1031. Sunday Jun 17, 12 interesting cases

Sunday Jun 17, 12

1. A Shih Tzu with the "decomposed corpse" smell

Yesterday was a Saturday. I came to the Surgery by bus and subway and reached at 9 am to help Mr Min and get feedback. Dr Vanessa was on duty to my surprise. A phone call came in and the owner said: "Are you Dr Sing?"

I said yes. "I want to send my Shih Tzu to the SPCA as I can't stand his decomposing smell anymore. 2 or 3 days after bathing, the odour of rotten flesh comes from his lower body. The top half of his body has no smell. I had consulted other vets and your vet (name given) 4 times but there is the same foul smell in the whole apartment. I prefer not to send him to the SPCA if you can resolve his body odour."

"Have I treated this dog before?" I asked.
"No," he said. I asked the owner to leave the dog overnight as I would be off duty. Then, on Sunday today, I had a good check up of this dog.

SIGNIFICANT FINDINGS
Shih Tzu, Male, Neutered, 8 years old, 8.2 kg.

1. Ventral part of the body has been shaved. It is inflamed and has some flakes. I smelled the ventral areea. A faint vinegar smell but no stinking rotten flesh smell.  When I told the owner about this, he said: "I had bathed the dog recently. But the whole bedroom will be full of rotten flesh smell after a few days."

2. Right anal sac was full of dark grey oily graunules. Left anal sac had some too. When I put the tissue paper with this oil, onto a table, outside the surgery for photography, at least two flies and one insect buzzed in excitely. No foul smell.

HISTORY AT TOA PAYOH VETS
Dec 09  skin problem
May 10  buy medicine for skin problem
Aug 10 buy medicine for skin problem
Oct 10  skin esp. ventral region.
Apr 11  skin, anal sac rupture
Jul 11  buy medicine for skin problem 
Jun 17, 12 Phoned Dr Sing. I told him to bring reports of another vet he saw "2 months ago" and to write what has happend to the dog during the past years.

HISTORY AT OTHER VET PRACTICE
Feb & Mar 12  Consulted another practice, according to reports presented by the owner.
Vomited and had bloody diarrhoea when he took 3 types of medication and so the owner stopped them.

LETTER FROM OWNER
The main point of the detailed letter is that the dog uses his hind legs to scratch the lower part of his body and makes some noise as if in pain. The foul smell comes after the first day of shower.

SIGNIFICANT FINDING TODAY
Ventral dermatitis with redness and scales. Ringworm +ve. Check for yeast.
Anal sac full of dark brown anal oil.