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 Veterinary 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.