French Catheters for Cats

Function

• Veterinarians commonly use French catheters to flush the urethras and bladders of male cats suffering from bladder stones. Also called “tom-cat” catheters, your vet passes one end of this specialized type of tubing into the urethral opening searching for resistance from obstructing material. Upon finding the blockage, a small volume of sterile saline or water pumps from a syringe attached to the open end of the catheter, pushing any stones (also called uroliths) into your tom’s bladder. The stones can then be extracted via surgery or dissolved with medications while your animal urinates normally, saving kidney function and perhaps his life, say Drs. Dennis McCurnin and Joanna Bassert in “Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians.”

  Veterinarians also use French catheters to extract urine directly from the bladder for testing purposes. When necessary, vets stitch the catheter to the cat temporarily to allow him to urinate while medications and antibiotics work to control any bladder infections and the resulting stones.

Features

• French catheters, usually made of flexible polypropylene or rubber tubing, come in sizes to fit all animals, from 3.5 up to 8 for small animals, says Dr. India Lane of DVM360.com. The insertable ends on French catheters are softly rounded with a series of holes to allow for urine drainage.

Procedure

• The procedure for using a French catheter on your pet begins when your veterinarian selects the appropriate flexibility and correct size sterile catheter for your cat--typically a 3.5 rubber or polypropylene catheter for most male cats, according to the College of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Minnesota. Your vet or veterinary technician cleans the prepuce (the skin around the penis) with an anti-bacterial scrub, then lays your cat on his side. Someone will hold the tom, pulling one of his back legs and tail out of the way. The veterinarian, wearing sterile gloves, removes the catheter from its packaging and tops the tip with lubricating gel. Using one hand, the vet then exposes the penis by gently pushing back on the prepuce, and inserts the catheter into the opening in the tip of the penis. The tubing is advanced until it reaches an obstruction or the bladder.

  If there is no obstruction, urine begins to flow out the end of the catheter, and, at this point, the vet may choose to stitch the catheter in place with two small sutures on either side of the prepuce. The end of the French catheter is inserted into a bag that allows for collection, evaluation and measurement of the urine.

Benefits

• Veterinarians often catheterize male cats to gather sample urine for testing instead of performing a procedure called a cystocentesis, state Drs. McCurnin and Bassert. This procedure entails inserting a needle into the cat’s bladder using ultrasonography and withdrawing urine into a syringe. If the cat moves suddenly during a “cysto,” bladder tearing may occur, warranting emergency surgery. By using the French catheter, your vet eliminates this possibility.

Warning

• Although they work particularly well for loosening urinary obstructions in male cats, the stiffer polypropylene French catheters can be irritating if left in for extended periods of time, states Dr. Lane. Allowing your veterinarian to place an Elizabethan collar around your pet’s neck may keep your cat from pulling out the catheter with his teeth.