Welcome To The Animal Health Centre Pets with Problems Page
Welcome To The Animal Health Centre Pets with Problems Page
Here you can find out about some recent pets with problems.
Spike is an 8-year-old male neuter domestic short hair cat and he was rushed into the Animal Health Centre in April after his owners found him collapsed on the moors that morning. Spike’s owners initially thought he had been hit by a car, although he had no external wounds. At the clinic Spike was collapsed and unconscious. His limbs were cold and his head and neck were tensely arched back. He also had constricted pupils and his limbs were twitching. His body temperature was well below normal.
Initial survey xrays showed no broken bones and we suspected poisoning. Organo phosphorus (OP) poisons are common and we treated him on this basis. His condition was complicated with hypothermia. This condition can be fatal and his owners were warned that his condition was very serious and he might not pull through.
OP compounds are common active ingredients in household and agricultural insecticide
products and are fairly freely available. However we will never know how Spike
came across them, or whether he had ingested them or had come into skin contact
with them.
Spike was treated with drugs to counteract the OP, given muscle relaxants and supported with intravenous fluids and warmth. He responded to treatment slowly over the following few hours. Once his temperature had returned to normal he was bathed to remove any potential poison from his skin. By the same evening Spike was much more alert and able to lift his head.
Treatment was continued during the night and by morning Spike was moving about like a new cat, vocal, affectionate and starving hungry! Blood tests revealed that his liver and kidneys had not been damaged and there should be no lasting effects. He was sent home that morning 24 hours after admission and his owners were warned that he may have a permanent occasional head twitch.
Spike was seen 2 days later and was completely back to normal and remains a fit healthy cat.
1) The Animal Health Centre's Tale:
Ellie, 7 year old, female, standard dachshund, was brought in to the surgery in January and she was not a happy dog. She was finding it difficult to get comfortable, certain movements caused her pain and she had lost some of her normal reflexes. We diagnosed a back problem and she went home with pain relief and instructions to rest.
However, things got worse
and 2 days later Ellie was unable to move with a complete loss of function
and partial paralysis of her hind limbs. This is not good news with dachshunds
and we thought the worst. Paul and Sarah from
the Guisborough surgery went out in the Animal Health Centre ambulance to
bring Ellie back to the surgery for xrays and treatment.
Xrays showed problems in her mid back with signs of degenerative joint disease between her vertebral bones. This was causing pressure on her spinal cord preventing her back legs from working properly. This can be treated in a number of ways but a good outcome is never certain. An operation to decompress the spine is high risk with no guarantees and we elected to treat her more conservatively with strict rest and strong anti inflammatory drugs at home.
Paul Spellman was not
hopeful but Ellie and her "Mum" were not going to give up and Ellie
went home to be rested in her own little den. And didn't she do well ? She
certainly did ! Within two days she had normal bowel and
bladder control and within a week she had recovered some mobility. This recovery
was sustained and by then end of February she was virtually back to normal
Thus, so far so good but
this condition will always be present and major symptoms could return. Ellie
is on a Doggy Weight Watchers Plan to reduce the strains on her back and we
are hoping that her strength of character and
the support of her "Mum" will pull her through to a ripe old age
without any further problems.
2) Ellie's Side of the Story:
"I should like to thank all of you who have been enquiring after my welfare during the past few weeks. I am much better now and can run about the lawn once more and chase any intruders out of the garden.
My story started a few weeks ago when I suddenly found that I could not use my back legs. I could see my mam was worried and I really tried to move them but it was impossible. I couldn't even drag them behind me using my front paws to pull myself along. My mam sent for somebody called the vet who came to the house and took me to a place called his surgery. I wasn't very happy staying there overnight without my mam but the vet and the nurse were very kind. I discovered when I awoke that I had had something called an Xray which apparently proved that I had a compressed disc in my spine. Complete bed rest was the order of the day with my mam waiting on me. The problem was how to facilitate for those bodily functions which all dogs know must take place outside. My mam couldn't lift me as I had put on a bit of weight since Christmas. Well we've all done that haven't we? The vet showed my mam how to help me with this problem for which I was very relieved in more ways than one. There was talk in my family of an operation, of wheels which could be attached to my back end and other solutions to my predicament which all inspired me to do my best to recover as quickly as possible.
As the days went by I felt I could try to move from bed to bed (My mam had put two beds facing each other in a corner for me) then one day I took a little walk into the kitchen to get my breakfast. My mam was delighted and when the vet came that afternoon she told him about my progress which continued over the next few weeks. Well there was no more talk of operations or the ignominy of wheels on my back end. I now feel much better and I'm thankful to be able to eat, run about the lawn, wag my tail and enjoy my life.
So I want to thank you all for thinking about me and I want to ask you to say a prayer for all the animals in the world who are sick and who are not properly looked after as people don't always pray for animals although I've heard there are such things as 'Pet Services'
God bless you and all the animals in the world.
