Pet health and care advices for pet owners and vet students, photography tips, travel stories, advices for young people
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
1500. Dwarf hamster with corneal ulcer stained fluoresdein green
Left eye tearing. Has corneal ulcer as evident by the green fluroescein stain covering a vast area
Dwarf hamsters intensely dislike e-collars and will pull it off by hook or by crook!
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
1498. Myanmar stories: Advising a 37-year old father
Today I visited Khin Khin's office and met a 37-year-old Myanmar man who absented himself from work for 3 days at the vegetable wholesale market in Pasir Panjang. His agent was present. He had worked for around one month and wanted to go home. He had worked his first job at a car repossession shop taking images of re-possessed cars and being on overnight security duty but found the work too stressful as he dislike working with computers. So he quitted and got this job which required more manual work."
"I can't stand the boss," he said. "He shouts at me. I work from 6 pm to 3 pm the next day. I am very tired. I want to go home."
"The boss is an old man," the agent said. "Probably his children do not work with him and he is alone. He shouts as he may be busy and you would not hear him."
"Let him talk," I said to the agent as this man wanted to pour out his grievances. Life is not good for him.
"Do you have a wife and children in Yangon?" I asked.
"Yes," he said his wife worked as a phone operator and earned S$120 (6000 kyats) a month. He has a 9-year-old daughter.
"So, you prefer to go home and be jobless?" I know it is extremely difficult to find a job esp. for a 37-year old man. His fingers are rough from handling the boxes. He sends home S$700 a month.
"The most important thing is that the boss pays you at the end of the month. Did he do that?" I asked.
He nodded his head.
"Your daughter needs money to go to school. To buy pencils and books. Your $700 is a lot of help. So you want to go home and let your wife work?"
He seemed to reconsider. The boss had not sacked him because it is extremely hard to find replacement. Only the two Chinese Nationals seem to soldier on. "They need the money for their families at home," I said to this Myanmar man. "Otherwise, they would have left." The Chinese Nationals could communicate with the old man.
Before I left at 5.30 pm, I shook his hand and told him:
"Remember. You are a father first. A husband second. Don't think of yourself. There are dependents who need your money. When you stay on, you may find other better bosses and then you ask the agent to change jobs. Just like what my worker did. He worked for 2 years and when he got a better pay, he asked the agent quietly to apply for him the work pass! Be like him. Don't just quit when you are not happy. If you are back in Yangon, you can't go for interviews with better Singapore bosses and nobody will hire you."
Khin Khin's manager said: "Private companies don't like to hire ex-civil servants like him. They are hard to control."
He has decided to resume working.
"I can't stand the boss," he said. "He shouts at me. I work from 6 pm to 3 pm the next day. I am very tired. I want to go home."
"The boss is an old man," the agent said. "Probably his children do not work with him and he is alone. He shouts as he may be busy and you would not hear him."
"Let him talk," I said to the agent as this man wanted to pour out his grievances. Life is not good for him.
"Do you have a wife and children in Yangon?" I asked.
"Yes," he said his wife worked as a phone operator and earned S$120 (6000 kyats) a month. He has a 9-year-old daughter.
"So, you prefer to go home and be jobless?" I know it is extremely difficult to find a job esp. for a 37-year old man. His fingers are rough from handling the boxes. He sends home S$700 a month.
"The most important thing is that the boss pays you at the end of the month. Did he do that?" I asked.
He nodded his head.
"Your daughter needs money to go to school. To buy pencils and books. Your $700 is a lot of help. So you want to go home and let your wife work?"
He seemed to reconsider. The boss had not sacked him because it is extremely hard to find replacement. Only the two Chinese Nationals seem to soldier on. "They need the money for their families at home," I said to this Myanmar man. "Otherwise, they would have left." The Chinese Nationals could communicate with the old man.
Before I left at 5.30 pm, I shook his hand and told him:
"Remember. You are a father first. A husband second. Don't think of yourself. There are dependents who need your money. When you stay on, you may find other better bosses and then you ask the agent to change jobs. Just like what my worker did. He worked for 2 years and when he got a better pay, he asked the agent quietly to apply for him the work pass! Be like him. Don't just quit when you are not happy. If you are back in Yangon, you can't go for interviews with better Singapore bosses and nobody will hire you."
