A demanding dog breeder

Dog breeders in Singapore go for the cheapest vet and there will be new start ups that oblige. "It is better to have a case rather than have no business," this is the reality of life.

Yesterday was a Sunday. A dog breeder came in at 5pm saying that he had 4 pups born naturally from a Shih Tzu mated with a Poodle, producing "ugly crosses" that Singaporeans will not buy.

"I need an oxytocin injection for the dam. It is past 24 hours since the 4th pup was born. I could feel one pup still prsent"

I palpated a bony foetus, hard as a bone and said: "There is a pup in the right side, below the rib cage. The pup is dead as you had waited too long. Oxytocin injection may not help."

He insisted on the oxytocin injection. The dam contracted a bit and there was no puppy delivered after 30 minutes.

My first assistant was present. He told the breeder that a Caesarean section was necessary.

"I had an X-ray done at Vet 1," the breeder said. "Only 4 pups seen during the X-ray".

"Are you sure?" I had no X-ray from him since he did not bring it."Normally, at this late stage, you can see 5 foetal heads and skeletons."

I will describe the I/V anaesthesia in this case as Caesarean sections have had been written in many reports in www.toapayohvets. The black pup was smeared with dark green placenta melt-down. It was dead and stiff on taking out from the womb.


Domitor 0.1 ml. Then Zoletil 100 0.1 ml. Both were diluted with another 0.1 ml saline before IV injection via a drip line. Atropine 0.5 ml given. Dog was intubaed and given oxygen at high flow rate around 5 litres/sec.

CAESEAREAN SECTION
No pain problem. Towards the end, I increased the dosage of isoflurane for a brief few seconds. The dog woke up at the last stitch. The surgery took around 45 minutes and that was the duration of analgesia in this dam, weighting around 7kg.

The dam's tongue was initially pale but became normal pink at the completion of surgery.







ANAESTHESIA