2962. A 3-year-old guinea pig is restless and loses appetite - gastric & caecal bloat

Jun 22, 2016

The couple fed a better quality of guinea pig feed earlier but the pet shop had no stock to replenish. So, they bought a cheaper lower grade which had pellets. The guinea pig ignored the pellets. When the first brand had appeared, the couple bought it and fed the guinea pig around 4 days ago.

Yesterday, the guinea pig was not eating and tried to hide his head under the elevated feed tray hooked onto the side of the crate. He is an introverted type and would not want to play with the couple who used to play tug-of-war with the feed, by giving and taking back. He would have no such nonsense and refused to participate. He preferred to be home alone, inside his crate.

He demonstrated to me by scurrying up into the crate when I placed him after examination. He had painful cries when I palpated his bloated abdomen. I suggested an X-ray which showed two large gas-filled swellings - the stomach and caecum.

"Looks like GDV," Dr Daniel said. GDV = gastric dilatation and volvulus, seen in dogs. I thought it was bloat as in sheep being fed with high protein food. Sheep get swollen abdomen of  enterotoxaemia when fed a diet rich in grains but low in fibre, or are in poor bodily condition and infested with parasites.

This 3-year-old guinea pig is thin, BCS = 3 (lumbar vertebra palpable), had abdominal discomfort, refused to eat the harder hay and pellets of the older feed and was restless (excitable). He had loose stools but no diarrhoea.

  .

2961. Hernia mesh or not?

Jun 20, 2016


In Jan 19, 2015, the 9-year-old Maltese had a right perineal hernia repaired at Toa Payoh Vets. 
Neuter of the old dog would be done 1 month later in order to minimise risk of anaesthetic risk with combined hernia and neuter surgery.

The hernia recurred around August 2015 and the dog was neutered then. No hernial repair. I advised a hernia mesh as the hole is too big. 

No pain, no problem peeing and pooping. The dog was active and eating. This was the situation in August 2015 and now Jun 20, 2016.  Just no problem with a normal lifestyle. Except that the right perineal hernia is now 1.5 x the size of a golf ball (Video).

As the owner was worried about the pain for the dog on repair with the hernia mesh, I advised wait and see. I could not guarantee no pain and no infection on using the mesh. No vets can guarantee.  The dog was normal and not in pain. The main problem of skin infections in the back area was resolved with medication now. The anal sacs were expressed and some brown oil squirted out.

What is my recommendation? Since the dog's blood test show he was healthy and the heart was normal, I would advise the hernia mesh repair if he was my dog. The owner has to decide and wait till the hernia was double the size like a tennis ball or the dog had pain or difficulty in peeing and pooping.

VIDEO   

2960. An adopted 6-month-old poodle licks his front paws obsessively till they are wet

Tue Jun 21, 2016

"Is it normal for my poodle to lick his front paws till they are wet?" the young lady in her late 20s asked me over the phone yesterday and now she was present at Toa Payoh Vets. "He also licks the floor too!" This poodle was adopted 2 weeks ago.

"Was he licking his front paws when you adopted him?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "But not as frequently as the past few days. Till the front paws are wet with saliva!"

This poodle was extremely hyperactive and would not stay still. What was the cause of this abnormal behaviour and how to resolve it?  Is there a cure?

Was the poodle suffering from some itchiness in his front paws directly or indirectly? He had the following conditions:

1. Left and right upper canine teeth had not dropped off and stuck behind the fully erupted permanent ones.
2. Thick tufts of ear hairs with ear wax clogging the ear canals. Would he get painful and irritated and try to relieve his pain?

3. Swollen anal sacs which shot out dark yellowish brown anal sac oil with some smell.
4. Thick hairy paws with no signs of bleeding or inflammation after clipping away the hairs.

Under Zoletil 100 IV sedation at 0.2 ml, the puppy canines were extracted, the thick ear hairs plucked and ear canal irrigated and 4 paws clipped.

What other possible causes of his behaviour such as licking the floor?
I had no clue.
"Is the dog toilet-trained?" I asked, since he was 6 months old.
"No," the lady said. "Sometimes he did pee on the newspapers. At other times, he forgot."
"Did you confine him to a cage or small area?"
"No, no," the lady said. "My family members would not permit it."

