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 Veterinary 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 Veterinary 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 Veterinary 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 Veterinary 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.