Pets, people and vets

8/09

Some good friends of mine just adopted a new little dog from the humane society and as is customary, they got a certificate for a free exam at a local chain clinic.  When they left the clinic they had a bill for $171.  They were not quite sure what had happened either and asked me to examine the dog and the bill.  While the vet was certainly proper in recommending heartworm testing, fecal testing and medication, I noted that the cost for the whole visit was about double what we would have charged even without the "free" exam.  Like the old saying..if it sounds too good...

7/09

So here was this little 3 year old cat.  The owner felt something hard in her stomach and sure enough, I could feel the masses too.  She wasn't spayed so I was pretty sure she was pregnant.  The owner said the cat had never been out and no male cats in the house..nevertheless, Murphy's law is well in effect as far as I was concerned.  X-rays showed a very large uterus but no kittens, furthermore, my other tests showed gthe uterus was full of pus.  Very rare nowadays, even more rare in a cat.  We scheduled her for surgery tomorrow.

When I examined her the next morning, something was not right, I could not feel the masses and she looked bad.  Right into surgery.  When I opened her abdomen, the worst possible scenario was before me.  Thick pus, like bananna pudding, flowed out, the uterus had leaked!  This is a major problem.  The uterus was removed but it took an hour of lavage (flushing or rinsing) and suctioning to clean up the mess.  We got the little girl off the table but it was touch and go.

Now she was in septic shock.  IV fluids, massive doses of antibiotics and a lot of hope.  We got her to morning and she started to eat.  The owner took her home and continued to nurse her.  We just saw her today.  Took out sutures.  She made it and was back to normal.  Once again, miracles can happen but sometimes they take a lot of hard work. 

5/09

He sure didn't look good but I couldn't put my finger on it.  Vomiting and diarrhea but no good diagnosis.  Medication didn't work and with 1st and 3rd day Xrays we could see nothing was moving inside.  He did have a history of eating. well, things other than food so time to explore.

A huge ball was in his stomach so we opened that 1st. 2 pieces of bone and an elastic waist band from a pair of boxer shorts tied in a knot.  After that was removed the intestines had to be opened in 2 places to get the rest of the elastic out.  Everything un-coiled and looked a lot better then.  It was a long afternoon and night nursing him thru but by late sunday he was drinking and by monday eating again.  Kinda gives a new meaning to "eat my shorts".

2/09

She was just out walking her little dog when the pit-bull who was running loose attacked..one bite to the head and the little pup was down and the big dog was off on his way..she rushed him to emergency then to us..Xrays and exam showed the whole nose broken off from the main skull and the jaw fractured as well..not much anyone could do..this poor lady..doing nothing wrong, just walking her dog..and someone who didn't care or think or both cost her best friend his life..life really isn't very fair sometimes.

2/09 

Her old dog just didn't want to get up and move around..that was all.  No other symptoms just weak or lazy?  When I just started my exam we could see why..gums almost as white as a sheet.  We did blood test and these showed red blood counts about 15% of normal..near the death zone.  Immune Mediated hemolytic anemia..the body attacking it's own blood and destroying it.  IV fluids and massive doses of medications and a long 3 days in the hospital.  the first blood counts were not better but on the 3rd day the damage stopped and the counts were up..even the gums had a faint tint of pink.  Kinda like bungee jumping and being near death..but this one had a happy ending..was able to go back home monday..will need medication for a long time but should live for a long time as well..sometimes near death is close enough.

1/09

I had some good friends that got a new puppy this last summer.  He was a great dog and the family quickly grew attached to him.  As he grew he got his checkups and vaccines and all seemed to be going well except he was just a bit small.  Finally in November it came time for him to be fixed.  The family opted for us to do some pre-anesthesia testing as we always offer. I my shock, his kidney function was 5x off of normal (bad)  I had my tech run the blood again on a different machine..same result..kidneys not working.

We placed him on a special food and checked him monthly but over time the kidney tests got worse and worse. We never did surgery because of the anesthesia danger this posed..and in due time, just  a few days ago we had to put him down.  The whole family was crushed as were we.  you don't expect this sort of thing in a baby pup.

Necropsy (animal autopsy) showed he had a rare genetic problem peculiar to his breed, something I had never seen before.  It was really sad to loose such a young patient, I was always glad, however, that I ran the test and didn't just put him under anesthesia, that would have taken away the last few good months the poor little fellow had.