So, this dog peed and pooped everywhere in the whole apartment. Could it be possible that he was trying to clean his paws after stepping on urine present all over the apartment? I suggested confinement for the next 4 weeks.

This is a strange case. If only poodles can talk.

VIDEO

2959. A cat is constipated and incontinent

Sat Jun 18, 2016

PATIENT:  TP 46680   Domestic short-haired, male, neutered, 6 years
Constipated for 2 months. Hard stools palpated.
Incontinent, leaking urine for 1 month
Vomits "hair balls" 4-5X/day

2958. A dedicated stray cat catcher in Singapore

Sat Jun 18, 2016

At 11.30 am, I met this woman in her late 40s,  wearing a CWS black T-shirt with the white words of "Trap, Neuter, Release, Manage. "  She has 3 years of almost daily experience of trapping the stray cats and sending to the vet for sterilisation. The cat feeders will pay her for the sending the cat to the vbet.  She shared her experiences.

CAT PSYCHOPLOGY
1. The traps come from the US. There are 2 types.
1.1  Long cage with food at the other end.  There is a long "tunnel" and many stray cats are cautious of the structure. The cat steps in and springs a trap door which closes down.
1.2  Shorter broader cage looking like a shelter with a transfer cage. These were present in her SUV which can accommodate 11 cat carriers.

"The trap door is at an angle on the top. So, the cat views it as a safe haven and enters the cage," she explained to me. "I will pull the rope to drop the trap door. "Must have good eyesight if your rope is very long and you are distant. There is a remote control but I don't trust it."


SMELL OF CAT FOOD
1. Good quality fish provided by some cat feeders. "The cat just will not eat it," she said. "The smellier the better and they are usually of lower quality and meant for stray cats. ."
"What brand you use?" I ask. 
"Aristocat. The bigger can. The cat just cannot resist it."

PERFORMANCE
1. 4-6 hours of work to trap 6-8 cats per day. The other stray cats get wiser and will not be caught.
"What to do then?" I saw that she was very busy with her passion of daily cat trapping although she has a job. 
"I come back another day."
"Will the cats be wary of you?" I asked.
"Cats are not so clever. They see the broad cage I use as a shelter and the strong smell of Aristocat will just be irresistible!"   

VET FEES
$30 to neuter a male and $60 for a female, excluding hospitalisation charges.
(CWS)

1.  "The CWS needs $20,00 per month to sterilise all the stray cats in Singapore," she said. "Cats can hide inside drains unlike the poor stray dogs and so there are many more every day." Her cat feeders pay for the vet fees.

I notice many fewer stray cats near coffeshops nowadays. I suspect that the government and the town councils and pest controllers have culled them by netting.  They are many hiding somewhere.

2957. A 1.5-year-old male entire cat cannot pee- perineal urethrostomy.

Jun 15, 2016

Vet 1 had hospitalised and catheterised this cat twice and told the owner to come back if the cat still cannot pee. But the owner went to another vet who referred to Vet 1 for operation. The cost of perineal urethrostomy would be $3,000 but the vet was not free. She phoned other vets but they would not do the operation citing much post-op complications and complaints.

She phoned me. My fees were lower and the owner brought the cat to me. He had enlarged kidneys and azotemia as evidenced by Vet 2's blood test. I did an X-ray which did not show bladder stones. A perineal urethrostomy was done. The cat was warded for 3 days and went home. N

FOLLOW UP ON JUL 4, 2016
No complaint

2956. Incredible personal stories - 4 Caesarean kittens return from death's door

Jun 15, 2016

Yesterday, at 6 pm. Dr Daniel had Caesarean section and delivered 4 kittens, said to be 67 days old by the owner. Their toe nails were white and 2 mm long and the coat was thick. The kittens were wrapped up in shrunkened oily waterbag and did not move at all.

The first of the 5 kittens was born naturally at around 6 am. The owner phoned a vet who quoted $200 to $500 for a C-Section, but when he came to the clinic, the vet said it would be $1,000. Some unpleasant conversations led to the vet telling the owner to get lost as he was deemed "abusive".  Hewent home.

