Attacked by Staffies

It is not just people that get badly hurt when they are attacked. This dog was attacked by 3 Staffordshire bull terriers. They were off a lead he was on it. The neck was badly torn and an initial wet to dry dressing applied.

The swabs are soaked in sterile saline and placed into the wound, as they dry they they pull debris into the swab and clean it out. In this patients case the swabs were placed deep into the wound and held in place with "stay sutures" to help keep the wound slightly closed. The dressing was applied for 2 days running. A penrose drain was also placed to allow fluid and blood to exit the body.


On the 3rd day the wound was clean enough to use other dressings for the next stage of healing. A honey dressing was then applied and changed every couple of days. He also had some limited surgery to close part of it but it was mostly allowed to heal slowly on it's own. There was so much missing it was not going to be easy to do a full surgical repair.

Unfortunately l never got end photos but it was not a smooth repair. He had a wound breakdown and ended up being readmitted for some time while it was sorted. I understand that it was finally closed and he has resumed his old life.

Maluka Honey Foot

We had a lovely young dog about 6moths old 30kg a cross breed brought in. He had his foot injured in an RTA. He was a stray and in with us until healed and rehomed or reclaimed
I was on the night he came in. He was very nervous but sweet. I popped him onto the table and set about cleaning his foot, l also placed an iv and fluids.

Before l started to clean l took photos but couldn’t get photos between the toes as they were too sore to open. Also placed a paper ruler around the feet to try and show the size of the swelling, it did not come out to well on the photos but worked enough.
He was good as gold for his first foot dressing just laying there, with one person holding him, while l cleaned, dried and dressed it. The foot was very swollen and there was a nasty wound on the outer aspect of the medial toe and the vet was not sure if the toe would need amputation. The top of the foot also had sores and in between the digits as well, these wounds were deep up into the toe creases.

Because he was a bit wriggly the honey went everywhere, well it seemed to but eventually the foot was dressed, honey was cleaned off all of us and he was placed in a kennel with duvet food and water after some jabs of pain killer, anti-inflammatory and antibiotics.
I was on duty for his first few days and we hit it off from the start. In fact l was the only one he seemed to be happy with and l always got great sloppy kisses. He kennel guarded but allowed me to go in and get him out.

He was to have dressing changes daily for the first 3 days then in theory every 3 days but the problem was when l was off he got the taste for the honey. The little “sod” had learnt how to somehow crush his buster collar, push his foot close enough and suck the toe end out then eat the inner dressing.
This means that he has at times had up to 3 dressing changes in a day. At times things went well and it was 24hrs between dressings. The problem was we use maluka honey dressings which is brilliant for wounds somehow he got the end of the dressing off one day so of course once he tasted it he knew exactly where to find the yummy taste. Buster collars only helped so much and he was on the biggest usable size/neck/head, any bigger they almsot fell down his body the collar neck was so big.

Dressing changes were always amazing as he just lay there while he was changed. The helper never had to do anything other than try and keep his tail from whisking up to hard and waggling his bum and then his leg. Once his dressing was off was a bit more work as he wanted to lick his foot for more honey.

One morning I found yet another bare toed foot peeking out at me at 05:00 and as l was alone no vet (gone to bed) no auxiliary (gone home) 2nd nurse (gone home) l did some cussing, got the dressing materials and set to dressing the foot on my own. If it did not work then l would buzz the vet to get his carcass out of his bed and come and help but l decided to see how things went first.

Up till now he had always had 2 people doing the dressing changes, a holder and a wound dresser. I grabbed a front and back leg and pull pushed his 30kg down he flopped happily on his side on his duvet. We made sure he had a duvet as despite being a monumental pain in the arse eating his dressings he was everyone’s favourite. He didn’t kennel guard any more and just wanted loads of loving.
Once he was flat l pinned his neck till he got the message and lay still, l also muttered endearments to him on what l would do if he moved, which he ignored after the first couple of comments.
I cut the old dressing off with a scalpel and had to get very firm as he tried to grab my hand, not ideal with a sharp scalpel blade in it. He lay back and sulked, trying the big “poor unloved me” look, this time it didn’t work due to the situation.

I threw the blade back out the kennel as far as l could then got the old dressing off. By mistake l dropped it by me. “Shark teeth” saw a possible source of honey and while the back end obeyed my command to lay flat the top side lifted and made a grab. A short tug of war and unhooking bandages trapped round teeth the dirty dressing joined the scalpel as far away as possible.
Another firm push and this time l placed my right leg firmly on his neck to hold him down. He figured play time and rolled to try and eat my foot, another tussle and he lay sulking planning his next move.

