Cheryl B. Greenacre
Department of Small Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of
Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
The video is in wmv format and may require Windows Media Player. The image size is 320 x 240; there is no sound. If you do not have Windows Media Player, it may be downloaded from Microsoft.
| Step by Step Procedure |
| 1. |
Preferably the
ferret should have an empty stomach prior to being anesthetized. Since the gastric
emptying time of a ferret is 2 hours, the ferret should have food withheld at least that
long. |
| 2. |
Anesthetize
the ferret with isoflurane gas anesthesia. |
| 3. |
After
pre-measuring the catheter, have an assistant expose the penis while you aseptically
prepare the penis and adjacent preputial tissue with chlorhexadine surgical scrub and
rinse with sterile saline. Repeat scrub and rinse 3 times. |
| 4. |
While wearing
sterile gloves, gently roll the shaft of a sterile 25 gauge needle on the ventral surface
of the penis where the pink penile tissue and white os penis meet to identify the urethral
orifice. |
| 5. |
Once the
urethral orifice has been visualized , utilize the tip of the sterile 25 gauge needle,
bevel down to prevent inadvertently cutting the urethral tissue, to lift it open. Then
thread the 3-1/2 French red rubber catheter into the opened urethral orifice. Difficulty
will be experienced curving around the pubis. Placement of the catheter can be checked
with radiographs. |
| 6. |
Once in place,
the exposed part of the catheter is curved dorsally to rest along the dorsum and the
dorsal surface of the base of the tail. The catheter is sutured to the skin near the
prepuce, and taped to the body. Tape is often placed completely around the body of the
ferret and around the base of the tail. |
| 7. |
A syringe or
bag is then placed on the exposed end of the catheter, taking care to cover all exposed
rubber parts with self-adhesive wrap. |
| 8. |
Correct
underlying disease cause.
|