Sunday, December 8, 2013

1249. New YouTube Videos - urinary stones x2 and internship at toa payoh vets

Internship
http://youtu.be/VnukHRGkUfA




Pees blood yearly  -  Urine collection  Part 1
http://youtu.be/vKTU4_JckYc





Pees blood yearly - Overview of lab tests  Part 2
http://youtu.be/q9Ax4OzwMhs

Pees blood yearly - Urine test in Dec 2013  Part 3









1248. Transforming the small animal veterinary industry

Saturday Dec 7, 2013

On Saturdays, Dr Jason Teo takes over in the afternoon from me and sometimes we talk about the veterinary industry and sometimes we share ideas of clinic management.

There are around 60 small animal veterinary practices and so the caseload/practice is low while prices are undercut such that it is not possible to recover costs for some practices. "A top-end blood test machine costs $64,000. The test costs $150. There needs to be 427 tests to be done to cover the cost price of the machine. This works out to be around 1 test/day which is easily achieved in busy clinics. In some heartland clinics, there may be an average of 10 cases.day. The price-conscious pet owner does not want to pay for the tests and so there may be less than 3 blood tests/week as blood test costs add up to the total medical costs. The cost of the test kit rotor is $30 and so the vet is grossing $120 instead of $150. There is the maintenance cost of the machine as this is not free. My point is that the heartland pet customer will like to spend as little as possible on pet care, less than $100 per visit and will go elsewhere if the costs are higher. Blood tests and X-rays add to the costs and they do not want them.

"Intense competition is a fact of life," I told Dr Jason Teo that I had listened to the audio files of how a poor Italian immigrant became a powerful rich man in Europe. His son bought a almost bankrupt newspaper, "The National Enquirer" and made it very successful in the US by giving what the customer wants and not what the owner thinks that the customer should get. "At first, it published gory murders but later changed to positive inspiring family stories. He got the papers marketed in super markets. He paid journalists much more than the industry but would fire anyone whom he disliked."

In other words, he can transform the small animal veterinary industry if he knew how. "How about Dr Daniel doing it?" he asked me. "It needs money as this publisher suffered losses at the beginning. He does not make money immediately till later."          

Friday, December 6, 2013

1247. Locked jaw poodle, 15 months - Hyperplastic lymphoid polyps?

Developmental disturbances of the oral lymphoid tissue

1.  Hyplastic lymphoid polyps are composed entirely of lymphoid tissues. Can be found on the gingiva, buccal mucosa, tongue and floor of the mouth

These firm nodular masses are seen on the ventro-lateral sides of the posterior part of the tongue.

2. Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia are also firm nodular masses and found on the posterior part of the tongue at the dorso-ventral aspect. They are part of the lingual tonsil which is one of the largest oral lymphoid aggregate.







The reason for the young poodle locking his jaw is the intense pain due to ulcers below the tongue. What is the cure? Dr Daniel prescribed a repeat of the anti-inflammatory and antibiotics. The aged mother was happier that the dog's behaviour was better - more active and eats more. Not enough to eat normally.

INTERNSHIP
In this case, I asked the young lady to video while the tongue was elevated. "Take some images using the other setting, not directly from the video," I advised.
She ignored my advice as she could take images in the video mode. I would not do it.
To her surprise, her video clip of the underside of the tongue was not available as she had spent more than 60 seconds to video the action while I elevated the tongue. She videoed and took digital images in the video mode contra to my instructions. This is a common trait of the young interns and sometimes they do have better ways of working. But this time, her video clip was gone 99%!.
.
"It seems to be over-ridden," the slim 16-year-old little woman said.
"It is best to comply with instructions when working under a mentor," I said. "It is fortunate that I had personally videoed the underside of the tongue after you."

As there is more than one way of filming, she would open up the LCD screen and flip to the left side to film on manual mode. I would not flip it sideways but view directly as it is, positioned below the view finder.  I would use the viewfinder, set to Auto focus and see the right beam spotted on the subject's eye or spot. She would view the subject from the LCD and so could not get sharp focus on specific body parts.

I accept that the younger generation has minds of their own but many learn from mistakes and it is sometimes costly to the operations of the business letting them learn from mistakes, re-inventing the wheel when they could have sought advices from the oldies or spent time doing lots of research.   

The Schnauzer pees blood yearly



1246. Blood in the urine for the past 3 years



1245. Terrapin hibernates in Singapore?

Today, Dec 6, 2013, the mother came to take the terrapin home. The daughter who is a pre-school teacher had a list of questions.

"Just ask her to phone me if she has questions," I said. "Sometimes, the written questions get the wrong answers as she may be thinking of some situations and I have to write a detailed report like a Professor!"

"She researched the internet and thinks that the terrapin closed his eyes as he is hibernating."
"In Singapore, the climate is tropical. No terrapin can hibernate," I said as the mother laughed.