Khin Khin's manager said: "Private companies don't like to hire ex-civil servants like him. They are hard to control."
He has decided to resume working.
The old Jack Russell coughs "to get attention"
"Dogs seldom if ever coughs to get human attention," I said to the gentleman whose 9-year-old female Jack Russell has been coughing for the last 3-4 months.
"She coughs when awake but not when she's sleeping," he said.
"Could she be suffering from kennel cough?" he speculated.
"Unlikely as she had not been to boarding," I said. "Let me check the heart and lungs."
I used the stethoscope on the heart and lung areas. There were heart murmurs but the most notable sounds were wet swishing sounds called rales inside the lungs.
"Is she breathless after exercise?" I prescribed heart disease medications.
"Yes. How's the blood test results"
JUNE 30, 2013 BLOOD TEST RESULTS WERE "WHAT'S APP" TO HIM
SGOT/AST 96 (<81 p="">Urea 4.0 (4.2-6.3)
Creatinine 67 (89-177)
Platelets 91 (200-500)
"It is unusual to get platelets so low at 91," I said. Also, SGOT has increased to 96, indicating some liver inflammation or damage. "Did you feed Chinese drugs for the cough?"
"I fed the Chinese herbal cough medicine for one week," he said.
"Did it stop the coughing?"
"No," he said. I advised him to stop this Chinese medicine.
UPDATE ON JULY 2, 2013
I phoned at 7 pm to follow up.
"Is the dog still coughing?"
"Yes," he said. "But the cough is softer".
"Is she coughing a lot?"
"Once in a while."
The dog is much happier and so is the owner.
This case illustrates the danger of giving unknown Chinese herbal cough mixtures to dogs as the platelets have had dropped drastically due to toxaemia. Seldom do I get to see such low platelet count yet normal red and white blood cells in a coughing dog as most owners do not want blood test. But this dog was coughing 3-4 months and the blood test provides evidence of good health. Except for the low platelet count which would be lead to serious internal bleeding if the count drops much further as in people with dengue haemorrhagic shock syndrome which is fatal.
81>
"She coughs when awake but not when she's sleeping," he said.
"Could she be suffering from kennel cough?" he speculated.
"Unlikely as she had not been to boarding," I said. "Let me check the heart and lungs."
I used the stethoscope on the heart and lung areas. There were heart murmurs but the most notable sounds were wet swishing sounds called rales inside the lungs.
"Is she breathless after exercise?" I prescribed heart disease medications.
"Yes. How's the blood test results"
JUNE 30, 2013 BLOOD TEST RESULTS WERE "WHAT'S APP" TO HIM
SGOT/AST 96 (<81 p="">Urea 4.0 (4.2-6.3)
Creatinine 67 (89-177)
Platelets 91 (200-500)
"It is unusual to get platelets so low at 91," I said. Also, SGOT has increased to 96, indicating some liver inflammation or damage. "Did you feed Chinese drugs for the cough?"
"I fed the Chinese herbal cough medicine for one week," he said.
"Did it stop the coughing?"
"No," he said. I advised him to stop this Chinese medicine.
UPDATE ON JULY 2, 2013
I phoned at 7 pm to follow up.
"Is the dog still coughing?"
"Yes," he said. "But the cough is softer".
"Is she coughing a lot?"
"Once in a while."
The dog is much happier and so is the owner.
This case illustrates the danger of giving unknown Chinese herbal cough mixtures to dogs as the platelets have had dropped drastically due to toxaemia. Seldom do I get to see such low platelet count yet normal red and white blood cells in a coughing dog as most owners do not want blood test. But this dog was coughing 3-4 months and the blood test provides evidence of good health. Except for the low platelet count which would be lead to serious internal bleeding if the count drops much further as in people with dengue haemorrhagic shock syndrome which is fatal.
81>
1496. Update: Ventriculocordectomy - The barking Beagle
This morning, at 9 am, the lady owner phoned to enquire about the dog. "He ate his canned food and can go home," I said. "No running around for the next 10 days. Give medication."
