Soft Tissue

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.

A three-year-old Doberman presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with a large hygroma, fluid filled sac over the lateral elbow.

Panda was in heart failure secondary to fluid accumulation within the sac around the heart. The squeeze of this fluid on the heart prevented the heart from filling properly and from pumping blood efficiently. This had led to the accumulation of fluid elsewhere in the body, including within the abdomen.

Nibble had a rannula, a collection of saliva under mucosa, that formed after a rostral mandibulectomy to remove the front of the jaw. The rannula was marsupialised, opening it into the mouth cavity so that it could drain.

Georgie had a lateral wall resection (LWR) for recurrent otitis externa, external ear infection. The aim of this surgery is to increase the ventilation to the depths of the ear canal and make the environment less atrtractive to the bacterial pathogens that can otherwise colonise it.

Gizmo had a penile obstruction caused by urethral calculi (mineral deposits). These were a little trickier than usual to spot as they were radiolucent meaning they don’t show up on radiographs unless contrast agent is used to highlight them.

A 7 year old neutered male Staffie presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with a urethral prolapse resected and sutured around a catheter. The catheter was then removed. The prognosis is generally very good for these cases.

Lucy, a 6y female Border Collie, presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with worryingly low glucose levels caused by an insulinoma, a pancreas tumour.

Wickett, an elderly cat, had progressive constipation and needed enemas every 2-3 weeks.  We removed the lion’s share of his colon at our state-of-the-art practice in Burton-Upon-Trent, and he’s now recuperating. Early indications are good; these surgeries carry a significant perioperative mortality rate.

Chris joined our team in 2019 in Burton-Upon-Trent, and we’ve been pretty impressed with his skills with an endoscope! He has removed a number of grass seeds from secondary and tertiary bronchi. These cases usually present with chronic coughs and sometimes signs of grumbling infection and fever.

Louis, a 1year old Springer Spaniel, presented to us at West Midlands Referrals with a massive palate defect. We are frankly amazed that he had managed to survive puppyhood. Drinking milk is no easy task when you can’t make a seal in your mouth to suck.