"The shell is cracked at one place," I said.
"The terrapin jumps when I change water, leading to cracks," she said.

"How to feed medication to the tertrapin?" she asked.
My assistant Niang showed her by pressing the nostrils of the hand-held terrapin. He opens his mouth.
"Repeat again," I said to Niang.
"Can't do it," he replied. "The head has withdrawn into the shell."
"Basically the causes are many. Dirty water, lack of Vitamin A, infections and management. The following is to be done for the next 7 days as the eyes have had opened according to my first video," I said to the mother.

"No sunshine from 9 am to 6 pm daily. It is too much. Surely, you will not want to be sunburnt for so many hours every day."
"How many hours? 4 hours?"
"That is good enough."
"The other tips are not to submerge this terrapin in water 24 hours. Just sufficient below mouth level for this period of time. Also, give a variety of brands of terrapin pellets, not just from one brand. Put eye drops once a day and take medication for 7 days. "

The terrapin went home with eye drops.

NOTE
The terrapin opened his eyes on Day 2 of hospitalisation and on Day 5 (yesterday) and Dr Daniel phoned the owner to take the terrapin home. However, today, the eyes are closed when the owner came, as you can see in this video!  It takes many days to get the eyes back to normal.

It takes as long as 2 weeks to get the eyes back to normal and some cases don't recover. As to the cause in this case, it is hard to say. Feeding one brand of commercial pellets which may be poorly processed may have led to Vit A deficiency. Best is to feed at least 2 reputable brands and provide good management.  

.

1243. A Schnauzer pass blood in the urine for the 3rd year. Owner does not want surgery

Dec 6, 2013

The Schnauzer dripped bloody urine on the consultation room floor for the 3rd year.
"Some antibiotics, no more blood in the urine," the owner in his 40s said.
"Since no X-rays were done in 2011 and 2012, it is best to take X-rays to confirm how many stones are in the bladder or in the kidneys as well," I advised. "I can palpate some small stones. The bladder is swollen like a small fishball."

The owner agreed to the X-rays. Last year, urine test results showed pH 6.0 and no crystals in the urine. The owner fed 12 cans of S/D diet and then went on to feed home-cooked and canned food. No "urinary problem" till today Dec 5, 2013.

"The dog's hind limbs tremble in the past 3 days," he said. "Maybe he has pain."
"Give the X-rays to the owner," I said to Dr Daniel. "So he knows what is happening to his dog although he does not want surgery!"  Education of the owner is important.

"X-rays shows intestinal stone too," Dr Daniel said to me.
There were two radio-opaque bladder stones. I suspect they are calcium oxalate stones as last year's urine test showed pH 6.0. It is not possible to diagnose the chemical composition of bladder stones based on X-rays.


1243. Review of 2 Videos: Surgery of a Roborovski with 2 large subcutaneous tumours at Toa Payoh Vets

Dec 6, 2013
I have progressed from producing lesser quality amateur videos using Windows Movie Maker to much better ones in 2013.  The narrative must be compelling so that viewers don't fall asleep or click off. Interns are left to create the videos with briefing and discussions with me. An entertaining script is important and interns find that very difficult to do as the Singapore schools teach them more on exposition type of writing (documentary) than on compelling story telling. 


Video 1 by Intern Clara Chua is at:
http://youtu.be/6aPEZO3isbs




The above video has been edited more thoroughly by Intern Clara and her friend who voiced over and so took a much longer time to produce. The fonts used are hard to read.  Much more instructive as it takes much effort and creativity from the two young ladies using Video Studio Ultimate X6. 

Video 2 has more raw footage with client-vet conversation is filmed by Intern Daniel Low at Toa Payoh Vets.
The video below is produced by Intern Daniel Low with Windows Movie Maker which is limited in features than the aforementioned Corel which is a commercial paid software.


http://2010vets.blogspot.sg/2013/12/1243-video-surgery-of-roborovski-with-2.html
URL of this blog is:


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

45. Two new warts

Singapore has reached a gracious level where hamsters are treated kindly by young people. The aging baby-boomers in Singapore generally view them as cheap pets and when they fall ill, good luck to them. After all, veterinary fees for treatment can buy a few new ones. But the children who are now growing up view hamsters as family members and sometimes, this lead to conflicts in the family since the parents ignore treatment.

Yesterday was a bright sunny Sunday. I was surprised to see the fat hamster again as I had operated some 2 months ago. My intern Tanya placed him in a bowl onto the weighing scale. The reading was 88 g. "Has he put on weight?" the couple in their 30s, asked me. To me, the hamster had looked less fat. So I had him weighed again as I noted that Tanya had put the weighing scale on a slope of the consultation table. The veterinary consultation table has a grove at the edge to drain off any urine or liquid, unlike the ordinary flat writing desk.

