Effect of urinary bladder lavage on in-hospital recurrence of urethral obstruction and durations of urinary catheter retention and hospitalization for male cats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of urinary bladder lavage on in-hospital recurrence of urethral obstruction (UO) and durations of urinary catheter retention and hospitalization for male cats. DESIGN Randomized controlled clinical trial. ANIMALS 137 male cats with UO. PROCEDURES Following random allocation, cats either did (flush group; n = 69) or did not (no-flush group; 68) undergo urinary bladder lavage with saline (0.9% NaCl) solution after alleviation of the obstruction and placement of a urethral catheter. Signalment, prior history of UO, presence of crystalluria, difficulty of urinary tract catheterization, in-hospital UO recurrence rate, and durations of urinary catheter retention and hospitalization were compared between the flush and no-flush groups. RESULTS Baseline characteristics did not differ significantly between the 2 treatment groups. The in-hospital UO recurrence rate (9/69 [13%]) and median durations of urinary catheter retention (37 hours; range, 3 to 172 hours) and hospitalization (3 days; range, 0.5 to 12 days) for the flush group did not differ significantly from the in-hospital UO recurrence rate (13/68 [19%]) and median durations of urinary catheter retention (36 hours; range, 1 to 117 hours) and hospitalization (3 days; range, 1 to 9 days) for the no-flush group. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that, for male cats with UO, urinary bladder lavage at the time of urethral catheterization had no significant effect on in-hospital recurrence rate of the condition, duration of urinary catheter retention, or duration of hospitalization; however, additional studies are necessary to validate or refute these findings.