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Every pet is brave in his\her own way, but a few, just go up and above. We are thus writing an introduction to their victory. A tribute to our pet's bravery.
Brave Rusty came to us after he had been attacked by another dog. He was in shock from the trauma and had sustained a broken jaw. After spending a night on fluids and hardcore pain relief we were able to take X-rays of Rusty’s head. Radiographs revealed not only 1, but 2 fractures to Rusty’s lower jaw! Not only had his jaw been broken through the symphysis connecting the left and right sides of his jaw but also through the corner of his jaw. To repair these fractures, we had to take a stepwise approach. Rusty had several rotten teeth that needed to be removed and a severe infection of the bone that needed to be resolved before the fractures could be repaired. We then called in the big guns. Dr Mark attempted to place a screw in the symphysis fracture to reconnect the left and right sides. A bone plate was placed along the length of the mandible to stabilise this fracture. Unfortunately, the bone plate fell out not only once, but twice! Repeat X-rays were performed. These Xrays showed that Rusty’s jaw was still broken down the middle with a small section of normal bone containing his canine tooth. The remainder of his jaw had dissolved and been replaced by rubbery scar tissue. Upon consultation with a specialist orthopaedic vet, we decided to remove Rusty’s entire jaw. Dr Kiri removed the remainder of the bone plate and screws. She then removed Rusty’s jaw from his lip and tongue musculature and sutured the deficit closed. Rusty has recovered well from his procedures and is now at home, eating up all the attention!
Poor Katie has had ear problems for a very VERY long time. She came to us at Kooringal after another Vet had tried to surgically fix her ear FOUR times. Katie had massive polyps growing in her ear canal that essentially caused her ear to fold into itself and completely blocked her ear canal. The polyps were full of wax and infection from being so large.
Super surgeon Dr Mark had to take drastic measures with this one. He removed the polyps from the surface of the ear pinna (the flappy bit on the outside). He then removed the remaining ear canal that was so inflamed the cartilage had turned into calcified bone! The incision was closed with lots of tiny stitches so that Katie’s floppy ear now sticks up straight.
Miss Katie is doing very well now and although she can’t hear from the repaired side, it doesn’t stop her going out on the town with her mum!
Mr Screama was poked in the eye by his housemate. Although the hole had closed over, Screama developed a severe corneal ulcer and pus in the anterior chamber of his eye. A corneal ulcer is when the first layer on the surface of the eye gets grazed and infected but in Screama’s case this ulcer was so deep there was only 1 layer of cells stopping it from rupturing!
Unfortunately, Screama only had one option; to have his eye removed. Dr Kiri performed the eye ablation by removing both of Scream’s eyelids and all of the tissue in between including his eyeball. She then placed a gauze swab in the remaining socket and sutured the eyelids together.
Screama is recovering nicely. We think Screama would be a great pirate. What do you think?
Little Major is one of our beautiful puppy preschool students. His mum noticed that he was very bloated and not eating after school and brought him to our emergency clinic. Vet nurse Martika took some Xrays showing a HUGE stomach with signs of a foreign body obstruction. This meant it was time for some emergency surgery!
Major was put on intravenous fluids and anesthetised for his procedure. Dr Kiri opened the abdomen and pulled the stomach out. She then made an incision into the stomach (called a gastrostomy) and removed big, unchewed chunks of boned steak. She then sutured the incision closed and zipped the abdomen back up.
Major was a little quiet for 24 hours but with some antibiotics and Gaviscon, he is now back to his naughty self!
Miss Kitty presented weak in the back legs and not able to walk which was caused by a faecal impaction which had resulted in blockage of the large bowel. X-rays and ultrasonography allowed us to determine that the underlying cause of the blockage was a soft tissue mass surrounding the bowel. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a strangulating lipoma, which put simply is a benign fatty tumour that was squeezing the bowel and preventing the faeces from moving through. The mass was surgically removed and weighed a total of 340g, which was about 5% of the cat's total body weight! This allowed her to be able to toilet normally and is now doing well.
Mammary gland carcinoma in a dog which has spread to the lymph nodes and organs of the abdomen and chest. Not only is it important to get your dog's desexed to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but it is also important to prevent mammary tumours. In female dogs desexed before their first heat, the risk of developing mammary tumours is 0.5%. If desexed after their first heat, their risk of mammary tumours increases to 8%. After their second heat, this risk climbs to approximately 25%! About half of all mammary tumours in dogs are malignant and can spread to other parts of the body. In cats, mammary tumours are less common but approximately 85% are malignant. If you notice any suspicious lumps around the nipples of your pets, please seek immediate advice from a veterinarian as delaying examination and the necessary treatment could be deadly.