Hi, I am in England, our dwarf hamster's cheek pouch has come out, I
took him to my local vets who had never seen or heard of this before,
they anesthetised him and put it back in (cost £60) on the way home it
came out again so straight back to the vets and told them a google
search revealed he needs a stitch in it, so they anesthetised him again
and put a single stitch in to hold it in place(cost £7) and told me it
was a desolving stitch usually user for cats & dogs and it would
take 10 weeks to desolve so I need to go back in 10 days to have it
removed ( cost£60) but in your opinion do you think it needs removing or
could it stay in until it desolves
Because I am afraid it may become detached again if the stitch is
removed so soon ? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated,
please could you reply ASAP, if possible, Regards Alan
REPLY BY DR SING K Y dated Dec 2, 2015
Just got your email. If it is stitched back, then leave it alone as the stitch will dissolve by itself as the vet has used absorbable stitches. If it comes out, get the vet, preferably a hamster-experienced vet, to remove it surgically.
Many licensed dog breeders in Singapore want a cheap and good vet. A Caesaean section any time of the day or night at $250 per dog. There was a vet who provided such services and sold vaccines to the breeders.
"I have been to a vet whose Caesarean produced 11 dead pups," he said. "The vet kept rubbing till the skin came off. Other vets produced groggy pups as they had given the dam sedatives. Some vets produced dead dam and pups. One older vet produced infected puppies."
I do not comment as there is no guarantee of 100% live puppies and dams in any Caesarean section. Every vet will encounter deaths on Caesarean section.
When there is a death, the breeder's perception is that the vet is inexperienced or incompetent. In Singapore, the vet is a generalist and so Caesarean section presents a daunting challenge for the new vet. The cost is not $250 per C-section as that is too low, but many breeders just want low cost. A cheap and good vet is hard to find.
This Corgi, first birth, was mated 57 days ago. But for the past 4 days, she stopped eating and became lethargic. The breeder forced fed but the dam deteriorated in health.
"Better give her an IV drip," the seasoned breeder said to me.
"She needs a calcium injection as well," Dr Daniel had operated on this breeder's dog some 2 weeks ago.
"At 57th day, it is too early for C-section," I said. "Now the temperature is 39.6C. Monitor the rectal temperature. It will drop from above 38.5 to below and then rise again. When this rise occurs, it is the right time to do elective C-section. For Chihuahuas, 58th day is OK for C-section without producing pre-mature stilborn pups."
The breeder's assistant, an energetic muscular young man did monitor the rectal temperature at 7 pm on the next day. It was 38.2 C. At 8 am, the Corgi delivered one pup. The breeder said: "It should be one pup every half to one hour, but 4 hours have passed and no pups came out! Better to do a Caesarean than wait and wait."
"The dam has uterine inertia," I said. "The uterus is full of pups, as many as 6. It does not contract anymore and the pups will die inside the womb if there is a delay of a few hours." This jargon meant nothing to the breeder.
Dr Daniel did a C-section handing the 7 quiet pups to the breeder. The pups were slightly distressed, hence they were quiet. The breeder did his own way of rubbing the puppy's neck, tying the umbilical cord and sucking off the lung mucus via a syringe case.
For me, I would have swung the pup to get the mucus out of the lungs but the breeder did not like this method, thinking it may cause brain damage.
DAM'S
Blood test
Total Protein low 46 (62-85)
Albumin 21 (28-35)
Globuin 25
A/G ratio 0.8 (0.6-1.1)
ALT 107 (<59 br="">AST 235 (<81 br="">
Calcium + Phosphorus OK odium Potassium Chloride lower than normal
Urea 21 (4.2-6.3)Hb 6.7 (12-18) RBC 2.8 (5.5-8.5), Total WCC 20.1 (6-17), Neutrophils 98.5% (60-70%) Absol 19.8 ( 3-11.5)
FOLLOW UP ON DEC 4, 2015 BY PHONE
"All 8 pups died," the breeder said. "The first-born by natural birth died today. The puppies were poisoned by the milk from the Dachsund who produced lots of milk!"
"How about the dam as you had let her nurse 4 puppies?"
"She produced no milk at all and so I foster out the puppies to the other dams that had given birth. This is the reason I don't call them puppies. Unless they survive the first 5 days, they are not puppies. Especially the chihuahuas. Still many things to learn in this world!"
The experienced breeder is not aware of:
1. Fading Puppy Syndrome and considered "poisonous milk" as the cause.
2. The dam was first-time mother and was very thin, anaemic and had bacterial infection (leucocytosis). This affected the immune status of the puppies.