Love from Ellie"
Lassie is a three year old black and tan female terrier cross. Her owner was concerned that she seemed to be limping on one of her back legs. After examining Lassie she was found to have a loose kneecap which would slide in and out of its normal position causing her pain.
The treatment for this problem was surgery. Lassie had an operation which tightened the tissue around the knee joint so that the kneecap did not move from side to side each time she bent her leg.
She recovered well from the operation, but after several weeks she still refused to walk on the affected leg. This didn’t stop Lassie doing any of her best loved activities as she managed equally well on three legs as she did on four!
After some physiotherapy, and with regular swimming sessions at the hydrotherapy pool in Middlesbrough she is making excellent progress. She has been on a diet which she has not enjoyed very much but has lost half a kilogram in weight. This has made a big difference in reducing the pressure put onto her knee joints. It can take several months for a full recovery and we are pleased to say nearly three months on Lassie is well on the way to being 100% back to normal.
Molly Holden is a 5-year-old Golden Retriever. Mr Holden re-homed Molly in May 2002 from Retriever Rescue. At that time she weighed 44kg and was classified as obese (being 47% overweight). Weight loss was recommended prior to Molly's spay in order to reduce risk of anaesthetic and surgical complications.
Mr Holden and Molly set to their task with determination and after 8 months Molly was looking good at just under 30kg. Mr Holden and Molly had done this reduction following tried and tested methods - eating fewer calories and exercising more.
Thus Mr Holden had increased Molly's exercise routine from very little to regular daily exercise and fed her on a commercially available light diet at a daily amount slightly less than the guidelines for her weight. Molly lost about 1.5kg each month (a total almost 13kg over 8 months) and after 8 months she had become a nice slim retriever of ideal size and weight for elective surgery.
After reaching her target weight in January 2003, Molly was spayed, recovered uneventfully and is living an active and happy life with regular weight checks to keep up the good work.
Zeta is a little dog with a big appetite - for socks! She is a 20-month-old Dachshund and she came into the Animal Health Centre before Christmas after having vomited up a pop sock. We couldn't feel anything else in her abdomen and after treatment she seemed fine.
However, Zeta was sick again on Christmas day and spent Christmas with the 'on call' vets where she had x-rays and a Barium Meal instead of the more festive Christmas pudding. The Barium dye was retained in the stomach and thus an obstruction of some sort was suspected, with blood tests showing a secondary pancreatitis.
After Christmas she came back to the Animal Health Centre and another x-ray of a somewhat thinner Zeta showed an enlarged stomach despite her not having eaten. She went straight to surgery and lo and behold another pop sock was found and removed from her stomach. She may be small but she is a tough little cookie and recovery was uneventful. After a few days of a bland low fat diet she was back to her old self and appeared well on the way to recovery.
Follow up blood tests confirmed that her pancreatic function had also returned to normal and Zeta is now back on her normal diet and at a healthy body weight.
These were certainly the most expensive pop socks Zeta's owners had ever bought, but Zeta is insured and the bulk of her fees were covered by her Pet Plan insurance policy. Let us just hope she does not develop a taste for Wellington boots!
Jet is normally a very lively "over the top" labrador and came in for her booster vaccines and annual health check just before Christmas. All was not entirely well and she had lost a few kilos since her last weight check. Jet had always had a problem keeping her weight in check so weight loss with no changes in diet was a bit suspicious.
On examination her abdomen did feel rather more full than usual with a hint that there was something in there that shouldn't have been. Jet is 10 years old and these findings started ringing all sorts of alarm bells. Older dogs can suffer from liver cancer, splenic cancer, pancreatic cancer etc and these can have varying degrees of malignancy.
Jet was scheduled for blood tests and further investigations the following day. Her blood tests showed low protein levels and anaemia but otherwise organ function was normal. However, further examinations confirmed that she did have a mass in her abdomen and exploratory surgery was going to be needed. At this stage we had no way of knowing if the mass was liver or spleen and whether or not it was malignant. We suspected spleen, splenic abnormalities are not always malignant and our best chance was an exploratory operation to attempt to deal with what we found.
At surgery we found a massively enlarged splen which had ruptured in part leading to some loss of blood. Jet was infused with plasma and other fluids during surgery to maintain blood pressure, her spleen was removed and she made a good recovery from anaesthesia later that day. Even now we were not sure if the splenic mass was benign or malignant and samples were sent to an outside laboratory for a pathologist to report findings.
Jet made such a good recovery that she was sent home on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas at home and have her Christmas Dinner. We could do nothing further to influence the final outcome and just had to wait for our pathologist to get back to us. Results finally came back on New Years Eve and the mass we had removed was not malignant and the chances of Jet making a full and complete recovery were high.
Follow up blood samples a few weeks later showed that the anaemia had resolved completely and a few months later Jet was back to her "over the top" exuberant behaviour and was putting on weight.