Cat survival and quality of life after urethrostomy surgery

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Perineal urethrostomy is a surgical method for alleviating urethral obstruction in cats with complicated or recurrent obstructive feline lower urinary tract disease. However, long-term outcome of perineal urethrostomy in cats with feline lower urinary tract disease has only been described in studies with relatively few cats. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term prognosis, recurrent episodes, quality of life and survival times in cats with feline lower urinary tract disease who underwent perineal urethrostomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data was collected from 86 cats from medical records, including 75 cats with at least 6 months survival, whose owners responded by questionnaire-based telephone interviews. RESULTS: Long-term follow-up ranged from 1·0 to 10·4 years. The median survival time for all cats was 3·5 years after surgery. Forty-seven cats were still alive at the time of the study. Five cats (5·8%) did not survive the first 14 days after perineal urethrostomy surgery; another six cats (7·0%) did not survive 6 months. Seventy-five cats (87%) lived longer than 6 months; 45 (60%) of these were asymptomatic after surgery; 8 of 75 cats (10·7%) experienced severe signs of recurrent feline lower urinary tract disease. For 19 cats, data were available for more than 6 years. Among these, 13 cats were still alive at the time of this study. The six non-surviving cats had all been euthanased for diseases unrelated to the urinary tract. Eighty-eight percent of the owners categorised their cat's long-term quality of life as good. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This study shows that long-term quality of life after perineal urethrostomy in cats with obstructive feline lower urinary tract disease is good (as assessed by owners) and the recurrence rate is low.