• Skin surgery

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

• Liver, gall bladder and portosystemic shunt surgery

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.

• Ear nose and throat surgery

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.

• Urogenital surgery

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.