The puppies were not crying loudly on C-section unlike those healthy ones. They had been affected by the dam's sickness and not eating for the past 4 days (53 rd to 57 th day of pregnancy).
3. No injectable anaesthesia was given and so the breeder cannot attribute to remaining drugs killing the puppies or making them dopey and not suckling.
What is the cause? Poisoning of the brain? The only history is that the owner had applied some herbal cream onto the right fore wrist to cure an open wound and the dog licked off the cream. This went on for 2 months. In the past 3 days, the dog developed the fine tremors of the body, esp. noticeable in the hind legs.
From puppyhood at around 3 months, this pug had folliculitis in the chin and face. Ear scratching.
Yesterday, the whole face, ears and neck were hyperpigmented black (video). Blood taken for allergy testing in the US.
Before I left for the Balkans Adventure
Tour on Nov 5, 2015, the owner had agreed to wait for his 4-month-old
female pug to pass out the screw and a large piece seen in the X-rays
done on Nov 5. Dr Daniel had offered him an option to wait for the pug
to pass out the 2 radio-dense foreign bodies and had prescribed Science
Diet W/D.
"Did your pug pass out the screw?" I asked today.
"She
passed out the squarish piece of glass which was about the size seen,
cloth pieces, stones and large seeds. But I did not see the screw in her
stools. I had emailed the images to Dr Daniel."
"Is she still active and has she diarrhoea?"
"She
is active and has been passing good solid stools since I feed her on
W/D," he said. "But yesterday, she passed loose stools in 7 places. I
had fed her cooked pork liver. So I will switch back to the W/D!"
HISTORY
Oct 10 2015. Dr daniel
Diarrhoea. No vomiting. Dr daniel
Foreidn bodies, poisoning. Adverse food reaction. Stoamach flu owing to boarding
Advised x rays. Declined
Oct 19 2015. Dr Sing
Mucus in stools passed 5x
Gas in intestines
No abd pain
Had diarrhoea on Oct 9. Medication Oct 12 to 16.
Nov 5 2015. Dr Daniel
Recurrent diarrhoea
Voniting. 3rd time
-XRay. 1 screw. 1 seed-like object
Canine WD.
Nov 22 2015
Follow
up. Not sure whether screw passed as dog had been boarded. Stools are
large when fed WD. Screw might have been embedded, the owner said. Also
worry about screw rusty
W board again and return next wk t x ray again
Nov 30, 2015
Owner
had to travel overseas again 4 days later. Will board the dog. Came for
X-rays. If the rusty screw is still in the gut, will operate today.
X-rays. No screw. He was happy but said that he had to spend so much money.
He had not wanted X-ray in the first instance and only did so on the 3rd episode when I insisted.
Dr
Daniel had advised wait and see. A few days later, the pug did pass out
a piece of glass and a large seed and other pieces of clothing but he
had not seen any screw.
He boarded the pug in a place
where she has fun playing with other dogs and has a daily outing. The
boarding kennel WhatsApp a video daily of the fun the pug had going out
and so retained his loyalty. He felt that the kennel would not separate
the stools in which the screw might be embedded and so did not ask the
operator.
"So how do you prevent your pug from swallowing everything?" I asked.
"I put her on a leash and pull her away when she wanted to eat anything inside the grass during exercise outdoors!"
The
pug had a great appetite as you can see from the fully distended
stomach in the X-rays on the 25th day after discovery of the screw.
In Oct 2015, I visited Hinthada, a thriving town in the Irradwaddy region. The benefactors were Drs Thin Thin Soe and Aung Thein Au. October is a donation month and alms were given to 2,700 monks as a tradition of the family of Dr Thin Thin Soe since her grandparents' started this process.
Early childhood pioneer Maria Montessori said "Play is the work of children". \
Instead of commercial toys, nature resources such as plants, sand, water and eco-shrimps make children learning more meaningful and fun. Parents are still concerned about academic work like worksheets. There is a new shift to play in pre-school education as studies have shown that children become more innovative and creative when left to experiment and play instead of being a vessel for filling up academic knowledge.
Eco shrimps appear to be most popular with some Singapore teachers in 2015. They are cheap and easy to maintain.
This 5-month-old labradoodle has hairy and infected ear canals. Ear hair plucking and cleaning of the ears must be done weekly by the owner or groomer. However, the puppy objected to ear cleaning and hair plucking by the groomer. The inside of the ears become ulcerated and infected, leading to very smelly ears. The owner sought veterinary treatment at Toa Payoh Vets Singapore.
