Sunday, December 25, 2016

3001. A 4-month-old dwarf hamster has a "tumour".

Dec 24, 2016

Christmas Eve. Another year has passed.
The young lady's boyfriend had sent her a link to Toa Payoh Vets' hamster tumour page and she consulted me.

"Likely an abscess than a tumour," I palpated a painful lump near and below the right ear. "This is a very young dwarf hamster. Unlikely to develop tumour."











Anaesthesia by gas. Incise, drain and sent home after one hour's wait.

3000. A 20-year-old red-eared slider has lost appetite for over 2 weeks. Why?

Dec 24, 2016

A male and a female red-eared slider of 20 years of age are  housed together. The female has a voracious appetite and is bigger. They love meat like chicken and prawns and ignore vegetables and pellets. So they have been carnivorous for some years.

For over 2 weeks, the male eats much less and now does not eat. He used to bask on top of the female. He closed his right eye. Its eyelids have been swollen and reddish when I first saw him on Dec 23, 2016. The following images show much less swelling  has reduced some 50% after treatment but the terrapin is not active.

He was warded from Dec 23 to 26 for observation. When put to swim today (Day 2), he could float upright but does not move much. Nor did he poop.  His right eyelids are less swollen and red by 50%
after treatment with anti-inflam and antibiotic injection.















Eye pain can cause loss of appetite in the red-eared slider. The female had probably swiped him when he climbed on top of her to bask. He could have injured his own eye and kept rubbing it to relieve his itch.

Isolation from the female. Basking in sunlight for 2 hours daily. Clean water.  Introduce vegetables and fruits. 
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MORE IMAGES























Friday, December 23, 2016

A bearded collie has a large elbow haematoma

Dec 1, 2016.  22 days ago, the Bearded Collie had a big painful swelling above the right elbow. Vet 1 X-rayed and gave anti-flammatory which reduced the swelling considerably. 












Dec 23, 2016. 
But the owner discovered a growing swelling to the lateral side of the elbow. The dog appeared to have licked the right elbow area causing an elbow sore. He consulted Toa Payoh Vets and X-rays were taken. I palpated a soft firm swelling lateral and above the right elbow measuring around 6 cm x 6 cm x 5 cm.

I suspected it would be a haematoma based on the history of the sudden onset painful large swelling seen by Vet 1, a happy vet whom I communicated by phone on Dec 23, 2016. She remembered it was a caudal medial swelling from mid-humeral area to the elbow and gave the anti-inflammatory injection which worked effectively to reduce the swelling. 





Surgical exploration. I used a low dose Domitor + Ketamine 0.4 ml + 0.5 ml respectively IV and gave isoflurane gas. The 7-year-old dog weighed 33 kg

The swelling shot out dark red blood when I electro-incised over the swelling. There were no blood clots. There was a big "dead space" between the skin and the lateral side of the elbow where the blood had accumulated. I stitched up the "dead space" using interrupted absorbable 2/0 sutures. 

So, there was continuous bleeding since this Bearded Collie has been exercised twice a day daily causing rupture of some blood vessels, probably veins as the blood is dark blue. No blood clots but one broken tube looking like a vein was seen. A strange case.

The owner disagreed that the dog had a clotting disorder e.g. low platelets as he said the dog's wound heal easily in the past when bitten by other dogs. So there was no blood test done. 

I advised no more running around for one month to permit healing and clotting. But the owner said the dog needed to exercise before doing his business twice a day.

A very unsual case. Normally, the blood would have clotted and hardened or removed by the body cells. No reservoir of dark blue blood as a haematoma. My hypothesis is that the dog was too active after Vet 1 had given the anti-inflammatory as he felt no pain. So, there was no healing of the blood vessels near the elbow and blood vessels rupture forming a haematoma and some pain and lameness in this beloved dog.

2988. An 8-year-old cat had fits and salivation

Nov 30, 2016. Fits.













Follow up:
After 2 weeks on phenobarb 30mg at 1/4 tab twice a day, the cat has no seizures. To reduce dosage and see whether fits recur.