He called Toa Payoh Vets at around 5 pm and that was how the C-section was done. 

I had performed over 200 C-sections, mainly in breeders' dogs and had encountered such a situation of oily waterbags and dead puppies due to long delays in seeking C-section. So, there was no chance of recovery. Water had filled up the lungs and the kittens could not breathe.

As witnessed by the intern, a Seconday 3 student from CHIJ, Ang Mo Kio, I swung the kittens, pinched their neck skin and cleared their mouth and nostrils  of mucus.  Lots of water came out from the lungs when I swung the kittens in an arc for around 5 times/kitten. .

For over 15 minutes, my intern and I stimulated the kittens. 2 had faint gasps of breaths every few seconds and were not moving. But the other 2 were "dead". The gasping kittens would not pass away over the next 5 minutes and so we continued rubbing them.

Judy the assistant, came out of the op room, after the dam was stitched up and would rub their chest back and forth as they lay sideways. 

"The one with gasping will live," Dr Daniel took over after he had stitched up the dam. Time would have been over 30 minutes by now. Only one gasping kitten's body was warm. The 3, including the occasional gasping kitten were cold. The 2 gasping kittens would not pass away. I put their mouth into mine and blew in air to inflate their lungs. Many vets feel squeamish about such a procedure but it would save lives if the lungs had been cleared of mucus by swinging the kitten in an arc and seeing the mucus dripped out. 

Dr Daniel and Judy used a hair dryer to warm the 4 kittens. It took some 10 minutes.  
of more rubbing. A drop of adrenaline injection SC.

It is hard to believe. The 4 kittens were moving. So I got a video done to prove it. However, there was no video done before that and so, it is up to the readers to believe or not my incredible feline story of 4 kittens returning from death's door.


FOLLOW UP ON JUN 29, 2016
1. The natural born kitten died on the second day.
2. As at Jun 29, 2016, 15 days after C-section, only 2 kittens survived. The dam did not have much milk.
One of the 2 kittens had a right eye infection and the owner treated it himself. He sent me an image:

2955. A 15-year-old female Westie vomits many times in past 3 days

One year can make a great difference to the dog's health
as in this case




Jun 3, 2015
Not eating, vomited 2X in past 3 days
Heat 2 weeks ago. Milk present in mammary tissues.
Now pee many times as if urinary incontinent, pollakiuria and dysutria.

No abdominal or bladder pain.
Cystitis +/- pyometra. Advised spay 4 weeks later.



----------------------------------------------------


Jun 12, 2016
Not eating, vomited many times in the past 3 days
Heat 2 months ago. 

Lower abdominal and bladder pain.
Cystitis. No pyometra as white cells not elevated.
strong uraemic breath smell
lethargic. IV drips. Urea is very high and creatinine overshot the high range.

 

















Affer IV drip 2 bottles and medication, no more foul uraemic breath. But not eatring. Looks brighter.  Went home to do dialysis at home.












CONCLUSION
Kidney failure due to old age likely. Or chronic cystitis. No regular checkup after Jun 2015 successful treatment. Urea and creatinine levels were normal one year ago. But urine was showing protein 2+, blood 4+, white blood cells over 900, bacteria 2+ one eyar ago. Urine pH 7.0, SG 1.007. Also no crystals at that time. So there was cystitis one year ago.

Would this female dog have better chance of survival if spayed at younger age as open pyometra with bacteria going to bladder and kidneys in the past year is possibly a cause of kidney failure.

