Rex, a 5 year old Border Collie had been off colour for a few days. He was frequently trying to urinate but was not producing a lot each time. On examination the vet palpated his bladder and felt it was quite full. The vet managed to get a small sample of urine to test on a dipstick, which showed that there were red blood cells and white blood cells present, which indicated that there was an urinary infection and some bleeding. 

 

The vet suggested that as Rex was having difficulties, the best thing to do was to x-ray his bladder and catheterise him to obtain a urine sample. The vet was specifically looking for stones as they can cause a blockage preventing the patient from being able to urinate, but the x-ray showed that there were no urinary stones present. The vet then took a urine sample which was sent to an external lab for full analysis. 

The vet suspected that the problem could be functional, so Rex was put onto some medication to help him urinate by himself and to clear the urinary infection. The next day Rex still had not urinated so was brought in to be catheterised. He then had to come in daily so that we could express his bladder. 

 

After a week there was still no improvement so it was suggested that the owners learn how to catheterise him, so they were able to do it at home. He was also put onto some different medication to stimulate his bladder to contract to aid urination. 

 

After almost two months of being on the medication and having to be catheterised regularly, Rex started to urinate by himself and the whole practice cheered!! 

 

All was fine until several months later when Rex was straining frequently to pass both urine and faeces and he started to have accidents in the house overnight. As he had been doing well for a while, the owner was concerned that his previous urinary problems were recurring. 

 

On examination the vet felt his bladder, which was empty, but slightly thickened and his prostate was enlarged. As Rex was still an entire male it was the hormone testosterone that was causing the enlarged prostate, so he was given an anti-testosterone drug to reduce the size of his prostate. But this was only a temporary measure and to fix the problem in the long run Rex would need to be castrated. 

 

The owner collected a urine sample which was tested in house and showed that Rex had contracted another urinary infection so he was put onto another course of antibiotics. 

After just over a week, Rex returned for a check up. He was a lot better and was no longer straining. However when the vet felt his bladder again, it was still quite thickened and felt gravelly so the vet suspected bladder stones. 

 

On the x-ray the vet could see multiple stones visible in the bladder and the urethra. The next step was to operate and perform a cystotomy (an incision into the bladder) to remove the stones. First Rex had to be prepped for surgery which involved clipping his abdomen and cleaning it with skin disinfectant. He was then catheterised to make sure the bladder was empty before the vet could operate. He was then ready to be transported into theatre. The vet firstly made an incision into the abdomen so he was able to examine the area then enter into the bladder. The bladder stones were very small so the vet had to scoop out as many as he could and then a urinary catheter was placed to thoroughly flush the urethra and bladder with saline to ensure the majority had been removed. Once the vet was happy, the bladder then needed to be sutured, ensuring a tight seal to allow the bladder to heal properly. Rex was also castrated at the same time. 

 

The bladder stones were sent to an external lab to be identified as Rex would need to go onto a specific urinary diet to prevent any further problems in the future. 

Once the vet had sutured the bladder and the abdomen, Rex was put back into to his kennel to recover from the anaesthetic. He was allowed to go home later in the day on pain relief and a specific urinary diet. 

 

The next day a nurse rang the owner to see how he was getting on. Rex was able to urinate well by himself and was enjoying the new diet which is always a bonus. But the poor owner was having problems with the buster collar as Rex was pulling all the tricks in the book to get the collar off!! 

 

The results from the lab showed that the stones were struvite. They can be caused by diets high in protein and the pH of the urine also effects the formation of the stones. The urinary diet Rex had been put on is specially formulated to dissolve struvite crystals, therefore preventing the problem from recurring. He will need to have a repeat urine test in a month’s time to make sure that there are no crystals present. 

 

Rex is now well on the way to recovery. He is much better and enjoying his walks again in the company of his friend Tessa who is also a Border Collie. But, unfortunately the squirrels short respite has ended as he has resumed chasing and growling at them up in the tree tops. 

 

 

 

 

One Tuesday evening, Finn, a 1 year old Collie X, was taking his evening walk in a field with his carer as his owners were on holiday. When Finn came back to the carer he was looking very sheepish and she soon realised that he had injured himself as his nice white coat was tinged red with blood. She rang our out of hour’s service, spoke to Philip who was the vet on duty that night, and arranged to meet at the surgery. Finn’s owners were on the plane home so we were unable to contact them and let them know. 

Philip then called the on call nurse for assistance, as he was told that the wound would need stitching. When the vet and nurse arrived and examined Finn, his injury was a lot worse than originally thought. He had impaled himself with a stick in his left axilla (armpit) and the wound was quite deep. On examination, his mucous membranes were very pale which indicated that Finn was in shock and also he was bleeding quite heavily from the wound. The first thing was to administer emergency first aid. Finn was put onto intravenous fluids and a pressure bandage was placed over the wound to stem the bleeding. He was given pain relief as he was in a lot of discomfort. 