I unwrapped the new dressings and felt his body tense, glaring at him and muttered some more rude words so he lay back staring at the dressing pack. Watching out of the corner of my eye l saw his look change to "yup there came the tube of honey it just had to be all for me".
A rather stern comment from me and a threat of clubbing him to death with a soggy bread roll (my ultimate threat) brought obedience. Actually it was more the fact l grabbed his head mid lunge and held it back flat on the duvet that got through to him.

I cleaned and dried the foot and threw the cleaning swabs and drying cotton wool l had used well away from him. Then l got the dressing on, he was a bit ticklish with the foot but did lie still. As soon as l was done he leapt up and tried to grab all the dressing material he could while l fought to remove it. Bloody dog what part of “drop it you useless ************” did he not understand? Thank goodness the scalpel was far away. And yes he got lots of cuddles and some doggie treats for being almost so well behaved despite a few lapses.

After about 3 weeks of steady dressing changes the foot was hugely improved, he still had his toe and was awaiting his new home.
When we had a quiet spell at night one of us would go and get him out to have a play with us in the medical prep area, he would then go exploring. Listening to our “oy out of there” and looking back over his shoulder trying to decide if he should go into the animal ward or laundry room or wherever he was being ordered out of if is really worth going in. Curiosity won about 50% of the time, he would come belting out trying to look innocent when he heard us heading for him to haul him out.
Animal food kitchen was a special favourite as that is where the treats are and he knew that someone is going to get him something and if he plays the cute card right lot’s of something’s.

The dressing continued but he was getting wrigglier, first photos he hurt to much to move but as wounds healed he wriggled and with a camera phone it ended up blurred however the photos give an idea of the healing going on. The timings on the photos are approximate in weeks.

(if anyone has problems seeing the photos please let me know my photos seem to be playing up on some computers)

Original wound's on admit


Size of damaged foot compared to normal one, on the normal one the paper wraps back under itself, on the damaged one the ends do not meet


Week 2 wounds on pads healing and also top of foot


Week 2 main wound granulating nicely


Week 3 wounds between toes clear and able to open toes


Main wound week 3

Lead Trouble

One of the techniques taught by behaviourists for dogs that are not under control is to put a long lead on them. Then you have something to grab a hold of but not the dog which when you touch them is a form of reward.

Some dogs have a long lead left on when their owners go out so when they come back they can grab the lead as the dog hurtles out the door and/or grab the lead to get the dog under control.

This seemed like a good idea, however after seeing what happened to a dog that had a long lead on l am now weary and always warn owners to be extra careful if they are not there to keep an eye on the dog.

In this case the lead had wrapped around the dog. From the outside the dog’s prepuce looked normal, this wasn’t the case though. When the dog was under GA and the penis was extruded by the vet it caused a sharp intake of breath and an immediate crossing of legs and wince from the male vet. The penis had been almost cut in half and there was just a thread holding it together. Luckily for the dog the urethra was undamaged or things would have got very complicated but it all healed well.

The Long Carry

I have written about the dangers of sticks being thrown but in this case it was not a thrown stick that did the damage but a dog off having a good lunatic run and enjoying the summer weather. To be honest you can not blame him as we see so little sun in the UK like all accidents it was one of those things that happens. Oh dear l can hear the hands rub of the health and safely people looking for some reason and way to stop it.

The dog ran into a broken end of branch from a fallen tree. The stick slammed in under his front leg and upwards. His owner had to lift him off the branch as he sensibly froze and screamed for help. She then had a 1 mile walk back to the car carrying the poor lad. I think she was in a worse state of exhaustion when she got to us than the dog with his wound. Reception got her a mug of tea as a first aid measure.

He was very lucky it missed all vital nerves, bones, chest etc and after a very good flush to remove bits of dirt, bark and other debris he only needed sutures and a drain. The drain is called a Penrose drain, it is a hollow thin flexible silicone “straw” and is placed to allow fluid that builds up in certain wounds an escape route; they run down the outside of the tube and drip onto the floor.
If as in this case you can not pull all the muscle across to close the hollow all the way up there is a sort of open hidden space, tissue fluid would form in here and cause problems as it built up hence the penrose drain, then the fluid just causes problems on carpets.

Georgy Girl

Back in Tenerife at the rescue kennels, Georgy was a Berdino (Tenerife breed lightweight mastiff type) At some point she had escaped from whoever owned her and was found walking along the road by some German tourists with her choke chain grown into her neck.

