Effectiveness of manual bladder expression in paraplegic dogs

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Medicine
• Canine Urology
• Animal Physiology

Background:

• Paraplegic dogs often experience bladder dysfunction, necessitating management strategies.
• Manual bladder expression (MBE) is a common technique used to assist bladder emptying.
• Accurate assessment of bladder volume is crucial for effective management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of manual bladder expression in paraplegic dogs.
• To compare urine volumes obtained via intermittent catheterization and ultrasonography.
• To determine the correlation between MBE effectiveness and canine body weight.

Main Methods:

• Collected 93 bladder volume measurements from 36 paraplegic dogs.
• Determined residual urine volume using intermittent urethral catheterization.
• Estimated bladder volume via ultrasonography.
• Assessed the correlation between MBE effectiveness and body weight.

Main Results:

• Manual bladder expression voided a mean of 49% of bladder urine.
• No significant correlation was found between MBE effectiveness and canine body weight (R² = 0.06).
• Ultrasonography showed good correlation with catheterization (R² = 0.62) but had clinically unacceptable variations in predicting actual bladder volume.

Conclusions:

• Manual bladder expression is not fully effective in emptying paraplegic dogs' bladders.
• Body weight does not influence the effectiveness of manual bladder expression.
• Ultrasonography can predict bladder volume but requires cautious interpretation due to significant variability.