BATTERY INGESTION

The chewed up battery was presented to me by the client together with the dog

Batteries will not power-up your dogs as compared to your remote control or other battery-run gadgets and appliances. Instead, they might suffer toxicity, muscosal and gastric burns- to a more severe note, gastric perforation and death.

It is our pet's nature to discover things around them. In contrast to us using our hands and other senses to discover things, dogs do use their mouth (by chewing), olfaction and sight. however, as owners, it is our responsibility to screen out things and even food that may cause problems to our pets, batteries being one of them. (You may also be familiar with my previous posts on rodenticides, needles, foreign objects, firecrackers and the like)

Discussing the components and the different types batteries can become too geeky and nerdy for this site and you may search for it somewhere.

Going back, batteries contain chemicals that may cause mucosal burns when in contact with the skin. Most dogs brought into the clinic that are suspected for battery ingestion may have oral burns and may have a recent history of chewing on a battery powered gadget. The owners may report a missing battery or will bring with them the chewed up battery. Doing a radiograph may reveal the location of the battery if swallowed.

If the incident happened very recently, emesis may be done, however it should only be done if the battery was swallowed whole without chewing especially button batteries. The leakage of the battery components and its contact with the mucosa may further cause chemical burns. In some cases, surgery may be warranted and in others, oral medications may work. However, It all depends on the case presented. If you knew you pet has ingested a battery, do not wait for several days as it may more be difficult to manage by this time and toxicity or poisoning may have occured.

Prevention is still better than cure. So be very careful with your things if you have a pet as you would be if there is a child in the house.

OVARIOHYSTERCTOMY

Uterus and ovaries of a cat that underwent ovariohysterectomy.
Note that this is not a normal uterus of a pregnant and a non pregnant cat.

I apparently forgot her name since this case was dated October 2008. However, this kitty came in for elective ovariohysterectomy or spaying. Her owner doesn't want her to get pregnant anymore since she is already old. Her one and only pregnancy was about 5 years ago and the owner was actually almost complaining of the monthly visitors = the tomcats looking for a mate and the kitty calling out for one.

Since her blood results were all normal, we then scheduled the next day for surgery.

During the surgery, i thought i was looking at a pregnant uterus, however, upon exteriorization, it does not appear to be normal at all. We then proceeded with the ligation and the cutting of the uterine horns with the ovaries and the uterine body.

Out of curiosity, I decided to open up the uterus to check what is inside. FLUIDS.

Ovariohysterectomy is usually done as an Animal Birth Control (ABC) measure. Aside from this, other reasons for ovariohysterectomy are prevention of mammary tumors, and ovarian and uterine neoplasia, treatment of choice for pyometra and metritis, and may be recommended for other conditions such as uterine cysts, torsion, uterine prolapse, endocrine abnormalities and dermatoses.

The cat went home after recovery and is in good condition.

BYE BYE BALLS

What the ...???

You are now staring at two testicles from a castrated cat.

Castration or orchiectomy is the surgical removal of the male gonads or testicles. This surgical procedure is done for both dogs and cats and is also performed in other species like rabbits, laboratory rats, goats, etc.

Most owners and enthusiasts have their pets castrated in order to prevent overpopulation (ABC=Animal Birth Control) and its possible effect on the male behavior, which is to decrease aggressiveness, marking of a territory by urination, roaming to look for a mate, and the like. However, castration is also beneficial to prevent and correct androgen-related diseases like prostatic diseases, perianal adenomas, and perianal hernias. Other than those mentioned, castration is also indicated for congenital abnormalities of the testicles, epididymis, neoplasia, abscesses, and trauma of the testicles, herniorrhaphy, scrotal urethrostomy, epilepsy control and control of endocrine abnormalities.

for further information regarding castration, ask your vet about it. ; D

REMINDER

Sales of firecrackers will increase in the days to come.
These firecrackers are readily available and anyone can get access to them.
Thus, firecracker poisoning may be a concern.
It is advised to check whatever you pet ingests especially when walked.
Please also educate your children or young siblings not to offer them to your pets.
Firecrackers can cause poisoning.
It's better to be cautious and avoid accidental ingestion.

If you are not comfortable with me as your veterinarian and do not trust my judgement, I think it's better to look for another veterinarian.

As a veterinarian, aside from the skills learned during college days and day to day training in the small animal practice, it is also important to develop people skills. You may see us talking to dogs and cats in order to calm them down during check ups but mostly, we are speaking with their owners and caretakers, explaining to them the different options for treatment, health management, vaccinations and other things necessary. That is called the client-veterinarian-pet relationship. this can further be simplified to the veterinarian-clent realtionship, client-pet relationship and the veterinarian-pet realtionship.

In order for these relationships to work properly, each individual should be able to communicate well, understand each other and respect one another. One must know their limitations and boundaries. In most cases, these relationships are going well. But if it becomes a roller-coaster ride, and the relationship gets bumpy, then you know there's something wrong.