We cut out the choke chain with no muzzle on her, ok a recipe for disaster but l didn’t have any muzzles and a tape would have ended up where l wanted to work. So l took a chance on her behaviour as she had been up to that point. I was not let down, she just stood there. She was so sweet tempered with people and other animals it was amazing, l don’t think she knew what nasty was.
She had those horrid cropped ears a mutilation thankfully banned in the UK

Treatment was Synulox tablets (those good old pink antibiotics, the mainstay of the veterinary world), wound washing three times a day and wound powder too help keep off flies, the wound healed perfectly.
Even if it was in UK it is unlikely that a vet would have carried out surgery as the edges were granulating and starting to heal. It was the centre of the wounds where the collar was that was still open. And in situations like hers to quote Tony when l showed him the photos, time is a better healer than a scalpel.

I named her Georgy after the 60s song “Georgy Girl” by The Seekers as l felt the outside cropped ear tough dog look was unfair and it in the words of the song..."There's another Georgy deep inside"

Georgy was rehomed in Germany as were most of our dogs.

The damage was similar on both sides of the neck



The wound under her throat looked like some one had tried to slice her throat.

Bath Time Blues

A bath can be a relaxing thing for most of us. Unfortunately it can also be a very dangerous item to some animals if you like a hot bath. Usually cats but some dogs get very over excited and end up jumping into the bath or falling in by accident if they are sitting on the edge.

The abdomen and legs can get scald burns on. One of the worst l knew was a young Westie (West Highland White Terrier) who dived into the bath when he got over excited during play time, while the bath was being filled. No one had noticed that the cold water had not been turned on.

He had a lot of dressing changes on his legs and ended up trying to tear the dressings off and chew the other wounds so had to have a buster collar on. He was in for quite a long time, and for the first couple of days wouldn’t lie down. We put a cushion into his kennel to allow him to lower his head, so he could sleep sitting up. Only one fitted the bill perfectly for his size so that became his cushion.

I knew there had to be a better way to allow his body to relax and made one of my “contraptions”. A couple of bandages tied like slings and a towel across them. He was very scared to relax at first and it took some time for him to realise he could relax and not hurt. Once he did he had his first good sleep since he came in.

It was not perfect and did slide at times but even so l am pleased to report that it was a success. He seemed to enjoy being in “the sling” which although went under him the bandages supporting the sling went under the least damaged parts of him. As it was bandages they had thin pressure points which helped. It was just as well he enjoyed it as he was there for some time.

His legs and under his abdomen were raw in places.

Sleeping in the "sling"


Side view of the "sling" in use

Ferret Op

Ferrets you either like them or hate them. I happen to be in the like them camp. They can be smelly but so can a lot of things and they are generally sweet natured. They do not often bite but if they do then those teeth really do lock into their meal, and if it is your finger, their logic is simple, it was there, so obviously it was meant to be their meal.
Ferrets are very playful and can bend into amazing shapes, not to mention get through incredibly small holes.

Ferret Females are called “jills” if you are not going to breed them they should be spayed. If not mated they will remain in season. You can use a male ferret that has had a vasectomy to bring them out but spaying is a lot easier.
If they are left in season they may get infection via the vulva but that is of minor concern. The real danger is she will also continue to produce estrogen which will lead to bone marrow suppression and anaemia and finally death if left untreated.

Tonight we had a very worried owner turn up with her ferret, it had been spayed yesterday and the sharp little teeth had chewed through the sutures. This resulted in the incision opening up and a sloge of fat called omentum hanging out.
The owner, and most people mistake this for intestines. Luckily though animals that break sutures in their abdomen through chewing or other methods do not generally dump intestines out, although l have seen it happen but only a couple of times.
It is almost impossible to use a buster collar on a ferret, if they are going to get their stitches out then they are gonna do it and nothing anyone can do will stop them. In a dog or cat though, if you are given a buster collar, use it.

The owner needless to say was distraught; l calmed her, promised her that the little ferret would be fine it was not as bad as it looked (and no, it really wasn’t too bad) and left her filling in paperwork. I took the little maniac into the back.
She was most unhappy at being restrained especially as she was a meat eater and could smell blood and wanted a snack the fact it was herself was immaterial. One of the nurses tried to sort a buster collar so l could let go the writhing ferret but it was impossible to keep it on her so l held her, in every conceivable shape she was bending herself into.

She was given a GA as soon as all the paperwork was filled in and was thankfully soon sleeping peacefully. I had cramp in my hands. My main worry was the wriggle bot would decide my fingers smeared with blood were a snack and try to take a chunk out of me, to be fair she was very well behaved though.

