Vet Lesson 103-105

Remember when I said I had all those really interesting surgeries lately? And then remember when I said I was going to post about them? And then I didn't, but then I said I was going to in a few days as soon as I got the pictures? And then, I still didn't? Well, guess what? Here they are finally. Now it is going to be primarily a pictorial lesson or three. With so many cases to show you, I don't have time to write about them all in great detail. But if you find any really interesting and you are just dying to know something about it, then just leave a question in the comments and I will try and answer it.

So, here we go:
Case #1 - intestinal foreign body
This is a case that I was called in to do on an emergency. It was a 4 yr old Golden Retriever that had eaten something it shouldn't have and it had an obstruction (meaning nothing could move through the intestinal track). The owners did not bring it in right away because it wasn't acting real sick at first and then it was a day or more before xrays showed the obstruction and the radiologist said it better have surgery very very soon or it was going to perforate. That means that the bowels would get a hole in them (from pressure of the foreign object plus infection) and then bowel contents would spill into the abdomen and cause peritonitis, which can be fatal. When I went in I found adhesions from a previous surgery the dog had for eating something it shouldn't have and then I found these.


Notice that all the loops of the intestines are all accordion like. Normally, loops of intestine are very long and loose and are normally a nice healthy pink. These intestines are a dark fiery purple red. The dark purple thing at the top of the picture is the normal spleen. The pink tubular thing just below that is normal intestine. The bowel got a perforation in it just from me picking it up and you can see spillage of contents at the bottom in a pool.

The dog had eaten what appeared to be a swifter mop head. I found part of it in the stomach and the other part way down the intestines and they were attached to each other by a string. Here are the two pieces that were attached together by the string.


I got all the foreign material out and closed the dog and we gave him anti-toxin medication and antibiotics, but unfortunately he still did not make it past 24 hours. This is a very good reason to watch the things your pet can chew on and if it does ingest something it shouldn't, you should watch it very closely for vomiting and diarrhea and take it to the vet quickly.

Case #2 - Retained baby teeth

Very often we see dogs with two sets of teeth. The baby teeth fail to fall out when the adult teeth erupt. This is called retained deciduous teeth, or retained baby teeth. It is very important to pull these teeth as they can adversely affect a dog's bite and also, they tend to build up tarter between the adult and baby teeth causing early periodontal disease. Here are a couple pictures of a dog with both sets of canine teeth and then a shot of after they have been pulled. You can already see debris building up between the teeth in the first picture.







Case #3 - corkscrew tail

Bulldogs have a curly tail, much like a pig. Most of the time they do not cause a problem, but occasionally, a tail will be recessed into the rear instead of hanging out. The area that is recessed retains moisture and debris and causes a chronic dermatitis that is quite foul smelling and uncomfortable for the dog. Here is one such case. Notice how irritated his bottom is?




The cure for this is complete surgical removal of the tail. This is the after photo. This dog healed up very very nicely and his owner was so happy that her house was not going to smell so bad anymore. I love doing surgeries like this that have a dramatically different before and after AND that make the owners so happy almost instantly!



OK class, that is enough for one night. I am off to bed. I have a continuing education lab I am taking tomorrow on fixing ruptured cruciates (knee ligament) with a new method. I am excited! I will try and post the other cases I have tomorrow.

Peace Out!
Tri-Vet