There are 3 methods of treatment depending on the professional judgment of vets consulted.
METHOD 1. MEDICATED EAR DROPS. One inexpensive method by many vets is to prescribe medicated ear drops and the owner applies the drops at home regularly. I find this method, in this case of very smelly hairy ears, ineffective.
METHOD 2. EAR IRRIGATION. In Toa Payoh Vets, in such cases, the ear canals are irrigated to flush out the blood clots, bacteria and debri, after ear hair plucking.
This dog is sedated for this process. There is always the anaesthestic risk which deter many owners from accepting the second method. In healthy puppies and dogs, the risk is very low, but many owners do not want anaesthesia. So, the otitis externa get worse and become chronic.
METHOD 3. EAR SURGERY. A lateral ear canal resection surgery which opens up the vertical ear canal by removing the side wall. After surgery, the ear is well ventilated and able to drain any water owing to bathing of the dog. This leads to no more head shaking and smelly ears and no need to go for the dreaded (by the dog) painful ear hair plucking every 2-3 months by the groomer.
In this dog, the owner prefers METHOD 2. She maintains the ears and 7 months since the ear irrigation, as at Nov 25, 2015, I have not seen the dog again.
I visited the pet shop and saw bottles of 2 eco-shrimps/bottle selling at S$58. There were eco-shrimps and bigger bottles with eco-shrimps and snails, all miniatures. The shrimps were less than a year old and measure around 7 mm long while the snails were around 7 mm across. They do not need water changes, feeding and sunlight as they feed on the algae. They can live up to around 8 years and are mature at 4 years of age. Entirely maintenance free except occasionally to top up water.
"In January, I was selling these shrimps like hot cakes," Agnes said to me. "Many buyers had become lucky to have won 4-digit draws. So, if the buyer feels happy to buy the selected bottle of eco-shrimps, they can become rich by winning the 4-Ds draw." For a $10.00 bet (big), the winner must get any of the numbers in the draw from lst prize to starter. He will win $20,000. For a similar $10 bet (small), he must get the correct number from the top 3 prizes. His prize will be $30,000.
"Buying eco-shrimps will bring me wealth in 4-D sounds very much like sales talk," I said to Agnes, a pleasant fair lady. She laughed loudly.
"I won $20 for a $2 bet when the recent first batch arrived," she related her own luck. She had been selling eco-shrimps from the American suppliers from January to April when there was no stock for the next two months. Many teachers had purchased from her for educational purposes and that was why she sold them like hot cakes. She dared to take risk to introduce this new pet to Singapore and had been rewarded by the great demand. The other shopping malls were selling at a much higher price and few Singaporeans are aware of this new type of pet.
"What number did you pick to bet?" I asked.
"My van number. Some driver hit me from behind in June, along Braddell Road, turning into Raffles Institution. I was trembling and had whip lash. I still go for physiotherapy every week but I just do not feel well as before."
"Since you don't indulge in 4-D bets but now you had a personal experience (of being lucky to win the 4-D) on only one purchase, it must be true that eco-shrimps do bring good luck." In Singapore, you need good luck to win the 4-D. As Agnes does not indulge in 4-D bets, this win of 20X for her bet was considered very lucky. She was betting on the combination and so the payout would be small, at $100 for a $10 bet.
So, do eco-shrimps make you win 4-D? Anecdotal evidence from Agnes and many of her buyers seem to support this supposition.
Agnes was traumatised and had not received counselling after this first vehicle accident. It can be very stressful to be banged from the back when driving. She found she had green fingers as she planted sunflower seeds which grew well in her pot and spoke to the plants. "This is plant therapy," she smiled happily. She showed me the images in her smart phone. Then she gave me some sunflower seeds to grow. I am glad she has mostly recovered from the accident as she had to run her pet shop with one aunty helper only.
She told her Primary 3 student son to come to Toa Payoh Vets to work after 2 weeks of holidays.
"He is so young," I said. "Let him work in your shop more often than occasionally and he will be happier and more confident when he meets various customers."
Her educational philosophy is tell her 5 children not to aim for high marks in their studies. Just pass their examinations, not to get As. "This is what the government tells us," she said. "Do not stress the children and let them enjoy their childhood."
"So your children will not bother to study hard. After all, mummy said so. If the parents do that by telling the children that they only need to pass examinations and not excel," I said. "Will the local university accept students who have mediocre grades?"