1284. Update: An ear gangrene hamster and a ringworm hamster

TOA PAYOH VETS toapayohvets.com Date: 12 February, 2013 Focus: Small animals - dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs & rabbits The hamster has a gangrenous ear and swollen nose Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS First written: 10 February, 2013Date: 12 February, 2013 toapayohvets.com Be Kind To Pets Veterinary Education Project 2013-0131 Blog 1281. Feb 10, 2013. Chinese New Year. 10 am to 1 pm I opened the clinic for half a day on this Chinese New Year so that I could check on the sick animals, feed and clean up the kennels with my helper. My assistant Min had taken two days off and this would be his last month of work as he had another employer. Singapore is a developed country that is thriving and has low unemployment rates. This leads to employees job-hopping as a norm. The high rentals, manpower and operating costs are common nowadays resulting in businesses that can find difficulties in sustaining their operations. The vet must be hands-on as it is costly to employ more and more inexperienced staff who will job hop after a few months of experience. Other vets poach experienced staff and that is part of life and so loyalty of staff in Singapore is extremely rare in view of low employment rates. The phone did not ring throughout the morning of Chinese New Year. I reviewed the severely dehydrated hamster with the ear gangrene and large nose abscesses operated yesterday at 4.30 pm. 17 hours after surgery. Would she be alive? She was less than one year old but from her hagged appearance with leg skin folds raised due to dehydration, I thought she was very aged. "This hamster has very little chance of surviving anaesthesia and surgery as she is barely moving and is severely dehydrated," I told the young lady who brought in this hamster on the eve of Chinese New Year. I lifted up the skin fold from above the neck and the skin fold did not shrink back as is did not have water unlike normal hydrated skin. "You have two options," I said yesterday. "Euthanasia or surgery with a high possibility of death during or after surgery." The hamster was not eating or drinking as her upper lip was bursting with pus starting from the bridge of the nose towards the upper incisor teeth. In addition, two black gangrenous tumours filled up the right ear pinnae. "She is less than a year old," the young lady said and picked up her mobile phone to dial. "I will ask my mum what to do." This was the last case on the last day of the old Chinese year and I did not want to end the year with a death of a pet on the operating table. It was 4 pm and I would close at 5 pm to get ready for the reunion dinner at the Beng Tin Restaurant in Toa Payoh at 8 pm. The mum gave permission to operate. "Why didn't you get the ear tumours operated by your vet when they were small and not black and gangrenous?" I asked the young lady. "There is now a very high chance of this hamster dying on the operating table." The lady gave some reasons which related to a previous hamster having been sick and dying soon. "If there are bad news, can you phone us early in the morning on Chinese New Year?" "No news is good news," I dislike deaths on Chinese New Year and here, there was a very high risk patient that could not wait for surgery as she was downhill in her health, being scarcely awake. "I will give a 0.1 ml of dextrose saline under the skin now and operate soon." With a heavy heart, my assistant Min and I anaesthesized the hamster using 5% isoflurane gas inside a small plastic container. A few seconds of gas and the hamster was sleepy. I clamped a curved forceps on the right ear after ascertaining that the two gangrenous tumours were adhered to 80% of the ear pinnae and so there was no alternative but "amputate" the whole ear. After clamping for a few seconds, I sliced off the ear and unclamp the forceps. Surprisingly, there was no bleeding. My joy was short-lived as a large gush of red blood flowed as if a dam had burst. There was a 4-mm gap in the skin where the ear had been cut off and the blood vessels were hemorrhaging a few seconds after ear surgery. Speed was of the essence in this hamster as she would not survive too many bouts of gas anaesthesia. I incised the two large yellow abscesses above the bridge of the nose. Thick yellow pus seeped out. There was pus at the upper lip which was much swollen. The abscesses seemed to be only on the right side of the nose, as if the hamster had been scratching and scratching over the past weeks to get rid of her painful gangrenous ear tumours. In the process of traumatising the right side of the nose by scratching, bacteria attacked the inside of the skin and formed two big swollen abscesses. This infection spread to the upper lip and it eventually stopped the hamster from being able to eat and drink. Severe dehydration set in. After draining the abscesses, I decided to stitch up the ear wound and the abscesses with fine 6/0 sutures. The hamster was too weak to object. Two interrupted sutures closed up the ear wound and two closed up the nose wound. I cleaned up the red blood swamping the whole face and neck area. There was nothing more to be done as it is not possible to give an IV drip to such a small animal. A subcutaneous dextrose saline with baytril totalling 0.1 ml was given under the neck skin and I expected no hope of survival. So imagine my surprise that the hamster was still alive 17 hours after the surgery when I checked her on Chinese New Year. Not moving but alive. This was a very tough cookie. The water bottle had leaked and the hamster was wet. She had hopped onto the food bowl to avoid the damp litter. Water bottles for hamsters are of poor quality and I had changed several. I quickly dried the hamster and put her on dry towel tissues. I gave her the eye drops as her eyes were shut and the medication orally. 