Within half an hour everything was stitched back inside. This time she had sub-cut (under the surface hidden stitches) so that there was nothing to “worry” on and chew through, and a line of surgical glue was a final layer over the incision. The bruising on the incision site is due to her teeth chomping away and nails scrabbling. She was snuggled into a blanket, given a couple of “hot hands” (silicone gloves filled with hot water) and allowed to come round slowly till her reversal injection was due shortly after l left.

As you can see by her pre op photo l snapped, she is not worried and just wants to know what is going on and who is who. It took about 6 photos to get that one she was so wriggly, l had almost given up.

Hey Where Am l?


Asleep and about to be preped


Omentum Cleaned and Trimmed


All Hidden, Start Resuture


What Incision?


Recovery

Unknown Cause

I was called by the front desk to go and triage an injured lurcher in the car park. As l went out the dog was getting out of the car.
“It does not look to bad was my first thought”, l could see a red patch on his side. Mind you, as it was night, and l was not wearing my glasses so was blind as a bat.
The dog was yelping which as it is a lurcher and they and their kin greyhounds can be very wimpy did not concern me. Till l got a bit closer and then it was “ohhh boy not good”.

Apparently they had been out for a walk. Taffy* (*not his real name) running off a lead had come back somehow wounded. It was like someone had taken a knife and cut out an almost nice circle. There was no shredded flesh or anything, a total mystery.

I got the owners to sign in while l took Taffy out the back to get a vet to have a closer look and get some antibiotics, anti inflammatory and pain relief into him and for me to get a dressing over the wound.

The vet took one look winced and said to go ahead with the drugs l had drawn up on standby and dress the wound. I grabbed a passing auxiliary to help hold while l put a dressing on.

As soon as l started to dress the wound Taffy screamed the place down. I decided to see how he was when l had done and covered the wound. Taffy made it clear he was going to scream non stop.
The dressing was not tight. Pre wrap you could touch around the wound, he would just not tolerate a dressing so l undid all my nice neat belly wrap and we stared at each other.
Plan 2 I needed a cover till he was operated on later that night. I dug through the dressings draw awaiting inspiration.
2 large melolin inspired me. I taped them together to make a big “block”. Then a roll of elastoplast was stuck carefully down the sides of my block and pressed firmly over the wound. He looked unhappy but at least did not scream.

I picked up a buster collar to stop him getting to the wound but he freaked so we left the muzzle on him in case he tried to bite the wound/dressing. All seemed well and he was happy if such a word could be used to tolerate my temporary dressing.

Taffy was stitched up later that night after l had gone home. A lot of the skin just pulled back up, apparently it had flopped down. When awake you could not tell there was loose skin there. Once Taffy was under GA it pulled back, a bit tight but at least no major grafting or anything was needed. There was no abdominal wall rupture, another big worry. Although when he was awake there had been none to see. Taffy went home the next day.

The Rebar

Twas 2 nights before Christmas a couple of years ago, all was settling and nicely quiet. The dogs were in bed and the cats hunting mice.

Well not exactly. The bull mastiff decided that he would go for a pre bed yippee round the garden. The house was mid repairs and part of the garden held big 5ft+ re-bars. (reinforcing bars)
How Bruno succeeded in getting one through his thigh area no one knew but he was now in big trouble.
I had to go on the call out to sedate Bruno and give him a nice dose of pain relief and sedative, then help get him moved and back to the vets. I went with a now long gone driver called Sam.

When we got there Bruno was lying in his plastic dog bed in the kitchen. The leg sticking up in the air, supported on the bar. The owners were not kidding about the bar. Even though he appeared friendly, I passed the owners a muzzle to put on Bruno. With the way things were l did not want to go trying to upset him more, and I am too old for heroics. I drew up a dose of sedative and pain killer.

While this was going on and the drugs were taking effect there was a regular “thud” followed by digging then snarling and other fearsome noises coming from behind the locked door. This was their other bull mastiff who hated everyone. Apparently if she had got spiked then even the owners would have had problems handling her. And we would probably never have got a muzzle on so she could be sedated or handled. I guess there are some small mercies then, she was not the one spiked, and that sounded like a strong enough door to hold her away from us.

Sam wasn't really in the right job. He was scared stiff of all animals and was staring, like a rabbit caught in headlights, at the shaking door. I sent him out to dismantle all the cages in the back of the van. There was no way would we get Bruno and his bar in any of the cages, or in the back of the van with the cages up in it. The owners of Bruno were following us in their car and the cages were loaded in there.