Just like any other service, a client can choose their veterinarian and a veterinarian can choose whom to serve. Though as vetetinarians we have a noble duty to these dogs and cats (and other pets), their owners will still decide for them. Lucky are the pets with responsible owners. Thus, if a client is not satisfied with one veterinarian's service, he can go to another and another until he finds the one (and hopefully the pet is still alive by then). And us vets can decline to treat a patient if we think that the owners doesn't trust us, does not believe us and disrespects us.

Remembering Doodie (aka Phoozie)

She was known as Phoozie when she was presented at the clinic. Not eating, inactive and basically not herself.

She was diagnosed with chronic renal failure.

Checking Phoozie's real gender, it turns out that she is a castrated male, (a HE)!!! Yes, for the longest time that Phoozie was with his real owners, they didn't know that since they only got Phoozie from the streets and adopted his as thier own. Upon knowing this, they changed his name to Doodie.

For several weeks, Doodie was hospitalized and blood counts, chemistries and electrolytes were monitored. He got well eventually and this video is the first time he started eating again.

She went home a few days later.

Yet after a few months, since kidney disease continually progresses, she was back at the clinic.

After a few days, it was time to say goodbye.

Goodbye Doodie. We will always remember you as one of the good tempered and sweet siamese we cared for in the clinic with such loving and caring owners.

Remembering Yoji...

Warfarin rodenticide

I am not against rodenticides. I fact, these, can help control rodent overpopulation which can serve as vectors for communicable diseases and destroy household and work stuff. However, I am against irresposible usage of these products. These products are poisons and should be strategically placed to bait target species and not our beloved pets, especially dogs and cats.

FYI: Warfarin is also used as a medication, however, it may cause toxicity in large amounts.
Warfarin and warfarin-based rodenticides are not the only rat poisons available commercially but also zinc phosphide and bromethalin.

There are different ways employed to treat and decontaminate a patient that ingested warfarin-based rodenticide, so if your pet ingests one, immediately seek veterinary service and don't forget to bring with you the package of the poison.

Again, be a responsible pet owner. Dog proof your household.

Princess

One early morning, Princess, a female shih-tzu was taken to me. Apparently she was vomiting with decreased appetite on the day of presentation, feverish and unable to defecate about 4 days after surgery. She was subjected to a cesarian section from another clinic 4 days prior. The owner also noticed dehiscence of the wound area and decided to put a bandage around to prevent Princess from licking the area or further dehiscence. The area upon my inspection is wet and the sutures are slowly eating through the skin.
I took a radiograph to check for continuity of the abdominal muscle area. It seemed dehisced though i was doubtful since she was just subjected to surgery which means the area would still be cloudy, hazy and probably in diasrray due to healing and inflammatory reaction.

In the meantime, we stabilized her through fluids and medications and blood profiling was done revealing elevated wbc, slightly decreased rbc, normal kidney and liver functions. Cleaning of the area and changing the dressing was done to avoid contamination and further infection.

Further assesment and repair of the area should be done deemed necessary and a night after, we have a go signal.

Since the sutures were already cutting through the skin, I decided to first remove it and here's how it looks... (by the way she also has an umbilical hernia)

With the owner's consent, we prepared Princess for her surgical repair.
When we parted the skin and subcutis, we noticed a suture from which I am still unable too see where it came from. Aside from that, a fleshy material or organ is staring directly at me. At first i thought it was the subcutaneous fat but it wasn't.
It was the intestine! Thus this also means that the abdominal muscle sutures were also dehisced. Abdominal fluids were also seeping out. I am worried that infection can or could have entered the dehiscence.

Thankfully, the intestinal loop is still normal and vital. Careful examination of other organs was done and were replaced with care.

I decided to close the muscle only on that night leaving the subcutaneous area and skin open but with a wet-antibiotic treated bandage to keep the wound from infection.

After 24 hours, I was sure that there are no signs of infection on the outside, closure of the subcutis and skin was done.

Ten days later, Princess is back but for sutre removal only. See it on the next two pictures. one still with the suture and the next after removal.

You may also noticed that her left eye (she has no right eye due to trauma years ago) is cloudy. Antibiotic treatment plus cyclosporine was prescribed and positive change is noticed. Could be keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) but that's another story.

Roundworms!

THESE ARE NOT NOODLES!

These are roundworms.

Three cute little puppies defecated worms one Sunday morning at the clinic. Gross! Right! Though I am used these parasites all the way from parasitology class, I almost puked that morning- concerning that I already had a headache that same day.

Going back, wow! these puppies also have pets of their own. Well, actually they have parasites!!! Roundworms are one of the many parasites that can affect dogs and cats and also humans. Yup, you read it correctly: FYI roundworms can also affect us.

Basics: These roundworms can be trasmitted from dog to dog in different modes.
1. Feco-oral route: ingestion of feces with eggs.
2. Transplacental route: larvae migrate from the mother to the fetus while during pregnancy.
3. Transmammary/transcolostral: larvae migrate from the mother to the young through the milk.
4. Ingestion of transport hosts such as rodents.

Thus, regular deworming or pets is recommended at 3-6 months interval or actually depending on your pet's lifestyle and your veterinarian's recommendations. Pups can be dewormed starting at 3 weeks of age.

So, see to it you that if you have dogs, bring them to your vets.