5950 - 5956. Ear gangrene February 11, 2013. Chinese New Year 2nd day. I opened the clinic from 10 am to 5 pm but I believed most vets closed for the 2nd day. Most Chinese pet owners would not seek out vets unless they had no choice as they would be busy visiting friends and relatives, exchanging Mandarin oranges and the single ones getting ang pows (red packets). Some vets would be on holidays overseas as they could take 3 days off and get 9 days of holidays as Chinese New Year's Eve started on a Saturday (February 9) and most employees would be off on the following Monday and Tuesday. One vet in Jurong West closed for 7 days and employees would be most happy with such good employers. A pet shop in Toa Payoh closed from February 8 to 15. There was no hunger or need to open during the Chinese New Year holidays for most businesses as employees must be kept happy or they work elsewhere. Back to the tough cookie hamster. She was seeping water from the new water bottle for some time. I could hear the "click, click, click" sounds as she put her less swollen upper lips to sip the water. I videoed her drinking from various positions. This was a good sign that the hamster was recovering well. Yet she seemed to take so many seeps. I checked the water bottle's nozzle. Was there any water coming out? The previous one was licking and this one seemed to be dry. I pressed the ball inside the nozzle and water seeped out onto my fore finger. There was water but there could be a temporary obstruction by the ball inside the nozzle. Finally the hamster had her drink. I phoned the young lady to take her hamster home. She was most happy that her hamster was still alive. "I have to go visiting relatives and friends," she said she would bring the hamster back on the next day. A dwarf hamster with generalised ringworm. On this February 11, 2013, the second day of Chinese New Year, there was another dwarf hamster patient to go home. He had come in to see me as he was scratching his armpits and shoulder bare of hair. I had given an anti-fungal wash some 4 weeks ago but the hamster was still scratching and so I hospitalised him for clipping and review as there was a ringworm infection. On Chinese New Year's eve in the morning, I went to Chinatown to buy the small hair clipper ($35 battery operated, made in China). The previous one was not well maintained with cleaning and oiling and had rusted. It is extremely difficult to get employees including associate vets to take good care of the tools of the trade and so scratches on the $7,000 operating table and damages to scopes and the electro surgical equipment were common when used by a particular associate vet and vet assistant. As they don't have to pay for repairs and replacement, why should they bother?I had this dwarf hamster clipped. He was very well taken care of because he was plump and had a very thick coat of several cm long. He was one and a half years old and he was more active than a 6-month-old dwarf hamster, zipping here and there inside my box. I had to sedate him to let my assistant clipped his thick coat as he would never permit the clipping. I videoed this clipping and the subsequent bathing by me to get rid of as much ringworm on the skin as possible. A few bald spots on his skin could be seen after clipping bald. The European couple loved him very much, especially the lady who could only communicate with me in English via her male friend. I prescribed some anti-fungal medication for 14 days in addition to the twice weekly baths of anti-ringworm solution. The European lady fed the hamster a white cloudy food like yogurt and the hamster licked greedily as if he had been in prison for a long time and deprived of his good food. "What is the food?" I asked. "Cheese," the male friend said. So this was one reason the hamster was so solid and had such a thick coat. Like a panda bear with a thick coat. "Do you know there are two warts on the right front and back toes of this hamster?" I asked the couple. "They would be viral warts and ought to be removed when they were much smaller. One of them is yellowish as if there is an abscess." "They were there for a long time," the man said. "Now, they are bigger, more than 3 mm in diameter for the front paw tumour," I said. "In time, they would be very big as the hamster licks them." "Will the hamster die if you remove them (under anaesthesia)?" the lady was most concerned. "No," I said. "But I would need to remove the whole digit now as they cover most of the digit." The lady was most distressed as she thought I meant the whole paw would be amputated. "Think about it," I said. The couple brought the hamster home today and gave me a box of chocolates as a present. Small warts on paws are easily removed but procrastination can lead to large warts necessitating the amputation of the whole digit or paw. As hamsters and people age, some tumours will recur in some of the population. Growing tumours which are not cancerous will take time to expand but it is best to get them excised early. The 2nd day of Chinese New Year had a few cases of vomiting and diarrhoea in cats and dogs. A dog's nose was cut by the mother's knife. A very sick vomiting old cat was requested to be euthanased. Another cat was suspected to be pregnant as the owner sought advice from Dr Daniel. The owner had told him that he was not happy with a vet who did not know how long is a cat's pregnancy. "It is not easy for a new vet to remember every gestation period of every animal," I said to Dr Daniel. Human medical doctors only need to remember how long it takes a woman to give birth. Vets are supposed to know every animal on earth. This was the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. I was most happy that two dwarf hamsters had their problems resolved and that I could deliver a service to the satisfaction of two owners, one from the eastern part of Singapore in Changi and the other one from the northern part of Singapore in Woodlands. Referrals come from successful outcomes and these are better than slick advertising strategies. Case written 6.13 am, Feb 12, 2013, 3rd day of Chinese New Year. Updates and follow up at webpage: http://www.sinpets.com/F6/20130211hamster_gangrene_ear_abscesses_nose_toapayohvets.htm Toa Payoh Vets Clinical Research