Getting Bruno out of the kitchen to the van was not the easiest of jobs. First we had to get him out of his plastic bed, without causing him any more pain, he had had injections but even so it hurt. The bed was too wide to go through the door. We could not get him on the stretcher either as the bar was sticking out. Also he would have slid on the stretched as we would have had to tip it to get dog and bar through the door. In the end we got him on a blanket, sort of bending him around the doors and furniture in the tiny lounge.

Once he was loaded l sat in the back of the van to keep an eye on him, and try and support the leg to stop to much movement. This was not going to be fun l am prone to carsickness and was locked in the back of a smelly van. Bruno was very good with just the odd whimper if we hit a bump. It took what seemed like forever to get back and by then I was almost as green as Bruno felt.

The vet and l debated the fire brigade coming out and cutting the bar. We could not x-ray the leg to see where it went, due to the bars position. In the end the vet decided that he would try and pull it through slowly. If it was jammed then fire brigade would be called to cut it off, we would get our x-ray and take things from there.

That dog had to be the luckiest that night. The 5ft re-bar pulled smoothly out of the leg. On it’s way in, the bar hit no major blood vessels, no bones nothing, it just slid through the muscle like the proverbial “Hot knife through butter” and came out the same way. Bruno went home the next day.

Christmas First Aid

I thought l would get some Christmas hints up here so vet staff can have a quiet Christmas and hopefully save some unexpected costs for owners. It applies year round but Christmas is a time of many problems.

This is general advice we give out most nights however If at anytime you are worried always ring your vet. All vets in UK have to have a 24hr cover but some use an emergency service (especially over holidays) to cover for them so always ring your vet with a pen and paper handy and listen to what any message or person tells you to do.

If you are upset then get a friend or partner to do the phone work.

Never just turn up always notify your vet you are on the way down. They may have another place for out of hours emergencies or they may be about to operate and need to hold off for your arrival.

It helps also if you pre find a taxi service that will take you and your pet if you have been drinking you can ring them up instead of panicking at the last moment.

If your pet is on medication make sure you have enough to last the holiday period, especially if you are going away. Often it has to be ordered in by the vet and wholesalers have Christmas closures, so get in and order early.

Do not keep ringing your vet out of hours if your pet was admitted. Christmas is a very busy time for vets. There is usually only a skeleton staff on duty and they will ring you if needed.

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TOXIC

Some of the items to be worried about, especially about around Christmas.

Grapes, Sultanas, Raisins
Some dogs can eat grapes or sultanas or raisins with no problem, others can not. The reason is genetic – so just don’t risk it.

Chocolate (the darker the more toxic)
Only use pet chocolates this has theobromine removed.
Christmas trees often have chocolate and sweets hung on them be careful with pets trying to eat them.

Christmas Plants
Cover the water with live Xmas trees the water can be toxic if drunk.
Other Christmas plants may be toxic. If your pet eats any then ring the vets. They can always contact the poisons centre for clarification.

Do not give any medication (other than that prescribed for that pet with that problem at that point in time) unless you have been advised to as human preparations can be dangerous for animals.
Especially DON’T give cats paracetomol you WILL kill them. Do not give paracetomol to dogs unless the vet has told you can and how much to give.

Minor cuts and wounds wash the wound with a teaspoon of salt in a pint of warm water. Avoid human antiseptic solutions these can be toxic. If you are worried ring your vet. Be careful putting on bandages, often they are too tight and cause damage to the area applied, including loss of limbs.

If your pet has eaten anything it should not always ring your vet to check up if other treatment is needed even if it was vomited up. Not all will have come back up and supportive treatment may be needed.
In UK you can pre buy in some washing soda crystals and keep them some place handy and safe. Inform your vet you have them and ask if you can try those to make the dog vomit.
Only use these on dogs and after speaking to your vet, some items can cause problems when they are vomited back out.

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CHRISTMAS & BOXING DAY MEALS

Giving your pet a lovely big meal with the rest of the family meal can bring on the good old diarrhoea and vomiting. It is safer to mix a SMALL AMOUNT of food in with their normal meal if you must. Whacking a huge meal of strange food down is asking for problems.

If your or a friends pet is on a special diet i.e. pancreatitis, renal failure, diabetic etc do not feed anything but the prescription diet. Make sure that any friends and family also understand the importance of this. That little bit that can not hurt, may well result in your pet being admitted and needing treatment.

If your dog is an adult or generally over 8mths and gets diarrhoea, and you are pretty sure it was caused by the food you gave them. Stop all food for 24 hrs but make sure they have water. Slowly wean them onto plain boiled rice or scrambled egg or boiled chicken. (no seasoning just plain boiled) then if no more problems over a couple of days, back to their normal diet.