After placing the hamster on the flat part, the weighing scale read 76 g. "He has lost 5 g," I said. "But your dwarf hamster should eat less and weigh around 50-60 g." The tall man who is an IT professional said, "Whenever Hammie's cup is empty, my wife tops up with the Japanese hamster food. Hammie will just eat. He sleeps the whole day, but makes a lot of noise exercising in his wheel at night. Sometimes we have to put him in the kitchen as he is so noisy."

"Hamsters are nocturnal creatures," I explained. "They are active at night. You may have to oil the noisy exercise wheel. Your hamster should eat less. Reduce the amount of his feed bowl by 50%."

This time, the wife had conscientiously examined the hamster by feeling his body for warts and had discovered two hidden under the lush grey coat which was 5 mm long. One wart was 2mm x 2mm on his right side behind the rib cage and the other was 1 mm x 1 mm above his tail on his backside. They would not be spotted if the wife had not examined them.

I gave Zoletil anaesthesia and excised them with a pair of scissors. "Why not use the wart removal freezing method?" Tanya asked me. "There is no need to do it," I said. "The warts are very small." Tanya had not seen freezing of warts being done. The applicator to apply the freezing chemical is already 8 mm in thickness and it would freeze too large an area. Electro-surgery used previously was not necessary as the warts were very small. It was good to note that the other 4 warts (pictured here) did not recur.



In February 2010, four warts in the dwarf hamster were detected. Warts need to be excised by your vet early as they don't disappear on their own. Electro-surgery excised 4 warts. 2 new small warts were felt by the wife in April 2010 and I had them excised. They were well hidden in the thick coat.

IT people had more knowledge of useful software than the ordinary people and I asked the husband whether there is a software to help his wife in her hobby of cross-stitching. The wife is a home-maker and has done cross-stitching for friends, giving them as Christmas cards. Some friends order them just as some Singaporeans order home-made cakes. "Why will Singaporeans want to buy cross-stitching cards, half the size of A4 paper, for $20.00 from your wife?" I asked the husband as I know the majority of Singaporeans are penny pinching by nature. There is a business opportunity in cross-stitched Christmas Cards if the husband knows how to do it and if the wife can produce the high quality embroidery.

"How long does it take to produce one if your wife works full time at 8 hours per day?" I asked. "3 days," the wife estimated. "My eyes can focus after a while. And my fingers get painful." To take 24 hours to generate a $20 sale may not be worth the trouble for the wife's labour.

So, this handicraft can never be commercially successful unless the work is done by poor villagers. "Why do your friends want to buy the cross-stitched Christmas cards?" I asked the Indonesian couple again. "They can just send e-cards which can even talk or buy one card from the shop." The husband said, " Well, they send it to their bosses or put inside the hampers." This certainly make sense. If the boss receives a hand-made cross-stitched card, he will remember the employee as the card is not easy to make. "Is there a software to produce original patterns for embroidery? For example, portraits or even your hamster exercising on the wheel with the words, 'Eat less, exercise more'?". He does have the software which digitalises the picture. Well, his wife is still cross-stitching his landscape photo for the past one year and is still doing it.

There are many small business opportunities in handicrafts as you can see from this couple. "How about using your software to making cross-stitch patterns of famous people like Mr Lee Kuan Yew, get the work stitched by your wife," I asked. "Then you market them to tourists at the Integrated Resorts? Tourists like to buy a piece of the place they visit."

"No, no, we can't do it," the husband laughed as his booming voice filled the small consultation room. "Why?" I asked. "It is too sensitive. Maybe Sentosa's Universal Studios will sell well."

Brain-storming is important in getting business ideas. "How about the Merlion in Sentosa?" I asked. "Nobody likes it," the husband said. "When they take photos, they can only take the paws." The Merlion in Sentosa is a gigantic tall structure of 3 stories high.

The Indonesian couple told me that Jakarta has a business man who had several small branches for cross-stitching and other products. Apparently, the wife finds that the quality of cross-stitching work produced by the staff in this Jakarta business was not up to standard and so she could not buy them for sale in Singapore, as suggested by me. "They could be doing the cross-stitches not out of passion or they could be doing too many," I speculated. Even in a hobby such cross-stitching, there is the matter of quality control and excellence too.

For the benefit of readers, the husband gave me a website, http://cross-stitchers-club.com/

1240. Intern Clara - Produce video - A hamster with 3 gigantic chest tumours

Hook


Body


Conclusion
Early surgery saves lives




Video - Consultation & informed consent
MVI 6970.Mov






Be Kind To Pets Images at:
http://2010vets.blogspot.sg/2013/11/1212-video-dwarf-hamster-has-3-gigantic.html



Use these images for the Myanmar Vet Conference video prodution