It's not just what we know... it's how much we care!
Case of the Month
Case of the Month: Blackie’s Diaphragmatic Hernia
Such a smoochy boy after his surgery!
Blackie came in to us with severe breathing difficulties after he had gone missing for a few days. Based on the severity of his breathing problem, our vet suspected he may have chest trauma from being hit by a car. We immediately took some emergency chest xrays to diagnose the problem.
A chest xray revealed his stomach, liver and intestines were sitting in his chest instead of in his abdomen where they should be. This means that the abdominal organs are squashing Blackie’s lungs so they can’t inflate properly. This condition is called a diaphragmatic hernia – the muscle sheet separating his chest from his abdomen (diaphragm) had ruptured, meaning all his abdominal organs can move up into his chest. The most common cause of this is blunt force trauma such as a car accident or falling out of a tree.
Blackie’s initial xray where the entire lung field (which should appear black) is grey because of the abdominal organs (liver, intestines, stomach) sitting in the chest cavity.
We took Blackie straight to surgery to repair the diaphragm and improve his breathing. This involved moving the stomach, liver, gallbladder and intestines back into the abdomen where they should be and stitching the diaphragm back together while someone ‘ventilated’ Blackie (breathed for him) throughout the surgery.
Blackie went extremely well after the surgery (we all just loved him he was very smoochy and cuddly) and after several days in hospital, he went home to his loving owner. Patients like Blackie and his lovely owner are why we love our job so much. He is such a beautiful cat and now he can go on to live a full and happy life.
This is the post-op xray which shows the surgically repaired and now intact diaphragm (the white curved structure on the right just next to the lung fields) and a much more normal (black) lung field.
Blackie 48 hours after surgery and feeling great
Case of the Month: Brave Turbo
Brave Turbo is a very special patient to us. 
Turbo is a 9 year old Jack Russell Terrier. He presented at the clinic in December 2017 with multiple swellings near is neck, armpit, groin and in front of his shoulders. These are all regions that have lymph nodes in them so we were immediately concerned that Turbo may have lymphoma.
An abdominal ultrasound and chest radiographs revealed that the lymph nodes in his chest and his abdomen were also all quite enlarged.
Several of the enlarged lymph nodes were biopsied and submitted to a laboratory and Turbo was diagnosed with malignant B cell lymphoma. Dogs with B cell lymphoma deteriorate quite rapidly and without chemotherapy, the life expectancy after diagnosis is sadly approximately 6 weeks.
Turbo’s owners wanted to treat Turbo with chemotherapy and so we immediately consulted veterinary oncology specialists to determine the best protocol for Turbo. We commenced a 6 month chemotherapy protocol that involved weekly intravenous chemotherapy drugs. There were some bumps along the way, with Turbo developing sepsis (blood infection) in February 2018 due to low white blood cells – a side effect of the chemotherapy drugs. He was hospitalised on IV antibiotics and fluids and he soon improved. Once his white cell count was back up to normal the chemotherapy protocol could be continued and it finished in July 2018.
Turbo came back in October 2018 for his recheck 3 months after stopping chemotherapy. He is very bright and happy, his lymph nodes are all back to normal and his bloodwork showed no abnormalities! We were so happy to tell his extremely devoted owner that he is in complete remission.
We are so happy for Turbo and his extremely devoted owners.
Case of the Month
Rusty
Rusty is an eight year old male Blue Cattle Dog. He presented to Wingham and Valley Vets with a broken hind leg. He had been missing for a couple of days, and the cause of the injury was unknown. A motor vehicle accident was most likely.
X rays revealed a badly smashed tibia and fibula. The leg was grossly swollen, so a temporary cast was applied to provide some immediate immobilization and pain relief.
This type of fracture is unsuited to casting; it was too fragmented, and was highly unlikely to heal in a dog of Rusty’s size. More rigid immobilization was needed in the form of a stainless steel plate screwed to the bone.
To maximize the chances of successful repair, a heavy duty 8 hole plate was used, and bone graft material (collected at the time of surgery from Rusty’s pelvis) was placed around the bone fragments. After care is extremely important in these cases; to reduce the risk of too much pressure being put on the plate. It was decided to keep Rusty in the hospital for several weeks. Luckily, he’s the best patient, and all the nurses have fallen in love with him.
We are now 2 weeks after surgery, and Rusty is putting about 50% weight on his leg when taken out on lead. He will get a follow up x ray in about 6 weeks’ time to see how repair is progressing. Most likely, we will leave the hardware in place – which will set off the alarms if he decides to take an overseas flight……
