Pet Stories

Shadow's Story

Shadow is a young cat that went missing for 2 days and returned home severely lame on his hindlimbs. His owners brought him to the hospital concerned that he had been involved in an accident on the road. On examination he was painful around his pelvis and reluctant to move around. His claws were all scuffed which suggested he had been involved in a road accident. We immediately gave him some pain relief and took x rays to check for life threatening injuries with him awake. He was later anaesthetised and x rays of his pelvis revealed a separation of the pelvis from the spine called a sacro-iliac subluxation. It was decided to stabilise the pelvis with a screw to speed up Shadow’s recovery and to help reduce his discomfort. He has made a very good recovery and his mobility has improved greatly when he was last examined. We expect him to go on to make a full recovery from this unfortunate event. We still don’t know exactly what happened but a road accident seems most likely. Fortunately the owners never had to worry about the cost of his treatment because he was insured.

Sam's Story

We saw Sam in April 2006 for a nose bleed. Investigations fortunately showed no sinister causes and these resolved after treatment.  Sam then developed poor respiration and started to regurgitate his food. Radiographs showed that Sam had a condition called MEGAOESOPHAGOUS and PNEUMONIA.

Megaoesophagous is where the oesophagous (the tube that joins the mouth to the stomach) stops working properly and the food is not pushed into the stomach.  The food and saliva builds up and causes regurgitation.  Sam was obviously losing weight and had inhaled some of the food causing his pneumonia. 

Sam received 24-hour nursing care for 2 weeks, feeding from a height, steam inhalations and coupage (firm massage to loosen and remove fluid).  Sam has made a great recovery but still needs to be fed from a height and has occasional minor relapses which we are monitoring closely .

Sam is a great patient and a firm favourite with all the staff at Wood Street.

We saw Sam in April 2006 for a nose bleed. Investigations fortunately showed no sinister causes and these resolved after treatment.  Sam then developed poor respiration and started to regurgitate his food. Radiographs showed that Sam had a condition called MEGAOESOPHAGOUS and PNEUMONIA.Megaoesophagous is where the oesophagous (the tube that joins the mouth to the stomach) stops working properly and the food is not pushed into the stomach.  The food and saliva builds up and causes regurgitation.  Sam was obviously losing weight and had inhaled some of the food causing his pneumonia. Sam received 24-hour nursing care for 2 weeks, feeding from a height, steam inhalations and coupage (firm massage to loosen and remove fluid).  Sam has made a great recovery but still needs to be fed from a height and has occasional minor relapses which we are monitoring closely .Sam is a great patient and a firm favourite with all the staff at Wood Street.

 Hazel's Story

Hazel is a 14 year old collie that was rehomed from the RSPCA centre in Southridge  by her owners as a young dog. She has lived a long and healthy life until last year when things started to go wrong. Firstly Hazel developed a primary lung tumour which we removed via open chest surgery using a surgical stapling device to room the diseased part of her lung. She recovered well and still leads an active life. Then, 2 months later she developed a malignant melanoma in her mouth. Although this can be serious we removed it early and she is currently showing no apparent signs of problems after 9 months. We hope this year will be less unlucky for Hazel and her owners cherish every day with here.

 Sweep’s Story

Sweep is a one-year-old cat that we saw in Nov 2007. He had not been himself all day and seemed to be in a lot of discomfort.  On examination Sweep had an extremely large painful bladder and was very quiet and lethargic for such a young cat. He was admitted immediately as an emergency as his bladder was blocked.  Blood tests showed his kidney levels and potassium levels to be extremely elevated.  He was put on high rate fluids and anaesthetised as soon as possible.  We passed a catheter into his urethra to remove the blockage and empty his bladder.  A sample of his urine was examined under the microscope, which revealed masses of struvite crystals.  These can build up to form sludge or even stones, which can stop a cat being able to pass urine. This condition is an emergency and potentially life threatening if not treated in time.

Fortunately for Sweep after a couple of days in the hospital and some medication the catheter was removed. His kidney levels returned to normal showing no permanent damage and he was able to pass urine and go home to his family.  Sweep has to come and visit us now and then for a check up and he is on a long-term specific diet to stop the crystals returning.  He was a lovely little cat to treat one, of the most friendly and laid back cats we’ve seen at the hospital! 

Monty's Story

Monty is a 10-month-old labradoodle.  He came to the hospital during evening surgery in January 2008.  Monty had vomited 8 times during the day; he was starting to get dehydrated, had a painful abdomen and was feeling very sorry for himself.  Monty had a history of scavenging and eating stones.  He was admitted to the hospital for intravenous fluids to resolve his dehydration and a radiograph was taken of his abdomen.  A large stone seen here in the radiograph was present in his intestines causing a blockage.  Monty was taken straight to theatre as we were concerned that his bowel could perforate if the stone was not removed that night.  Monty’s abdomen was opened up and a 4cm stone was removed from part of his small intestine.

Monty was kept in the hospital and looked after by our nurses overnight to make sure he was comfortable and recovering well from his anaesthetic.  The following day Monty was much brighter and started to eat.  After 48 hours in the hospital Monty was allowed to go home.  He is recovering very well, the only problem being trying to keep him rested after his operation and away from any more stones!

Scarlett's Story

Scarlett had a traumatic start to life when her mother accidentally sat on her when she was born. She had to be resuscitated but thankfully pulled through, and when her owners saw her hiding in the back of the pen whilst all the other puppies were fighting for attention they knew she was the one for them.

Scarlett is now a lovely 11 year old Great Dane, but at the start of 2006 she was not herself and an ultrasound scan showed that she had a mass on her spleen. 

We did not know at the Hospital if the mass was benign or malignant but internal haemorrhage is always a large concern with splenic masses.

Last April we anaesthetised Scarlett and removed her spleen.  She sailed through the general anaesthetic and made a great recovery.  Fortunately the pathology came back as a benign splenic growth.

Sadly Scarlett passed away in April of 2007.  She will be sadly missed.

Penny's Story

Penny is a 6 year old west highland white terrier who was brought to us as a second opinion from another local veterinary practice. She had been violently sick and her owner thought she may have eaten a bone.

Examination and xrays did not show any bone in her abdomen (belly) but she was still unwell and we used endoscopy to look at the inside of her mouth, throat, and gut. This is a long flexible tube and camera system which let's us examine internal organs without surgery. Although in people this can sometimes be done conscious, or just using a sedative, in pets we must give a general anaesthetic to do this safely.

When we examined Penny's oesophagus (her gullet) we found a small piece of bone wedged near her heart.

We were able to remove this using the endoscope and instruments without the need for a very complex surgical procedure to open her chest to remove the bone.

After removal, there was a lot of inflammation and bleeding where the bone had been stuck and we were worried about possible future complications.

A further endoscopy a few weeks later showed that her oesophagus had healed really well, and Penny has never looked back and is very healthy indeed 6 months later!

Buddy's Story

Buddy is a gorgeous young male Briard dog whose loving owners rescued him from Battersea Dogs' Home.

They noticed that he had a urinary problem; he was dribbling urine & wetting all around the house.

We were suspicious that he might have a problem with his ureters, which carry the urine from the kidneys to the bladder. We used ultrasound and x-rays with contrast to confirm that this was the cause of his problems.

Buddy's problem was then surgically corrected and he has been a very happy boy ever since!