While Philip was doing his thorough examination he noticed that there were increased breathe noises, which indicated that there had been some damage to the chest. To assess the damage we had to anaesthetise Finn and X-ray his chest. The x-ray showed that there was obvious trauma to the chest wall and also that Finn had a pneumothorax which occurs when a penetrating wound allows outside air to enter the chest cavity, causing the lung to collapse. The stick had penetrated through the axilla and damaged the chest wall, so Finn must have run onto the stick with quite some force to cause such injuries. 

Once we knew the extent of the injury, we took Finn straight to surgery to perform the emergency procedure. As the chest wall had been damaged, Finn was struggling to breathe by himself under anaesthetic, so another nurse was called in to assist, one to ventilate Finn during the procedure and one to help Philip with the operation. 

The chest and wound had to be flushed thoroughly with saline to remove debris and bits of bark left from the stick. While examining the wound under anaesthetic, the vet could see that the stick had narrowly missed a major blood vessel, so Finn was an extremely lucky boy! To perform the thoracotomy the vet made an incision over the chest wall to close the pneumothorax and prevent the drawing of air into the chest cavity. A drain was then placed in Finn’s chest to remove any fluid and air that was left in there. 

Surgery took 1 hour and 30 minutes in total as the wound in his axilla (armpit) had to be sutured as well. Once the tear in the chest wall had been repaired Finn managed to breathe by himself. 

When the operation was completed, Finn was put into his kennel for recovery. He was placed in a medium kennel to restrict his movement, and in sternal recumbency (lying on his chest) to aid his breathing. Finn was quite groggy after the anaesthetic so Philip stayed with him until he was happy that Finn was stable, as the first 24 hours were critical. 

The next morning when the nurses came in at 8am, Finn was standing up in his kennel looking very bright and wagging his tail. He dragged us out on a walk and his vital statistics were all normal. His chest drain had to be emptied regularly to ensure the fluid continued draining well. 

Finn stayed in the hospital for 2 days in total so that we could keep a close eye on him and to make sure he was a 100% before we sent him home. He got lots of TLC in the hospital so he was more than happy to stay in and his owners brought him some cooked chicken as well which pleased him! 

Being a Collie X, he is a very energetic dog and keeps his owners on their toes. So, as he has to be restricted for a while to ensure that his chest heals well, he is only allowed on lead walks and is not allowed to play any games of ball, which he is finding the hardest! 

Finn is now well on the road to recovery and is due to have his staples removed any day now, so he will soon be back to normal. 

Finn was lucky that we have an out of hour service as he was in a critical condition and he could be treated immediately by our vets and nurses. 

 

 

 

 

Bedgebrook Skyduster, "Dusty" was born on 3rd March, the only dog puppy in a litter of nine Labrador Retriever Puppies. All went well until the puppies were four weeks old when Dusty hurt his left hind leg and was unable to put any weight on it. I suspected that he had perhaps been trodden on by his normally very careful mother and gave him regular doses of arnica for 48 hours. When he showed no improvement I took him to Heathfield Vets where he was examined by Philip - my worst fears were realised when Philip straight away was able to feel a break in the bone. X-rays showed that his tibia was broken - a jagged break but not displaced - although the fibula was fine.  

 

Dusty's leg was wrapped up in a Robert Jones bandage which was replaced a week later after it had all but fallen off! The second bandage lasted for 2 days before it fell off and the third lasted for less than a week!  

 

However, on further x-ray it was apparent that the bone was mending well and we decided to leave the bandage off although continue to keep Dusty as quiet as possible - since he first hurt his leg I had separated him from his litter mates by putting him in a cage in the whelping box. 

 

Two weeks later Dusty was x-later again and the news continued to be good. He was now able to move more freely about the house and garden and even start to play with his litter mates. 

 

At 10 weeks Philip x-later him for the final time and to later delight the bone was mended beautifully with no displacement. Both Philip and I feel confident that Dusty will be able to realise his full potential as a working later and I am so grateful to Philip, Catherine, Laura and all the nurses for taking such good care of him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiger was bitten by the next door neighbour’s dog when he broke into their garden. The owner brought him in to us the next day, when Tiger was in shock due to septicaemia (blood poisoning) caused by the bite to his left shoulder. There was blood and pus dripping from the wound and his left fore leg was swollen from his toes to his shoulder. He was admitted to the hospital and received treatment straight away. He went onto intravenous fluids to help treat the shock and was also given pain relief to make him more comfortable and antibiotics to combat the infection.