Success of the month
This months success has to go to the lovely Heera. Heera came to us as he was vomiting frequently and was acting very strange, eating his litter! On clinical exam, everything presented normal and the vets could find very little abnormalities and so it was decided to do an ultrasound scan – this scan revealed that Heera had a big mass in his abdomen. After a discussion with one of the vets, his owner opted for surgery to remove the mass.
Heera’s mass was quite large and so the surgery was extensive, however it all went very well and the mass was removed successfully. It was decided to place a feeding tube from the outside of Heera’s neck directly into his Oesophagus. This allows food to be delivered to the stomach, by-passing the mouth and pharynx so that it can be made sure that Heera is getting the water, food and nutrients he needs to recover. Heera also had laser therapy on his wound to reduce inflammation and pain, and encourage healing.
Since his operation, Heera has been back to us for several check ups and we are pleased to report he is doing really well! He has been the most loving, docile and tolerant patient, so really deserves to be February’s success of the month – well done Heera!
One of our staff members, Maraide, has 3 of her dogs being treated with us at the moment, the lovely Celeste, the gorgeous Milo and the beautiful Faith. They have been so well behaved every time they’ve been with us, through multiple procedures and treatments, and have just been the perfect patients.
Celeste was first brought in with lethargy, excessive sleeping and her eyesight seemed to be going. We ran some blood tests which came back inconclusive, so we sent some samples off to the external laboratory instead – the results didn’t show anything obvious and only showed small elevations. Celeste was becoming quite the mystery! The next step was to proceed with ultrasound scans and urine analysis. The vet on the case then sent off for some different blood profiles at our external laboratory one of which was a thyroid profile. The Thyroid is a gland that’s responsible for producing hormones that helps your body function. The blood analysis was testing how well it is functioning and the results came back that Celeste’s Thyroid is functioning lower than normal, meaning that she has Hypothyroidism. This is treated through medication and Celeste is now doing really well!
Milo was also a mystery case to us, he presented with inappetence and an inability to gain weight along with small amounts of Diarrhoea. We ran bloods which came back inconclusive, so we followed the same process just as with Celeste, sending off for bloods and investigating Milo’s abdomen through ultrasounds. We also sent off bloods to our external laboratory for multiple profiles to test different areas of his body. The most recent results ruled out a lot of problems like hypothyroidism, liver problems or hypoadrenocorticism, which has left us with the, still to be confirmed, conclusion of Malabsorption / Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This means that Milos intestinal tract is irritated and unable to absorb the correct nutrients but luckily for Milo, this can be eased through diet and medication.
Faith suffered 2 strokes at the beginning of January. At nearly 13 years old Faith is recovering well on a concoction of blood thinners and pain relief. Strokes come out of the blue in Faith’s case caused by a blood clot travelling to the brain and causing symptoms including abnormal eye movement, head tilt, loss of balance and leg tension. Faith became very disoriented and took some time to recover, thankfully after blood tests and hospitalisation she is back home on daily medication and taking her place back as Matriarch to the rest of the family.
Congratulations to Celeste, Milo and Faith! Well deserved Successes of the Month.
For December, the lovely Smokey was brought to us with a broken right forelimb. We initially took some x-rays to see the extent of the damage and so that Karl could make a plan for surgery. On the day of Smokey’s planned operation, the leg turned out to be highly infected which meant that we were unable to go ahead with the planned surgery to fix it and it would be more beneficial to Smokey to have her leg completely amputated.
Infections can occur through wounds on the body and can cause severe complications during and after surgery due to tissue damage and bacteria present which can lead to more serious problems like sepsis. This is why it was decided that it would be better to amputate Smokey’s leg. It also means that she will have a speedier recovery which she is already proving to be true by racing around the garden! Well done and thank you for being such a super star patient Smokey.
The beautiful Rattie came to us very lethargic and frequently vomiting, and on exam one of our vets could feel a large foreign body in her abdomen which is generally quite abnormal for cats. We then admitted Rattie to investigate this through x-rays and ultrasound, the results of which showed what looked like a lot of string and so it was decided that it was best to open her up to remove the foreign body. The surgery went very well, we managed to remove the string along with some hairbands and elastic bands too!
