Veterinary Nursing Awareness Month (VNAM) takes place in May each year and this year celebrates its 20th year!! VNAM allows the veterinary profession to celebrate our wonderful veterinary nurses whilst also giving the opportunity to show the public how diverse their skills and abilities are. This year’s theme is PROGRESSION and is intended to do just that, including why protecting the title of ‘veterinary nurse’ is so important.
Our nursing team at Hollybank consists of Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVNs-in dark blue) and Student Veterinary Nurses (SVNs-in light blue)all of whom worked (or are still working!) hard to become apart of this profession and therefore are very proud and passionate to take part in VNAM each year!
We have had the pleasure of seeing Jaffa at Hollybank for an incredible 11 years, ever since she was a bouncy 7-week-old puppy.
Recently, Jaffa was brought to us by her owner after an episode of vomiting and not eating very well. The clinical examination didn’t reveal any abnormalities at this stage, but we noted that Jaffa had lost some weight. As she was otherwise well, she was given an anti-sickness injection, and she was monitored at home.
Even though the sickness had stopped after the injection, Jaffa was still not eating and was quieter than usual. The follow-up consultation revealed further weight loss, but the rest of the examination was unremarkable. However, due to the persistent poor appetite and weight loss, we decided to perform an ultrasound scan of her abdomen.
Jaffa was admitted to the hospital, and we completed the scan the same morning. Unfortunately, a mass within her small intestine was found as well as an intussusception, which means that part of her small intestine had folded into a section of intestine immediately ahead of it. The intussusception was suspected to occur secondary to the presence of the mass as it affected the same section of the gut.
Surgery was performed the same afternoon – we confirmed the findings from the ultrasound scan and removed the portion of the intestine that was causing the problem. The surgery was successful, and Jaffa recovered well from the general anaesthetic. We offered her small amounts of highly digestible gastrointestinal diet, and she started eating within a few hours after the surgery. She stayed with us overnight to allow us to monitor her closely and ensure she was comfortable. As we were very pleased with her progress, we discharged her home the following morning. To guide further treatment, we submitted the sample for histopathology to an external laboratory and whilst waiting for the results, Jaffa was gradually improving and getting back to the Jaffa we all know and love.
After a week, we received the histopathology results and was delighted to report that Jaffa’s mass was benign in nature and thus the surgical removal should have been curative with no further management needed.
Jaffa was a superstar throughout it all and thankfully, Jaffa had a caring family to look after her throughout her recovery to allow her to bounce back to her normal self quickly.
From the 10th June 2024 it will become compulsory for all owned cats and kittens to be microchipped.
Our Winnington branch will be offering half price microchips up until this date including one free fish toy for each cat.
Kevin joined us last week for his neutering and is very happy with his!
If you would like your cat microchipping, not sure if your cat is chipped or would like your cats chip and details checking then please contact us on 01606 880 890 or 01606 717 969.