Urinary tract infection and subclinical bacteriuria in cats: a clinical update

Dear Editors, – I would like to commend the authors of the recent article on urinary tract infection and subclinical bacteriuria for a fantastic review of an important area of feline medicine. ¹ The review provides practitioners with up-to-date and practically useful information on diagnosing and managing urinary tract infection in cats.

However, I wanted to comment on two of the images within the article (Figure 2a and b) with regard to cat friendly handling. As the authors mention, cystocentesis is the ideal method to collect urine samples. It is also an area where cat friendly handling greatly facilitates the procedure and reduces stress. In both of these images the cats are pictured on a metal table. This material is reflective, cold and can be uncomfortable, so I would always recommend in such circumstances that a cat is placed on a soft blanket or bedding. Additionally, in Figure 2b, although unclear, the assistant’s hand is in the region of the cat’s scruff and I wanted to point out to readers that scruffing is not recommended or necessary for this or any procedure, in case the image is interpreted in this way.

International Cat Care has produced a series of videos on cat handling, which includes cystocentesis, and these can be viewed on the International Cat Care YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/iCatCare). More information can also be found at the Cat Friendly Clinic website (catfriendlyclinic.org) and in the AAFP and ISFM Feline-Friendly Handling Guidelines. ²

Samantha Taylor BVetMed(Hons), CertSAM, DipECVIM-CA, MANZCVS, FRCVS

Feline Specialist and ISFM Academy Lead

The corresponding author responds:

We greatly appreciate the letter and comments on the images, and absolutely agree that some aspects of the images do not represent cat friendly practice. We are very sorry that we used these older images from a period in time when cat friendly practice was less well implemented in our clinic.

Without doubt, cystocentesis, as well as many other procedures, is greatly facilitated in a cat friendly environment. To reduce stress as much as possible, cats should be placed on a soft and warm surface, and not on a cold, reflective and slippery metal table. With regard to the comment on Figure 2b, we also absolutely agree: if the image is interpreted as showing a cat that is scruffed, we would like to emphasise that this way of handling a cat should not be used. It is painful and very stressful for cats, and not necessary for the performance of cystocentesis or any other procedure.

We are grateful for the provided video links and resources relating to cystocentesis and many other procedures.

Roswitha Dorsch DVM, Dr Med Vet, Dr Med Vet Habil, Dipl ECVIM-CA

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.co.uk/journals-permissions This letter was handled and processed by the European Editorial Office (ISFM) for publication in JFMS