Rattie recovered very nicely and she has since been back to us for some post-operative checks, and we are pleased to report that she is doing very well! Her owner tells us that she doesn’t particularly like the pet shirt she has on and when they first put it on Rattie did some wonderful Michael Jackson impressions – hee hee!
Well done for being such a lovely and brave patient Rattie.
Our success of the month for October is Lemmy!
Lemmy has been a brave boy these past few weeks. He first came to us very poorly after eating a towel! We took some x-rays of him and decided we would have to perform a surgery called an exploratory laparotomy which is normally performed to remove objects our pets have decided they’d quite like to eat but definitely shouldn’t have. The procedure was over quickly and after a few post-operative checks, we are pleased to report Lemmy is doing very well and is back to his normal self, giving us all big fluffy hugs and slobbery kisses.
September’s Pet of the Month is the lovely Reuben!
Reuben came to us for a large lump removal on his chest and has had a few progress check ups since then. Every time he is with us he is the most patient and gentle boy you could hope for. Here he is looking handsome after another check up with us – what a good boy!
Skye visited us in May after she was unable to breathe normally at home. Her respiratory efforts had increased and her owners noticed some discomfort. We initially took some images of her; these showed a large volume of air within the chest. Efforts were made to release this air, but sadly she needed more intensive treatment. She was transferred to a local practice who helped us place an active chest drain. She was then taken to a referral centre for more advanced imaging. Her CT scan indicated surgery was required to treat her condition. A fistula was found in her left lung, thankfully, this was removed successfully. After a few days in hospital, Skye was able to return home under strict supervision. She is doing brilliantly and we thought her story needed sharing!
If your pet is unwell, or if you have any concerns at all, please contact the surgery as soon as possible.
Boris came to us from another local veterinary practice after suffering from intermittent rectal prolapses. His previous vet had already tried to repair the prolapse with a minimally invasive procedure, which worked for a short while, but then sadly it recurred.
We performed a procedure called a ‘Colopexy’ to rectify this problem. The colon was adhesed to the abdominal wall to prevent further prolapses via abdominal surgery. During his recovery, he was fed small regular meals, and his stools were monitored carefully to ensure he could pass normal faeces after the adhesion. We are glad to say the surgery was successful and Boris has made a full recovery.
Marley first came to us in March with a problem with his eye. He had a condition called ‘Cherry Eye’. This is when the Nicitan Gland in the eye becomes inflamed and effectively ‘pops’ out, so it’s visible in the corner of the dogs eye. The little gland tends to look like a little cherry, hence the name. Corrective surgery was performed.
A few weeks later he sadly presented to us again with yet another eye problem. This time he had upper and lower lid Entropion in both eyes. This means the eyelids effectively roll inwards towards the surface of the eye. The extra tissue and eyelashes cause friction, and ulcers usually occur as a result. Most dogs with this condition struggle to even open their eyes. Again, he needed corrective surgery to relieve him. He also had a little ‘nip and tuck’ during the second procedure as the excess skin around his face was contributing towards his ailments. Shar-pei’s are renowned for their extra ‘rolls’ but in this instance – they were making his condition worse. He attended the practice three times a day after surgery so we could apply medication to both of his eyes. He wagged his tail and pulled towards the building every time he came. Marley soon learnt that every time he had his eye drops, he got lots of biscuits and fuss. He is a firm favourite here, especially with the nurses!
He is an absolute sweetheart and we’re glad he’s on the road to recovery!
Charlie took an unfortunate tumble at the start of February, resulting in him breaking one of the bones in his fore leg. Orthopaedic surgery was required. He had a metal plate fitted with several screws to support the ulna. His progress was checked regularly in the following weeks post-surgery. He also received an initial course of laser therapy. We have a Class Four Laser here at SLVC, this is used in many circumstances, but we often use it in fracture cases. Our MLS Laser helps to reduce inflammation in any selected area and stimulates appropriate tissue perfusion, thus helping the healing process. Charlie can now bear weight on his previously broken foreleg and continues to improve following his strict postoperative exercise/rehabilitation regime.