174. SUNDAY CASE. Hamster wart - what is the cause?

2 big brothers in their early 30s and one younger teenaged brother tanned and solid build e-mailed me a blurred picture. "Looks like a wart," I replied. Appointment by e-mail on today Sunday at 11 am. So they came. Sire hamster was 1.5 years old, the two sons were 1 year old. One had developed a wart but the other two were OK. All 3 in top shape weighting around 65 gm.

Took some pictures of the hamster with a wart.
"What's the cause of warts and should I use disinfectant to spray the cages?" the big brother asked me.
"Unknown causes," I said. " Disinfectants will not help stop wart formation. Warts are viral papillomas. They develop when the hamster's immune system is not normal. It could be due to stress with 3 male hamsters living together."

"He does not like bathing in the sand," the youngest brother said when I said that this hamster also suffered from ear infections with scabs and possibly small warts seen in the right ear canal opening. "He just went in and came out of the sand, unlike the sibling."


I need to anaesthesize the hamster, check for more warts and clean the ears. The hamter was warded for 2 days.




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CASE OF THE SPAYING OF STRAY CAT.
2.7 kg. Gave 0.15ml xylazine and 0.6 ml ketamine IM.
Insufficient analgesia if spay is delayed >20 minutes. Top up with isoflurane gas in gas mask to effect very effective. I was delayed by spaying a stray cat that was showing abdominal fat coming out of the midline incision

Surgery was started 10 minutes post injection, but
I asked Mr Saw to give some isoflurane gas. He checked the eyelids. "Cat does not need the gas," he advised. Being a cautious assistant. However, the omental gut spilled out of the midline incision. I said: "You need to give 30 seconds of isoflurane gas as I can't hook out the uterus. I can see the bladder."

"The bladder is full," Mr Saw said. I manually massaged the bladder and urine squirted out. After a few more seconds, I hooked out the left uterine horn. It was easy after that.


INTERESTING DOG OWNER FROM TAMPENIS
"I need to bring in my dog for vaccination," Mr Lee who had worked in watch rep;air in the last 30 years as a happy employee persuaded me to wait for him. "The Pasir Ris groomer called Sam said that I must vaccinate the dog first, otherwise it will be risky."

Pasir Ris is the place full of dog kennels and viruses. So the groomer Sam was careful that his client's dogs don't die of viral disease. "OK," I said. "I will wait." Busy watch repairer in his 50s. High end watches but prefer to be an employee. "Less headaches," he said to me. "I can take leave unlike boss who had to entertain a government lawyer yesterday."

I asked him about a fellow tenant in the famous Orchard shopping mall. "Avoid him at all cost," he said. "Those who said they make millions of dollars and dress up well are to to be avoided," he advised me.

"Your specialty in fixing broken watches is rare," I said. "There are few competitors."

"Around 16. Golden Mile has many. I can dissemble the watch for repair but don't know how to put them back again. My boss's son does that." His boss was the founder who is now 86 years old.

"You know, I find great difficulty communicating with your receptionist James."

"James is 75 years old, but he should speak slowly. It seems that his brain is not so good."





HEARING IMPAIRED YOUNG LADY IN HER EARLY 30S suddenly appeared with a rescued a kitten with a hole in the belly.
We wrote in English on a piece of paper. I could not understand sign language. She could write English and so we communicated this way.

"Can save?" she wrote on a piece of pager and on "hearing impaired in her case card.
"Yes," I said.
"Can live?"
"You have to feed her," I wrote.
"How?"
"I can buy a ilk bottle plus kitten milk from the pet shop."
"Goat's milk?" she penned.
"OK," I said.
She drew a syringe," I said "OK".
"You have to go to the library to read on how to feed every 4 hourly." She nodded her head.