3154. A Silkie Terrier keeps licking her front paw - lick granuloma surgery

In most cases, the removal of the lick granuloma resolves the continuous paw licking problem.
Follow up with the owner is needed.

3153. A 4-year-old Spitz loves to eat. High total cholesterol

Sat May 12, 2018

Ref: 45856.  The mother and son brought the 4-year-old female spayed Spitz for the annual vaccination. The dog was overweight at 18.2 kg.  Her Body Condition Score 7/9.

The son bought pre-cooked food from  www.goodwoofsg.com.

"My Spitz just loves to eat this food," the son said. "The company is HSA certified.  I feed her 40g 2x per day. Now she is overweight!".  "It is best to do the health screening by a blood test," I advised. "The last was done last year."

BLOOD TEST FINDINGS
Total cholesterol  8.20 mmol/L  (3-6.6)
Triglycerides        1.19 mmol/L (0.33 - 3.27)

The mother was advised to feed a therapeutic diet called Hill's R/D. "Give 10% of total amount of food (pork + rice) per day during the first week, then increase to 15% and so on for the following weeks. Your dog will get used to the new food and will not reject it. Most owners feed 100% of R/D and give up when the dog rejects it, hence failing to reduce the weight."

Within 2 months, the Spitz had reduced weight.

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Ref 50424.  A 14-year-old male neutered Golden Retriever on the same day.  The eye skin area was bald due to eye rubbing on the floor.  Bad breath. However, the ears were clean as the owner had maintained them regularly.

The owner was worried as the dog kept sneezing and had coughing for 2 days. Possibly a kennel cough as the dog was not vaccinated. Her total cholesterol results are shown for comparison to the Spitz above.

BLOOD TEST FINDINGS
Total cholesterol  5.40 mmol/L  (3-6.6)
Triglycerides        0.98 mmol/L (0.33 - 3.27)

3152. A rabbit has malocclusion and broke his front teeth

Malocclusion. The teeth overgrow as they do not wear normally. The owner decides to get the front teeth extracted by Toa Payoh Vets.

Video. Pre-extraction anaesthesia

3151. A 2-year-7-month-old dwarf hamster has a lump on the lower body. To operate or not?

May 9, 2018

The young lady loved this dwarf hamster very much. She discovered a lump of 8 mm x 6 mm on the lower body on the left side of the belly.

"Last time, you said it is risky to anaesthesize the old hamster," she was very worried about the anaesthetic death.

"Anaesthesia is always risky and it is more risky now that the hamster is much older," I told her that the life span of the dwarf hamster is around 2.5 to 3 years.

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May 23, 2018

"I am surprised that your hamster did not bite off the stitches," I met the young lady owner who to get the stitches removed today. "He can't bite them off," she said. Fortunately, she had come early as I noticed a big 3-mm pimple on the upper eyelid of the left eye. "This pimple will grow bigger as it is a bacterial infection and the hamster rubs it daily," I advised lancing and drainage. There was still the big worry of anaesthetic death. She gave consent. The hamster fell asleep within 30 seconds of smelling anaesthetic gas given at 5%.  This hamster is very old, but he can still climb 3-levels up to his feeding area. "His weight is now 40 g compared to 43 g when I operated to remove his tumour 15 days ago."

"He passes a lot of big-sized stools and drinks more," the lady could not explain why there is weight loss. "Can he break sunflower seeds?" I asked. "No," he can't. So she will have to crush the sunflower seeds and feed him some daily to let him gain weight.

The lady showed a video of the hamster inside a white hamster bowl throwing out the seeds. "Use a flat plate for his seeds instead of a deep bowl, as some seeds may poke his eyelids causing pimples."

The hamster took some minutes to wake up from just 30 seconds of gas anaesthesia. Younger ones wake up within a second. So the vet must be vigilant during anaesthesia. A dead hamster is not good for his reputation.

       

Flashback to 15 days ago, the image did show a very small pimple on the upper eyelid

 Compare to May 23, 2018

All ended well. The young lady and her boyfriend are relieved and happy.

Bigger sized stools unlike those from other dwarf hamsters

Stitches are still present 15 days post op

Right eye looks OK but there is some rubbing

Scent gland is cleared. Stitches removed.

The hamster is aged but active. He is equivalent to 90 years old in human age

3150. A 3-year-old red-eared slider is eating less

May 7, 2018
Eating less. Owner wanted an X-ray to check for eggs. No eggs.

Aug 2017. 2 years old. Less appetite. X-rays show no eggs

Inappetance or eating less can be a sign of illness or egg impaction in female red-eared sliders. In this case, there are no eggs. Antibiotics for the next 7 days are prescribed.

3149. Medial patellar luxation without lameness - Spitz F 7 yrs X rays

March 2017 X-rays

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Dog is not hopping or lame. So, no surgery is advised.





April 2018 X-rays. Hind limbs shiver but not lame

3148. Myanmar Stories: Building a new primary school block and library in Myanmar

This Myanmar accountant in Singapore has an excellent volunteer who oversees building of a building in this primary school in a village. He would source for the cheapest timber and material for the building. Other contractors dislike him.

In 2011,  I met him and went with him to the village. He told me he had liver cancer.  He passed away later and there was no honest volunteer to help this accountant. He offered scholarships instead.  

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