If it is a puppy or under 8mths then ring your vet.

If they vomited stop all by mouth, once they have stopped vomiting for at least 2 hours give very small amounts of water every so often. Too much will cause vomiting. If vomiting restarts stop fluids and call the vet. Water can irritate and cause vomiting, so if your pet has been vomiting do not think "oh this will wash his mouth out". It wont.

If you are worried, if there is blood, if it is coffee grains colour and or texture, or anything looks strange, if at any point, start, middle or end of the vomiting or diarrhoea episode you are worried, call your vet for advice.

If you have a large breed lab, GSD, setter etc dog (but not always large l have known small breeds to bloat) and it starts to retch but unable to vomit They may also appear to have a rounded tummy. Ring your vet tell them your dog has a possible bloat.
Bloat is FATAL and needs treating immediately.

For all ages of felines with vomiting or diarrhoea ring your vet. Do not withhold food/water from cats. Ring your vet for advice. Cats can not go without food for long because of the way their metabolism works. If your cat has not eaten for 12hrs it must see your vet.

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CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Lights can cause problems bite the sweets on Christmas trees and get cable in the mouth bite into it and bang.
Pets especially cats get tangled up playing with the lights cables and getting a shock.

Baubles may get crushed in the mouth by a pet thinking it is a ball. If a bauble is broken, bits of broken baubles may be pushed into feet.

Tinsel glittering can attract a pet especially a cat. They start licking it and it goes down the throat. Once inside it can get bunched and jammed, or cause a telescopic effect on the intestines.

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FITTING

Dim lights and turn off TV/radio do not try and comfort the pet. They are totally unaware of what is happening and often bite in a reflex action. They may also defecate or urinate again they are unaware they are doing it and have no control over themselves.

Wait till the pet stops it should last no more than about 2 mins. They can be disorientated when they come round and stagger into things this can go on for some time and is not unusual. They are also very clingy.

If it has one fit don’t go rushing to your vet. Unless there has been other illness over the last few days. Ring and discuss it with your vet.
Otherwise keep an eye on the dog and see if and when it has another fit (make a note of how long it lasts) ring your vet and see if you should take them down.

If the dog stops and goes back into a fit, or doesn’t come out of it notify your vet and go down.

Travelling in a car can bring on another fit which is why for the single fit dogs we advise keeping an eye on them and going to your vet after a few hrs. Dogs may fit once and never again.

In the car do not hold your pet put it in the back if it is a hatchback or estate car or back seat of it is a saloon as per earlier warnings.

If a cat has a fit then it should see the vet even if it is just one fit as they do not usually fit. Wait for a bit though to allow the animal to settle down unless it does not come out of the fit or goes straight back into one.

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PARTY and FIREWORK STRESS

An earlier blog contains a lot of advice. It applies to new and old pets (all species) with safe areas and locked doors.

And for fireworks this blog has advice.

Especially if your cat is a nervous type or has a history of not urinating they may stop urinating with all the stress of Christmas. This is more obvious if a litter tray is used, they strain a lot but nothing or just a few drops come out. The pet MUST see a vet, non urination can be FATAL.

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I am sure l have missed some info off this, it is just a basic guide. If in doubt about your pet speak to the vet.

Samurai Sword Attack

Animals are not immune from being attacked by humans. This little jack Russell was sleeping peacefully when someone tried to break into the house. He jumped up and tried to defend the family.

The family managed to bolt the door but the JRT ended up on the wrong side. The person did run away but not before he had attacked the game little protecter with a Samurai Sword.

He was lucky that there was only the head wound although l suspect that he received several kicks at the same time. It looks bad, a general anaesthetic clip, stitch and clean up and he trotted proudly out of the surgery the next day. Head held high, but l bet a mighty headache.

This was one of many animals mainly dogs l have seen over the years that have been attacked by people for all sorts of reasons. Including eating or messing up drug stashes, not liking the colour of the animal, the dog threw up in the house/car, it was noisy, it smelt, it bit them or their animal/child and many other reasons.

Others are rambling reasons. The strangest l have dealt with was a phone call from a female. She rambled on and on at fast speed about the …? she had locked in a basket. It? had screamed and screamed and now it? was quiet and her friend said it? was dead cause the eyes were staring and open. She did not mean to be cruel just felt it? Was better in the basket where they? Could not get to it?.

I had to cut her short and say “I am sorry but are you talking about a dog or cat or what?”

She said “l told you l have just come out of a mental institution l am schizophrenic it depends who l am as to what animal l have”.
I am afraid l gave up about here and told her l thought the animal was dead to contact RSPCA for help.

