Soft Tissue

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.

A young cat was presented to us at West Midlands Veterinary 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 Midlands Veterinary 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.