Surgical Management of Obstructive Urolithiasis in a male Cow calf

Department of Veterinary Surgery & Radiology. College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry. Anjora, Durg, C.G 491 011, India. * Correspodning author present address : Div. of Clinical Veterinary Medicine Faculty of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry, SKUAST-K Shuhama-190 006, India * Corresponding author E-mail: rizwanuzaman@gmail.com Published online at www.veterinaryworld.org on 25-03-2011

Introduction elevated body temperature, increased heart rate and respiration rate. On per rectal examination urinary Urinary calculi, or uroliths, are concretions of bladder was found to be distended. On clinical solid mineral and organic compounds that cause examination, animal was found to be dehydrated with disease through direct trauma to the urinary tract and abdominal distension. The case was tentatively obstruction of urinary outflow. Urinary calculi formation diagnosed to be of obstructive urolithiasis and it was usually results from a combination of physiologic, decided to perform post-scrotal urethrotomy. nutritional and management factors. It is mainly attributed to excessive or imbalanced intake of Surgical procedure minerals (Larson 1996, Radostits et al. 2000. After aseptic preparation postscrotal urethro-Obstructive urolithiasis means the formation of calculi tomy was performed under posterior epidural in the urinary tract with subsequent urinary blockage anaesthesia which was achieved using 6 ml of 0.5% by uroliths (Payne 1989, Radostits et al. 2000. It is a bupivacaine hydrochloride. After aseptic preparation common and frustrating problem in small and large of the site, an incision of about 7-8 cm long was made ruminants for owners and veterinarians. It appears to through skin and subcutis exactly on the midline in the affect equally both sexes, but urinary blockage is an post-scrotal region. Incision was deepened through the important problem only in males because of the fascia between the two retractor penis muscles, anatomical conformation of their urinary tract (Larson through the bulbocavernosus muscle and corpus 1996). In cattle, urethral obstruction typically occurs cavernosum urethrae. Urethra was incised just above at the level of the sigmoid flexure. Mortality rate of the seat of obstruction and it was removed (Fig-1). obstructive urolithiasis in suffering animals due to After removing the urolith, a suitable sized sterilized rupture of the urethra or urinary bladder is very high polyethylene tube was passed anteriorily towards the (Gasthuys et al., 1993). The surgical management of bladder and posteriorily towards the external urethral obstructive urolithiasis in male cow calves and buck includes urethrotomy, cystotomy or urethrostomy. The present study place on record, a typical case of obstructive urolithiasis in cow calves and in buck and its surgical management.

Case History
A six month old zebu cow calf was presented to the department with a complaint of not passing urine and discomfort since last 24 hrs. Animal showed uneasiness and abdominal pain manifested by straining, kicking at the belly, twitching of the penis and frequently attempt to urination. orifice and was fixed at the orifice. The urine flow Dilution of calculogenic ions in the urine is of primary from the tube was continued till the completion of the importance in prevention of urolithiasis in ruminants. surgical procedure. Post operatively I/M injections of It is important to impress upon owners the importance of encouraging increased water consumption in streptopenicillin 1 gm for 5 days, meloxicam 5 ml for 3 ruminants at risk for urolithiasis. Adding sugar-free days, Vitamin B complex 5 ml for 3 days was given.
flavoring to the water may encourage increased intake. Daily dressing of wound was done with betadine The water containers should be regularly and ointment and liquid. Polyethylene tube was removed th vigorously cleaned to maintain water palatability. on 5 postoperative day and skin sutures were removed th Allowing access to pasture or browse may increase on 8 postoperative day.
dietary water intake. The salt content of the diet can be Discussion gradually increased to promote water intake and formation of large volumes of dilute urine. Thus, The treatment of obstructive urolithiasis is immediate surgical intervention in cases of obstructive primarily surgical (Larson 1996, Van Metre et al. urolithiasis in bullock could by very useful in 1996. The animal recovered completely after removal preventing the mortality due to this ailment. of the calculi and normal flow of the urine was reestablished. The healing was uneventful in a time span References of 10 days. Urolithiasis occurs especially in cattle  , et. al. (1996). Obstructive urolithiasis in Larson (1996). The surgical treatment was adopted as ruminants: medical treatment and urethral surgery.
per the standard procedure outlined by Kumar (1996).