Jack Russell Terrier attacked with a Samurai sword. The fetching head bandage was just a temporary measure till he was stitched up.

A Quiet Night

It was a quiet night last night thankfully. Only about 15 inpatients including a couple of unstable glucose dogs on hourly bloods, oh joy. A few general ongoing medical cases, post ops, couple of RTA’s, an injured bunny and hamster. It was Lhasa Apso night about 5 of them in. The vet was to blame we reckon, he admitted he had been thinking there had not been many in lately, by the time he got in last night we had a full collection of them.
Oh and the computers were down and the computer company did not work on weekends, ok for a normal practice but not good news for a major 24hr veterinary hospital.

Had a lovely stray golden retriever in from an RTA, he was conscious enough after about 2 hours to check his reflexes. 3 of his feet felt nothing despite the vet squeezing had as possible with my forceps, the 4th foot had a slight twitch.
I suggested to the locum that we needed to get him onto the x-ray table and asked him to help me shift the dog, at about 44kg not light.

The locum vet was a semi regular but normally on consults. He not used to the inpatient side. With some injuries the vets had to call ongoing or end treatment as there is no owner to do it. If it is not fixable it is cruel to leave the patient suffering. The x-rays would hopefully give the information the vet needed to diagnose either way.

The second picture was the “finder” a compression fracture of one vertebra and along from that a total spinal fracture. Either were a death sentence, it was a no go for the poor lad and he was put down.
He looked like he had been well loved and somehow got out. The dog was not id chipped so no way of contacting anyone, hope the owner contacts the practice.

A cat was admitted with a terrible tongue ulcer, he had not eaten for at least 2 days other than the odd pick of food. By the time the vet had debrided the area it looked like half of the underneath of one side of the tongue was gone. I popped the cat back in his kennel.
Later l walked into cat ward as he recovered to stagger mode. He seemed very distressed. On a hunch l got a bowl of ad (very fine food especially good for tube feeding) sloshed it with water to make is even sloppier and the cat became a “Dyson vacuum” he surfaced every so often to take a breath and then slurp some more, when the bowl was empty he burped and fell asleep purring.
Que 1 happy vet one happy and vn, the big worry had been would he eat or need a tube placed for feeding, the question had been answered.

The photo was taken pre-debride.

The Rugby Tackle

It was 2am in the early hours when sensible people were asleep. I was checking inpatients and giving medications. The vet and 2nd (and only other duty nurse) were carrying out an operation on a German Shepherd for a ruptured spleen. Something that the breed is well known for once they reach about 8years old.

The doorbell rang and the auxiliary appeared down the back with a Weinerama that had sliced its leg open and was bleeding through his home made dressing. In fact the passage was a path of bloody footprints.

The dog had the wary eye that behoved us to be careful, the pearly white teeth that showed under the slowly raising lip also gave a strong clue.
I tied him up and asked her to print a quick consent form. I grabbed all we needed for a pressure dressing, had a quick dig through the muzzle bin till l found one that looked like it would fit, and got a drugs regime from the vet.

The auxiliary came back and we got the muzzle on (l shall call him Fang), and managed to lay Fang on his side on the floor, this gave us slightly better control over him. Anyway he was to big to get onto the table fighting against us. Fang may have lost a lot of blood but his temper had not run out with the blood.

The aux. had her hands full holding Fang down and as still as possible. l wrapped a quick tornique and took the owners dressing off. We ducked and avoided the spurt that shot up. It only added a bit more to the mess already on the floor and us, I got my dressing started.

By now we all looked we had bathed in red paint. I had almost done the first layer when fang decided he had had enough. Up came the 2 front legs, grabbed his muzzle and with a wrench it was off.
He sprang at the pair of us, l tripped over the bandages and went flying, his dressing came off and my tornique unclipped as the artery forceps twanged apart.
Teeth bared he headed for me on the floor but thankfully the aux. pulled off a tackle a rugby player would have been proud of. She flung herself onto him and he slid on the blood and fell over. I recovered and slammed the muzzle back, and made it even tighter.

Finally the leg was dressed with several firmly applied layers and he was given his drugs, and placed in a walk in kennel still muzzled.
The vet and other nurse appeared about 5 minutes later and made the smug comment that we made more mess with our simple cut leg, than they did removing a spleen.

I wish l removed the muzzle in revenge and made them get Fang out for his op to suture the wound.

The ungrateful beast went home the next day, after kennel guarding and doing his best to eat us. I was so glad that l was not going to be doing his op check and leg redressing.