1495. Adhesive peritonitis and closed pyometra - a rare case in a 13-year-old Pom
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1494. Case of the Dakota cat --- A 13-year-old cat's "excessive grooming"
"Excessive grooming," the young lady brought in a recumbent white cat, female, 13 years. "Not eating for the past 7 days."
The lower body of the cat was stained yellow with urine. This is not normal for any healthy cat. I felt an enlarged lump the size of a kidney or hairball in the anterior abdomen. She was very thin, severely dehydrated as her skin folds stood up but temperature was normal at 38.1C. I gave the cat an enema but no stools were passed. The cat got angry after that.
What was the problem?
"Kidney failure," Dr Daniel told me based on colourless watery urine passed out.
"The owner has agreed to a blood test," I said that the cat needed a drip. "But the cat is very angry and fierce."
"Give Zoletil 50I M," I said. "Take blood from the jugular vein and the drip."
This cat weighed only 2.5 kg. 0.2 ml Zoletil IM sedated the cat fully.
The blood test showed:
urea 46.8 (7.2-10.8), creatinine 532 (71-160), glucose 10.2 (3.9-6), total white cell count 23.8 (5.5 -19.5) but neutrophils was 78% and absolute was 18.56. Platelets were 149 (300-800).
Blood test is important in aiding the diagnosis of kidney failure and satisfying the owners. Practise evidence-based medicine whenever possible, even in ferocious cats where blood taking will never be tolerated. Use safe sedation.
In conclusion, the "excessive grooming" was due to the cat trying to clean her belly of urine. She could not stand and so stained her lower half. After treatment for one day, the cat was standing now and the two ladies were quite happy when they took her home in the evening on Day 2. However the cat needs to be on a special kidney diet.
The owner phoned me back. The cat would only eat dry food. She had pooped one hard stool. "Any hair inside the stool?" I asked.
"No," she said. So the hard abdominal lump could be this hard stool.
"Did you bathe the cat and wash away the urine stain in the lower body?" I asked.
She had bathed his lower part. The cat was eating and had been drinking a lot. Thirst confirmed kidney disease. I advised slowly changing to the dry feline k/d diet which is meant for bad kidneys. So far, there is no vomiting and we hope for the best.
The lower body of the cat was stained yellow with urine. This is not normal for any healthy cat. I felt an enlarged lump the size of a kidney or hairball in the anterior abdomen. She was very thin, severely dehydrated as her skin folds stood up but temperature was normal at 38.1C. I gave the cat an enema but no stools were passed. The cat got angry after that.
What was the problem?
"Kidney failure," Dr Daniel told me based on colourless watery urine passed out.
"The owner has agreed to a blood test," I said that the cat needed a drip. "But the cat is very angry and fierce."
"Give Zoletil 50I M," I said. "Take blood from the jugular vein and the drip."
This cat weighed only 2.5 kg. 0.2 ml Zoletil IM sedated the cat fully.
The blood test showed:
urea 46.8 (7.2-10.8), creatinine 532 (71-160), glucose 10.2 (3.9-6), total white cell count 23.8 (5.5 -19.5) but neutrophils was 78% and absolute was 18.56. Platelets were 149 (300-800).
Blood test is important in aiding the diagnosis of kidney failure and satisfying the owners. Practise evidence-based medicine whenever possible, even in ferocious cats where blood taking will never be tolerated. Use safe sedation.
In conclusion, the "excessive grooming" was due to the cat trying to clean her belly of urine. She could not stand and so stained her lower half. After treatment for one day, the cat was standing now and the two ladies were quite happy when they took her home in the evening on Day 2. However the cat needs to be on a special kidney diet.
The owner phoned me back. The cat would only eat dry food. She had pooped one hard stool. "Any hair inside the stool?" I asked.
"No," she said. So the hard abdominal lump could be this hard stool.
"Did you bathe the cat and wash away the urine stain in the lower body?" I asked.
She had bathed his lower part. The cat was eating and had been drinking a lot. Thirst confirmed kidney disease. I advised slowly changing to the dry feline k/d diet which is meant for bad kidneys. So far, there is no vomiting and we hope for the best.
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