Friday, December 6, 2013

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 "The head has withdrawn into the shell."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





   

1239. Social media in vet practice - hamster blogs - 18 blogs started in 2008. Results.


Inoperable tumours - massive chest tumours covering 50% of lower body. Deaths highly likely. No surgeries done as the hamster would lose much blood and die on the operating table. Medication to relieve pain and antibiotics. Owner is

http://2010vets.blogspot.sg/2013/11/1212-video-dwarf-hamster-has-3-gigantic.html
Produce a short video on this case study

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I started blog in 2008 under 88pups@gmail.com. Then in 2010, I started another blog at 99pups@gmail.com

2008. lst blog on hamster cases at:
http://singaporehamsters.blogspot.sg/2008/01/1-hamster-surgery-at-toa-payoh-vets.html
18 hamster articles were written as follows:



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Top viewed article is:
http://singaporehamsters.blogspot.sg/2009/07/8-euthanasia-is-only-option-for-tough.html