Copyright © Asiahomes All rights reserved. Revised: February 12, 2013 Toa Payoh Vets

2954. A 62nd pregnant Corgi had an elective Caesarean section

Jun 6, 2016  10 pm. Arrived from Yangon by Silk Air. Informed the breeder of Corgis I was back in Singapore. He had asked me to stand by for his Corgi dam, 62nd day pregnant on Jun 7, 2016 and he might want a C-section. 


Jun 7, 2016  9am
I operated on this 62nd-day Corgi as she had no labour contractions. She had 8 live pups 8 months ago, C-section by Dr Daniel. The pups were farmed out as she had no milk. All 8 pups passed away, according to the breeder.

In this C-section, I excised 1 cm away from the previous scar of the first C-section at the uterine body, I got 4 live pups out. The 3rd pup had a placenta wrapped around it and took some time to be taken out. The left uterine horn had 2 pups and appeared to have twisted as I had great difficulty milking out this 3rd pup (black and white).

Follow up: Jun 10, 2016 9 am
The 3rd and 4th pup had passed away. According to the breeder, the dam produced "toxic milk". He noticed too late the next day and farmed out the other 2 pups. They are still alive. "Even with my years of experience," the 80-year-old breeder lamented. "My judgment still cannot be perfect. When the dam has thick yellow milk, I should not let the newborn suckle. But it is difficult to know when to do it."

I introduced to him one lady who wanted to buy a Yorkshire with a full coat.

2953. A 16-year-old Shih Tzu has a painful swollen left eye - Pictures as prompts in writing a chapter of a story

In March 2010, I documented a surgical case to share with dog owners and vet students as part of my "BE KIND TO PETS" veterinary educational project.  At that time, I dared not use video, considering it to be a very time-consuming subject to do and upload as compared to posting images online. So I posted the above 3 pictures and never saw the dog again. The owner did not come for a follow up and this is to be expected.  Did his corneal ulcer heal?  Probably. Or the owner could have sought a second opinion as the outcome was bad.





In April 2016, I connected with this Shih Tzu after not seeing her for the last 6 years. The owners had sought emergency treatment for her bad left eye which was suddenly swollen. The vet advised removal of the eyeball but warned that this old dog might die under general anaesthesia. To do or not to do? The owners discharged the dog and brought her to see me. "You operated on the right eye and recorded the surgery," the lady in her late 20s said to me. I could not recall.  She retrieved the above 3 images for me. I was most surprised that I had even illustrated my operation procedures.


Did the operation produce an excellent outcome? Yes, as you can see the 2016 image below. No inflammation of the cornea or eye white. Just a brown circular spot of around 3 mm diameter where the deep corneal ulcer had existed and had healed. It was a descemetocoele treated surgically. "I did not return to you for stitch removal as you used dissolvable stitches," the young lady informed me.
"However, the left eye suffered a similar injury in 2010 and was treated by another vet. This vet prescribed just 2 types of eye drops. The eyeball seemed to have sprouted water outwards and sunk but had recovered its shape. Then another attack in 2013 and I applied eye drops twice daily for the past years.





