Olly suffered from urethral obstruction, which can occur in male cats suffering from feline lower urinary tract disease, a condition similar to cystitis in people. It is a chronic medical condition that causes pain on urination during an outbreak. In some male cats, bladder debris blocks the end of the urethra (the tube carrying urine from the bladder, through the pelvis and the penis, to allow urination). Cats then can’t urinate, and they will become very painful, unwell and can die. While obstruction may only happen once in a lifetime, some cats have repeated painful and life-threatening episodes, and surgery is offered after obstruction occurs 2-3 times. Poor Olly even had an episode in the few days between booking his surgery and the day of surgery.

 

It might be a surgery to make some of us wince, but most cats with repeated urethral obstruction are treated by perineal urethrostomy, where the penis is removed. The urethra in the penis is very narrow and obstructs easily so it is removed, and a wider hole is made higher up in the urethra. The new opening sits a little higher than the penile urethral opening, but it functions well, and urination is very similar after surgery. Although a technically challenging surgery, there are very few complications, and cats are not expected to block again. Medical management reduces the incidence of their ‘cystitis-like’ episodes and cats usually recover from those with a few days of pain relief. Urinary tract infections are more common with cats that have had perineal urethrostomy, but this is thought to be related to their underlying disease rather than the surgery itself. Olly did well after his surgery and has not blocked again.