"Hopitus" wrote in message
...
Hey, I'm not getting into the food arguments....but I'm curious about
something: when my male cats got blocked (long time ago, in 80's and 90's)
vets in s.FL did some kinda surgery that (not to get obscene here)
actually
"made him a girl" and forever made blockage extremely unlikely....former
boycats peed like girls after the whole thing (I personally never
understood
what this surgery consisted of,


The procedure is called 'perineal urethrotomy'. It goes something like
this: While the cat is under anesthesia, the penis, scrotum, and testicles
(if the cat hasn'tt been neutered), are dissected free. The scrotal skin and
prepuce are removed to free and expose the penis. The muscles that hold the
penis to the pelvic bones are cut, allowing the penis to be pulled outside
of the body more than usual. The penis is split along the urethra until the
widest part of the urethra is opened. Then, the opened urethra is delicately
sutured to the skin, part of the penis removed, and all skin edges closed.
Done right, the cat is now something of an anatomical female with a wide
urethral opening too big to become obstructed again.

I've watched this surgery a couple of times- and still get the chills
thinking about it! Actually, it sounds worse to us than it actually is for
the cat. PU should be performed only as a last resort.

Phil