacin (5mg/kg/12hr) during one month. The x-rays and ultrasounds after treatment with antibiotics became normal in the male although the clinical symptoms persisted. The females did not present a favourable evolution in the radiographs or ultrasounds, and neither in the clinical symptoms.

Emphysematous cystitis usually appears in diabetic animals with associated glucosuria, but can also appear in non diabetic animals. It can only be diagnosed by image techniques, basically radiology, though it can also be visualized by Computerized axial tomography (CT scan), or ultrasounds. An early diagnosis is important since this type of cystitis is difficult to treat and recurrence is frequent.