Why vet squeeze cat's kidneys after confirmed no heart beat after euthanized?

I had a 14 year old female cat with kidney failure put to sleep. The vet had some trouble finding a good vein to inject the euthanasia into but eventually did. About a minute after the injection, he confirmed she had no heart beat and had passed. Then he held a squeeze around both her kidney areas afterwards for about 10 seconds. I didn't think to ask him why he did this at the time.

My condolences on the loss of your old girl .  I, too, lost one of mine to kidney disease within the past year, but don't recall the Vet doing anything other than check his heartbeat to make that final confirmation .   I think if you really want to know, you might need to call them. 

Again, so sorry for your loss

I know that when a cat passes away, the kidneys automatically empty themselves.  

Possibly your vet did this to avoid any more stress on you when that happend. 

My sympathies to you.  It is so hard to bear.

God Bless.

thanks. What do you mean the kidney's automatically empty themselves? She would have peed or something while dead?

Yes.  It happens to humans, too.
 

It can be quite stressful and shocking to have a dead cat that is leaking fluids. It happened to me and I washed the cat before burying him. Not very logical, I know, but I felt I had to.