Surgical treatment of urethral obstruction due to urolithiasis in male cattle: a review of 85 cases

Eighty-five male cattle with urethral obstruction due to urolithiasis were treated by surgery. In most cases local anaesthetic techniques combined with sedation were applied to the dorsally recumbent animals. The penis was transected and transposed in animals with a ruptured urethra. A ruptured bladder was repaired by a paramedian abdominal approach. The bladder was fistulated through the ventral abdominal wall when no alternative treatment was possible. Complications related to the different surgical interventions are described. Only 35.3 per cent of the animals recovered satisfactorily.