1453. Myanmar travel stories - Rottweiler ate duck bones

Aug 14, 2014
Great Glory Hotel, Rm 107
greatgloryhotelmyanmar.com
New hotel, 21 rooms. Checked in last night after 12 midnight. Has wireless

Must be having the smallest TV screen of all new hotels. No CNN channel. Has one English movie channel, football channel and National Geographic.
Room rates US$70 lowest but no bath tub. Spacious room.  Has feedback form on table.


SURPRISE in Room 107.
The writing table has a wooden bar across such that I could not sit properly as my knees could not get in under the table. Very uncomfortable for typing.

No hot water for morning shower but water was not very cold.
Bath towel about 1/3 of standard hotel size. This is a surprise.
Shower leaks at junction spurting out water.

Visited Excellent Vet Hospital after dinner at Golden Duck.
Interesting

Visited Royal Asia Veterinary Surgery.
Case 1. Rottweiler, M, 6 months. Fed duck and chicken bones for at least 3 periods of time. Started vomiting for past 3 days. Very weak. Drank water, vomited. I saw reddish vomitus with water on the floor. What was the problem?

Gas anaesthesia. No sedation injections. IV drip.
Exporatory laparotomy by Dr Thein Tun Aung - dark red and thickened gastric mucosal folds. Parts have yellowish spots seen under the serosa. Some friable mucosal ulcerated areas. Swollen large intestines (transverse and descending colon) seen.

X-ray. Stomach with gas and what looked like duck bones.
Mucosal folds are enlarged but no intact duck neck vertebrae seen on exploratory laparotomy.

  
Dog stomach irrigated. Closed. Will dog survive after surgery?
"Hard to tell as the stomach was badly inflamed and ulcerated with thickened mucosal folds", I said to the concerned owners.

Case 2.
One year old Terrier neutered using closed pre-scrotal approach. 1/0 catgut used to ligate. 3/0 closed skin. Some bleeding seen from wound. Half hour later, scrotal swelling. Scrotum was bruised dark red due to dog licking.
"Any pain-killers given post-op?" I asked.
"No," the vet said.
"The dog had attacked the left side of the scrotum, causing dark red bruises on skin.   Best to check for bleeding."

Dr Aung sedated and gave gas by mask.
No ligature slippage.
"There must be blood as the scrotum is swollen," I said.
There were blood clots when Dr Aung expressed the scrotal bag. Was closed pre-scrotal method not good? He preferred open approach.  Or was it due to use of 1 catgut? Or dog licking?
"A few older male dogs will lick scrotum after neuter if no pain-killers are given," I commented from my experience. Tramadol was given and the dog was OK.

 

"Now, be good. You eat your dinner first. We will be late," the 76-year-old young-looking woman spoke over the phone. She spoke good English and was teaching 7 students English lessons in her home. So far 42 had been taught. This was more a hobby. Not a business. They practiced speaking English before going overseas for business. Lawyers, doctors etc.

"Were you talking to your husband?" I asked.
"That was my husband," she said. "He is god-sent."
The husband was 77 years old. The daughter who worked in Singapore for 8 years had returned to spend time with her parents. After all, no point going home when the parents are dying or dead and so she decided to go home. An extended family who cared very much for their dog.

She said RAVS is well renovated and well kept and that Yangon does not have such big clinics. That means good house-keeping.  I think the important thing is the experienced vet. Cases come in from other vets and midnight emergencies. It is actually too much for one vet. Will get burnt out with time.

A large variety of interesting cases everyday. Like distemper, parvovirus, fractures, artificial insemination in two English bulldogs.