Bhubaneswar, Aug 10: In what is billed as the first surgery of its kind in Odisha, vets at the SOA Urban Veterinary Hospital at Nuagaon here removed multiple stones from the urinary bladder and urethra of a white Labrador recently.

The dog, aged about four and half years, was brought to the hospital with complaint of difficulty in urination. The X-ray report indicated there were several uroliths (stones) in the animal’s urinary bladder and urethra.

Though the animal had been taken to different veterinary hospitals, it could not be treated.

Experienced surgeons at SOA Urban Hospital, however, took up the challenge and tried to flush out the stones mechanically but surgical intervention was needed as there were innumerable stones of different sizes.

The dog went under the scalpel on Monday with three surgeons conducting the surgery under general anesthesia. The urinary bladder was cut open and stones of different sizes weighing about 50 grams were removed. Another cluster of stones were also removed from the urethra. All the uroliths had been preserved for chemical examination.

The dog was doing well post surgery.