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It has been reported that the prevalence of bacterial urinary tract infection (UTI) increases after perineal urethrostomy in male cats. Perineal urethrostomy, using a surgical technique preserving striated urethral sphincter function, was performed on 2 groups of cats. The first group consisted of healthy castrated cats. The second group of cats had recurrent or persistent urethral obstruction. All cats had normal urethral sphincter function after surgery, as measured by urethral pressure profilometry and electromyography. Long-term periodic urinalysis and bacterial culturing of urine was performed on all cats. Twenty-two percent of the previously obstructed cats had recurrent bacterial UTI, compared with none of the healthy cats. On the basis of these findings, we suggest that perineal urethrostomy per se does not predispose cats to bacterial UTI, but surgical alteration of the urethral meatus combined with an underlying uropathy may increase the prevalence of ascending bacterial UTI after surgery.

Gas eructation function of the gastroesophageal sphincter (GES) was investigated in 6 conscious dogs before and after a sleeve was placed around the GES and gastric cardia and during IV infusion of a beta-adrenergic amine (epinephrine). To induce eructation, nitrogen gas was insufflated (351.4 +/- 2 ml/min; mean +/- SEM) into the stomach through 1 channel of a 4-lumen catheter. After baseline studies and epinephrine infusion studies were completed in each dog, surgery was done to limit partially gastric distension by intraluminal contents by placing a silicone rubber sleeve around the GES and the first few centimeters of the cardia. Gastroesophageal sphincter pressure was 31.8 +/- 2.2 mm of Hg in baseline studies, 17.3 +/- 1.3 mm of Hg during epinephrine infusion (P. less than 0.003), and 30.3 +/- 2.2 mm of Hg after the sleeve was placed around the GES and cardia. During insufflation, gastric pressures before eructation increased to 5.74 +/- 0.41 mm of Hg before and to 15.15 +/- 1.63 mm of Hg after cardia sleeve placement (P less than 0.001). Eructation occurred at intervals of 1.83 +/- 0.41 minutes before cardia sleeve placement, and eructations were not observed with the sleeve in place. Before the sleeve was placed, administration of epinephrine resulted in an eructation interval of 0.84 +/- 0.09 minutes, which was significantly different from that in the same dogs given no drugs (P less than 0.004).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

It has been reported that perineal urethrostomy resulted in impairment of striated-muscle urethral sphincter function in male cats, as measured by urethral pressure profilometry and electromyography (EMG). Our study was undertaken to describe and evaluate a surgical technique for perineal urethrostomy that reduces trauma to the urethral branches of the pudendal nerve. Perineal urethrostomy was performed on 10 healthy neutered cats after demonstrating that they had normal urethral sphincter function by urethral pressure profilometry (maximal urethral closure pressure [MUCP] = 151 +/- 52 cm of water) and EMG activity at the level of the striated-muscle sphincter before surgery. All cats had normal urethral sphincter function 1 week (MUCP = 194 +/- 19 cm of water, EMG activity present) and 3 weeks (MUCP greater than 200 cm of water, EMG activity present) after surgery. These results indicated that preservation of the urethral branches of the pudendal nerve during urethrostomy preserved striated-muscle urethral sphincter function.