Soft Tissue

Ear disease usually reflects local skin disease. Skin micro-organisms (bacteria and yeasts) love nothing more than warm moist nooks and crannies so the ear canal can make an ideal environment for them.

Charlie, an 8-week-old Labrador puppy was presented to us at West Midlands Veterinary Referrals with a history of regurgitation and vomiting once he made the change from liquid to solid food intake.

Princess, a 2-year-old Yorkshire terrier was referred to us at West Midlands Veterinary Referrals with a history of bladder stones and hepatic encephalopathy (neurological signs) attributable to the effect on the brain of toxins that the liver should have “scrubbed” out of the “dirty” blood coming from the intestines. An abnormal blood vessel called a shunt underlay the formation of the bladder stones and the shunt allowed toxins to get to the brain.

The soft palate is at the back of the mouth. For those who remember the Peanuts cartoons, the soft palate is the dangly bit you can see when Lucy throws her head back and yells at Charlie Brown!

This condition involves the formation of draining tracts around the anus. It is often seen in German Shepherd dogs, and causes discomfort and straining with defaecation.

How many dogs would survive being hit by a freight train, being knocked down a 30-foot embankment and then half drowning in a bog?

Pyometra occurs relatively commonly in bitches, and involves the combination of infection in the uterus (womb) and progesterone hormone dominance from the ovaries.

Urethrostomy means creating an artificial permanent hole in the urethra, the tube that takes urine from the bladder to the outside. In male dogs this can be created:

A male cat had temporary difficulty urinating after mineral deposits obstructed the urethra, the tube that drains the bladder to the outside.

Pneumothorax involves collapsed lungs with air filling the space that surrounds the lungs within the chest cavity. Pneumothorax cases with severely collapsed lungs are potentially life-threatening, especially if the accumulation of air in the chest cavity is rapid and progressive leading to the ever-increasing pressure on ever collapsing lungs (tension pneumothorax). Pneumothorax cases typically fall into two groups.