Sticks and Stones

It was a warm day and the Lab’s owners took him for a walk. He was 18months old, about 35kg and a happy, bouncy dog.

The ball had been left at home so they found a stick, a nice bit of wood and ripped the rough bits off it. The husband teased the dog with the stick a couple of times to get him excited then threw it.
Off went the dog and a minute later was back, stick dropped and barking for more. The owner threw it again and it caught in a small bush, scarcely more than a twig.

That twig was enough to hold the stick slightly upright. When the dog bounded over he slammed into the stick mid bark. He would never bark or bound again. The stick rammed into the roof of his mouth and down his throat with his full weight behind it.

The owners were 5 minutes away in a local park and they pushed the dog straight into their van and to the vet’s. By the time he got there nothing could be done, he had almost bled out in the van.
The vet attempted to place a tracheotomy tube but the dog was to far gone and the damage to great.
His oesophagus (where food goes down) and trachea (tube to lungs) had been turned into an almost single channel. Even if he had not bled out, with his throat as it was he was past saving.

This happened, I never found out the dogs name, l placed the iv catheter and when that proved to be past use, l helped place him into a body bag.

*******DO NOT THROW STICKS THEY KILL.******

Forked Tongues and Buffets

I am up suffering indigestion. One of the drug companies held a CPD meeting at our place and had a pre talk buffet, most of the food was uneaten. Bliss for those of us on late shift we get the left overs. Trouble was l did my usual and overate and am now waiting for the antacids to kick in, so thought l may as well do something constructive and write.

Heart cat went home today with enough pills to keep him rattling.

The Siamese is out of the incubator it was needed for other patients. As his red blood cell count is rising, his temper is shortening.
He has won the battle of the litter tray, knew he would. We just keep piling the washing up. He and l have got on fine all day. True l have not needed to inject him that helped, and early evening we had a lovely chat and cuddle.
Tonight on change over l was explaining this to the night nurse while my fingers were resting through the kennel door on his bed.
Next thing l have 2 holes in my hand and am swapping glares at the cat who is looking arrogantly at me and the night nurse who is creased up laughing.

We had an op tonight on a cat that somehow bit his tongue and had a lovely fork in it. He had not eaten since yesterday so it needed a fix. A quick GA some suture material and surgical glue and the vet had made it almost as good as new. It is a bit crinkled and a piece had to be trimmed but hey, beggars can not be choosers and at least his good looks are not affected. By the time l left tonight his stomach was enjoying the return of food as sloppy AD (mushy convalescent food) slid down it.

The RTA dog is doing well. She had her femur repaired yesterday, the one side of her pelvis done today. The other side of the pelvis the vet will see how she does, it may be possible to get it settled with strict cage rest and no 3rd op.

The diabetic dog is still not settling on her glucose, it is swinging all over and things do not look good. She has other health problems that complicate it but the vets may win yet and get her home. Poor lass it is understandable why she is fed up of us with having to get so many drops of blood. It is yet another needle hole and to do that we have to muzzle her and she hates muzzles.

We have 2 sad strays in, neither are microchipped. We all had our usual snarl about "wish that people would microchip their pets and make sure that they have lodged the details. And if any of their phone numbers or addresses change they notify the chip company".
There is one thing worse than an animal that doesn't have a microchip, one that does and the details are out of date and we can not reunite the family.

One stray is an old dog, blind, senile and confused. He circles the walk-in kennel banging into walls and occasionally ramming the door when the rattle tells him it is not solid like the walls. We tried him in a small kennel but he became even more stressed in that.
He has eaten but not drunk just tripped over the water bowl and squelched through it. So he will be fed food mixed with water, to get round the drinking problem.
Trying to calm him doesn't work, we may as well not exist, and if we try and restrain him he gets snappy and even more distressed. Tonight we sedated him to settle him down and allow him some sleep.

The other stray is a lovely cat who has been in an RTA. She has a severely fractured pelvis, a fractured hock and deglove injury. She has eaten a bit and is heavily dosed with pain killers and antibiotics.

Both are in as short stay, end of days. If they are not claimed within a few days they will be put down on humane grounds.
With stray patients such as these it is veterinary discretion some are put to sleep immediately on humane grounds, others will stay a few days like these two but unless owners come forward they will be put down on humane grounds.
If they are not to badly injured and are young enough to rehome then they are "repaired" generally through the inhouse stray fund and either CPL or one of the rescue groups take them on.

Even if owners came forward they would probably be put down by the owners. The cat due to severity of the injuries and cost of repair. The dog because there is lots of puppies out there and it is senile. Yes it is a harsh judgement on my part but it is the reality of the situation.