Soft Tissue

A young cat was presented to us at West Midlands Referrals for closure of an oro-nasal fistula – a permanent hole between the mouth and the nose. It was uncertain how this had originated but trauma from another animal’s canine tooth during a bite was a possibility.  

“Dave” the spaniel, a working dog, was out doing his thing one Sunday and charged through a hedge. There was a 2 foot rusty metal spike in the undergrowth and he impaled himself on it …

Ozzy, a very likeable little Shih Tzu, scavenged a bone out on a walk with his owner and it got stuck in his oesophagus. It was there for four days and he hadn’t been able to eat or drink in that time. The client had financial issues and his own vets had not been able to get the bone out. The owner was on the point of putting him to sleep but decided at the last minute to bring him over to us at West Midland Referrals and let us have a go at getting it out.

A vigilant local vet found a large mass in the caudal abdomen of a bull terrier called Nathan during a routine examination.

Willow had upper respiratory breathing problems relating to her larynx. A tie-back procedure was unsuccessful and her breathing was becoming distressed.

Gastric dilatation is a condition where the stomach rapidly bloats with gas. This often happens to big dogs and is thought to be predisposed by a lot of exercise around the time of large meals. Gastric dilatation creates problems for the dogs in breathing as the bloated stomach sits right under the diaphragm (the muscle separating the chest from the abdomen, which is the main muscle involved in breathing).

Dulcie, a 3 year-old female Dalmatian presented with a 5-month history of vomiting (daily) and weight loss. Roger, our medic and ultrasonographer, scanned her and found that the stomach was still dilated despite a 12-hour fast suggesting it wasn’t emptying properly into the duodenum (the section of small intestine that follow on from the stomach).

Lyla, a gentle 2y female collie, presented with a collection of fluid under the tongue on the right (a sublingual rannula) and a cystic fluid swelling in the upper part of the right neck.

Poppy, a really sweet little 15kg cocker spaniel, came to us at West Midlands Referrals for a cruciate ligament rupture, but all that got put on hold because we spotted that she had a large mass in her abdomen lurking under the rib cage. Roger scanned this, and she had a massive liver cancer obliterating half of her liver (both the left lobes). We could not detect any spread. 

When there isn’t enough skin left to close a wound and skin flaps can’t be created, skin stretchers can sometimes help.

Elsa, a young female Mastiff, suffered a gastric dilatation/volvulus (GDV) and was successfully treated for this surgically at a neighbouring practice. They undoubtedly saved her life, but a few days later, she started going downhill, and Roger scanned her with us at West Midlands Referrals. It was apparent that her gall bladder had ruptured due to the GDV, causing septic peritonitis. This would be fatal if left untreated.

Short nosed “brachycephalic” breeds are becoming more popular. This is not good news, because many of these dogs have compromised airways. In short, humans are choosing to breed dogs that can not get a good flow of air into their lungs.

Kutlis, an eleven-year-old, 9kg, Lithuanian street dog, presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with acute urinary outflow obstruction, a bite wound months before that had led to him losing the front half of his penis. He had reportedly been managing to pee until a couple of days before we saw him.

Nell, a 33kg 8-year-old German Shepherd, presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with a massive 6kg spleen mass. We sent the whole spleen away for analysis, and exhaustive histopathology located no neoplastic cause – just splenic haemorrhage and necrosis. So the prognosis is cautiously optimistic. Patients can live very well without their spleen if no underlying malignant disease process affects the prognosis.

Buddy, the much loved male Staffie belonging to a lovely couple of die-hard Rockers, presented with a real problem – he couldn’t urinate. He had a large prostate cyst with a communication to the urethra, the tube from the bladder. When he tried to urinate, the urine shunted from his bladder to the cyst, and only a dribble came out. He was also losing a lot of weight and vomiting.

Anal glands are sac-like structures found within the layers of the anal sphincter at the 4 o’clock and 8 o’clock positions. They can get blocked or inflamed and cause irritation. Sometimes they can get infected and abscessate, breaking out through a fistula to the skin. Many cases of blocked anal glands can be managed by expressing the contents periodically by hand!

Jake, a very amenable 1-year-old male cat, had a polyp in his right ear canal. This emanated from his middle ear but completely blocked his external ear canal.

Daisy presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with intermittent choking and coughing. Examination of the pharynx revealed a huge polyp which was debulked. The haemorrhage was controlled with pressure, and the histopathology will confirm the diagnosis! Regrowth is possible, even probable, but repeat surgery should be very feasible.

Gypsy had a mass in the larynx's dorsal (top) part, which is the opening to the trachea (windpipe) that delivers air to the lungs.

Koda, a Northern Inuit male dog, decided to try eating a fishing hook – it didn’t get far- just part way down the oesophagus.