Effect of Finasteride and Deslorelin Treatment on Clinical Signs, Prostatic Volume and Semen Quality in Dogs with Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy: A Clinical Trial

Abstract

Benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) is a natural prostate disease in aging intact male dogs. Clinical signs of the disease include constipation and blood in the semen or blood in the urine concurrent with a prostatic cyst, prostatitis, prostatitis with an abscess and cystitis. Androgen, especially dihydrotestosterone, is the key hormone for disease development. The recommended treatment for BPH is castration; however, medical treatment is an alternative and necessary in some dogs with restrictive conditions. The objective of the study was to compare the effects of fi nasteride (5alpha-reductase inhibitor), which is widely used for BPH treatment, and deslorelin (GnRH-agonist), which is a new alternative for BPH treatment. The study focused on clinical signs, the prostatic size and semen quality in both groups. Sixteen natural BPH, client-owned dogs were recruited and divided into two groups. Eight BPH dogs received 0.1–0.5 mg.kg-1 fi nasteride, orally, once a day, for 16 wk, and the other eight dogs were treated with a single implant of 4.7 mg deslorelin that lasted for 24 wk. Each dog was evaluated at 0, 4, 8 and 16 wk of fi nasteride treatment and at 0, 4, 8, 16, and 24 wk of deslorelin treatment. Repeated analysis of variance measurement was used to compare the differences in both groups. The results revealed that both medications were effective to resolve clinical signs and decrease prostatic size. Finasteride had no effect on semen quality, except to decrease semen volume. An adverse effect of deslorelin treatment was anejaculation. In conclusion, both fi nasteride and deslorelin were able to treat BPH dogs. Finasteride is a suitable drug for stud breeding dogs; however, deslorelin is more suitable for dogs with anesthetic risk. Keywords