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How to Express a dog or cat.
When a pet becomes mobility-impared, it is critical that proper urination occurs. The process for manually causing an animal to urinate is called 'expressing.'
Your pet’s bladder needs to be compleyely emptied (expressed) at least three times a day. When an animal can't walk, it becomes succeptable to ‘pooling’ or ‘partial urine retention’ which means that urine sits in the bladder. Sometimes, when you find your pet’s bedding wet it does not mean that it is urinating on its own but rather that the bladder has become so full that it is overflowing.
Cystitis of bladder infection is a threat to your pet’s health following many types of injury to the rear quarters. These infections are very serious and could cause dealth in a few days if not treated. Bladder care plays a crucial part in the health of your pet, whether is has surgery or not or is completely, or partially disabled.
Here are the most common signs of a bladder problem or urinary tract infection:
- Dribbling or urine evidence, by soaking of the rear quarters and bedding
- Foul Odor to urine and increased licking of the genital area as infection worsens
- Bloody or dark colored urine-severe symptom requires immediate veterinary care
- Depression, loss of appetite, rise in temperature as infection progresses
Treatment of Urinary Tract Infection
Prophylactic medical treatment before signs of infection occur offers the best route of treatment. The co-operation of your veterinarian in prescribing the best medication, monitoring PH and culturing the urine, and providing instruction on expression or clearing of the bladder of pooled urine is essential for successful nursing care. Urine retained in the bladder can become a culture media for bacterial growth.
This describes how to express a bladder... but you MUST check with your vetrinarian first.
How To Express your Pet’s Bladder
Smaller pets are easily managed by one person. Larger pets may require two people. Extremely obese pets may require a vetrinarian.
Support your pet in an upright position
Place your left hand on the small of your pet’s back.
With your right hand, feel where the ribs end on the abdomen. Your thumb should be on one side of the abdomen and your fingers on the other side.
GENTLY SQUEEZE your thumb and fingers together and while holding that position, move hand towards rear of abdomen. A full bladder should feel like an inflated balloon.
Urine should be released in a fairly steady stream. When urine decreases to a dribble, the bladder has been sufficiently expressed.
If urine squirts out or you feel some resistance and the urine does not stream out, then you pet is starting to have bladder control. Check with your vetrinarian. Expressing may not be necessary.
Alternate Method.
On small pets, place one hand on either side of the pet’s side behind the rib cage and gently squeeze your hands together.
NOTE: The bladder must be manually expressed until your pet is able to fully urinate on its own. Having the bladder expressed at least three times daily is a permanent nursing care necessity for permanently impaired pets
Bladder Care is often a long-term nursing care need for months or years. The success of your nursing care program will hinge on how effective you become in this care.
Your Comments:
expressing is tricky the first few times, but gets much easier.
Mom expresses mimosa twice a day even tho she is not incontinent. She has trouble getting in and out of a litter box, so at about the same time each day, mom picks her up & expresses her over the box.
You put your hand just below thier ribcage and squeeze, moving down towards the hips. YOu can usually feel the bladder as a hard roundish lump. the bladder is slippery and can get out of your grasp easily. For months Mimosa knew just when to wiggle to make us loose her bladder.
When the bladder is against the hips - and so doesn't have anywhere to escape to - you squeeze the urine out.
I think Jennifer's ragdoll method (link below) would be a good addition to your article. It is entirely different than the two in your article. I use this ragdoll position to express my dog's bowel. Believe Critters included the Express Method Standing at Right Angles message in the ones she posted. That is also entirely different from the two in your article and is my favorite. Easiest if you have back problems because you're working close to your body. As for what you wrote, the long description of the first method is very clear and I wouldn't change it. Think it would be well to copy it into Word and run a spell check before publishing. Might be good to say "every 8 hours" in at least one place, rather than 3 times a day. The only real problem I see with the page is if someone with a big dog reads it, they're going to wish more was said about big dogs. Maybe mention the advantage of expressing a large dog in a cart, or the option of expressing a large dog lying down. I remember what SandyNY went through trying to express Porkchop, who was 85 lbs. or thereabouts. Her father rigged a rope and pulley system attached to the rafters to hold him in a standing position so she could work. Some of us would be unable to use either of the two methods you describe for a big dog. Someplace in the archive, someone posted to the effect that they could walk their large dog outside with a sling and pull up on the sling several times and that was all it took to express him. I've tried to find the message before and no luck, and right now I don't have time to try again. Curious about the experience of others? My dog can't really feel a UTI so she does not lick. I'm sure it is a sign of cystitis (my non-disabled cat has done that when he had crystals) but I don't know if paralyzed pets who can't feel their urogenital area will do that? Also, not feeling very organized tonight, so I'm sure there is something I missed. If there is a spot for tips on expressing, I would like to add a few. It would be extremely cool for people to be able to add tips.
1) it is easier to express a pet that is not constipated 2) it is easier to express on the bathroom counter in front of the mirror--it saves bending and you can see what you're doing 3) you can express straight into the sink if you pour bleach down it once in a while 4) be careful with a small bladder to avoid injury
he easiest way I found to do it was to hold him by his armpits so that his bottom and legs hang free over the toilet or outside and then with your finger trace his ribcage to the bottom of the ribcage, you should feel a little squishy bulb sometimes firmer depending how full his bladder is, if you gently squeeze this between two fingers and move your fingers down while gently squeezing them together to his bottom he should pee freely as they say. Or her whichever the case may be ,,, She may feel more comfortable with her feet on the ground in this position "standing" if she does have use of her back legs, or she might not mind the dangling, really is experimentation on that part. And like Carol said if you still have trouble don't be afraid to ask your vet to show you again.
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