   

A 8-year-old Chinese girl dislikes Chinese

Sat Apr 12  2016

It is extremely difficult for a 30- year old single mother to earn a living in Singapore.  She was the boss of a pet shop and had as many as 4 groomers at one time. She opened pet cafes in petrol kiosks.The landlord increases the rental during the boom if past 3 trs.

A 2-year-old female hamster has an irritating interdigital wart

April 14, 2016

Anaesthetic death is always a worry for the Thai lady owner and her husband. So, when she came to take back the hamster post-op, she snapped a picture from her handphone to show her husband that Spiky 2 had survived the anaesthesia.

Isoflurane gas + oxygen anaesthesia for a few times as it is hard to assess the depth of anaesthesia. The hamster reacted to the electrosurgery twice when I started cutting. So, she needs gas again. Finally, I managed to get out the wart which is friable and measured 3 mm across. See video.

The hamster has such a thick coat. On her right chest, there was a tumour around 1.3 cm across. To operate or not?

2950. A 7-year-old male Shih Tzu is totally blind

Mar 24, 2016

The male 7-year-old Shih Tzu is totally blind and now has a severely infected eyeball.
"Your vet said to put him to sleep," the owner told me.
"Are you sure? Dr Daniel will never suggest that. The dog is blind but is still active."
"Maybe it was my friend who suggested it as the dog is blind in both eyes."

He brought the dog in for eyeball removal since his 80-year-old father is against euthanasia.
Blood test showed high total white cell count at 22.6 (6-17) and high neutrophils 89% (60-70%) and high absolute numbers 21  (3-11.5).

Dr Daniel did the op, warded the dog for 2 days and gave medication. The dog is OK now. Blindness is surprising but the owner had not requested detailed check up.

A 40th day pregnant Corgi vomits twice and has no appetite - acute kidney failure

Mar 18  2016
I got a tel call at 8am from the breeder. The 2-year-old Corgi is heavily pregnant. Vomited once yesterday and today  yellow vomitus. No appetite. Why?

Blood test.
High blood urea and creatinine. Leucocytosis - a higher than normal number of total white cell count indicating a possible bacterial infection.

"Acute kidney failure," I gave the breeder the bad news. The sudden onset of uraemia causing vomiting led me to diagnose acute kidney failure in contrast to chronic kidney failure. 

"Why and how the Corgi suffers from kidney failure?" the breeder asked. "She is only 2 years old and this is her first litter."

"There are many causes," I explained. "Infections, dietary management, toxicity, kidney injury, kidney pressure on the ureters due to too many foetus (the Corgi was later found to have 10 foetuses). It is possible that there is a kidney infection based on leucocytosis."

I gave IV therapy and antibiotic. The IV therapy was continued at the farm for the next 3 days. The dog still vomited after drinking and had no appetite for the next 3 days.

Mar 20, 2016
The dog miscarriaged with 2 premature puppies born. I gave oxytocin as the others would be dead too. There were 10 puppies in total. Most of the 10 placentas came out the next day. The dam was more alert but had no appetite. "The IV drip for the next 3 days is critical. It is for dialysis to clear out the waste products of urea by the functioning glomerulus cells of the kideys to filter the toxic waste.  It provides the dextrose energy and fluid to prevent dehydration," I explained to the breeder. 

Mar 23, 2016
I phoned the breeder. He said that the dam started eating yesterday and is ok.  He was most happy. "Breeders will not be happy with the vet if the dam dies during Caesarean or treatment as they tend to blame the vet for being incompetent for achieving a poor outcome," I said.
"Well," he replied. "If the factory is shut down, there will be no production."
I had never thought of the dam as being a factory but this analogy is realistic.

2949. A red-eared slider does not have red ears - evidence

2947. First vaccination of 11 pups - one good image out of over 20

8.5x11 in 300 ppi    16.67% 31.5M/42.3M

8.5x11 in 300 ppi    16.67% 28.9M/32.9M


Bright sunny 9.30 am   Breeder's farm one day after vaccination of 11 puppies.
Puppies put inside a styroform box but difficult to get all to pose together.