At Hollybank Veterinary Centre any adult dog overdue their annual vaccination can restart their course for the price of a booster!
This offer is only available until the end of December 2015 so hurry and book your appointment now!
Please call us on 01606 880 890.
Pepper is a one year old playful Border Collie who loves playing with sticks.
She was seen by the team at Hollybank as a reasonably sized lump, about the size of a golf ball had appeared under her lower jaw over night. Pepper, being our ‘brave pet’ was still her happy self and did not appear to be in any discomfort at all. Pepper was sent home with some medications to help reduce the size of the swelling. However, we were keen to be kept up to date with Pepper’s progress.
Over the next 24 hours the swelling under Pepper’s jaw increased to the size of a Satsuma and she developed a very high temperature. Pepper was diagnosed with an abscess. This is the bodies way of ‘walling off’ an area of infection. We were worried that a fragment of stick, or another ‘foreign body’ may have worked its way from Pepper’s mouth into the tissues surrounding Pepper‘s jaw. Pepper really wasn’t herself and ‘intravenous fluid therapy’ (a drip) was now required to try and bring her temperature down. Pepper would likely need surgery to identify and remove any foreign material.
Pepper had to sit very still whilst a small catheter was placed into a vein in her leg. The catheter would allow her fluids to be given. Over the next 24 hours Pepper was closely monitored throughout the day and night, her fluids continued to be administered and her temperature was recorded. Pepper’s temperature steadily reduced down to normal however the swelling by her jaw continued to increase so much so that her entire face became very swollen!
With Pepper’s face now being so swollen, finding any foreign material would be very challenging for the Veterinary Surgeon. The following day Pepper was sent to a specialist centre for a CT scan. This scan would provide the Veterinary Surgeon with many cross sectional x-ray images of Pepper’s skull and surrounding tissues to hopefully identify the location of anything that required surgical removal. When Pepper arrived at the specialist centre the continually increasing size of her abscess caused an area of skin under her jaw to tear; this released a lot of infected material from the swollen area but left Pepper with a large wound.
Pepper continued to be prepared for her scan, the scanner looks like a large tube. Pepper had to be sedated as she needed to remain very still for useful images to be produced. The scan was completed and the image to the left, along with lots more were sent back to the Hollybank team. To our surprise, the scan did not reveal any ‘foreign body’ in the tissues around Pepper’s jaw.
Pepper returned to us at the practice that evening and we arranged for our visiting soft tissue surgeon, Catherine Sturgeon to join us the following day. With all her experience Catherine would know how to best manage the large area of infection and the resulting wound.
Pepper required a full general anaesthetic to allow the surgery to be performed. During surgery Catherine removed any areas of unhealthy tissue from the wound as unhealthy tissue would delay wound healing. The area would require regular dressing changes in a some what awkward area to apply a bandage, therefore, loops of suture material were placed around the wound edges to allow a dressing to be secured over the area. Peppers wound was very deep and was packed with gels and sterile dressings to help it heal. These were all secured in place using the carefully placed loops. The following day the dressings needed replacing, despite the very large deep wound as shown, Pepper lay very still and did not object at all to the procedure!
Gels were then used to keep the wound healthy without any overlying dressing; the gels were placed into the wound at home on frequent basis by a very dedicated owner! Pepper was seen back by the team at Hollybank frequently so that her progress could be monitored, with Pepper being very brave and well behaved at each visit.
It took lots of patience but Pepper’s progress was amazing and the wound was almost completely healed within 4 weeks.
At Hollybank we have a number of diabetic patients, all of whom are very lucky to have dedicated owners who inject them twice daily with insulin. As part of ‘Pet Diabetes month’ we have asked some of our clients to tell you about their experience of having a pet with Diabetes.
“In March 2015, Katie, our normally very fit and active 8 year old working Collie, was diagnosed with diabetes. Having been told she would be insulin-dependent for the rest of her life, we were very concerned not only how we would cope with a diabetic dog but also whether it was in her best interest to go down this route. She has been a big part of our working team of dogs…how would this impact on the way of life she so enjoys?”
“After a lot of discussion and advice from Richard and the rest of the team, we decided to give it a try. It took us a couple of weeks to be fully confident injecting her with the VetPen, which is so easy when you get used to it. After a short time, her diabetes was stable, and both of us and Katie have settled into a routine. She is injected twice a day, before her food, morning and night. She rushes to the kitchen as soon as she hears us get the VetPen! She totally accepted it as part of her feeding routine within a week. We are so pleased we decided to treat her with insulin. We now have our very happy, loving dog enjoying life to the full and still a very big part of our lives.”
Katie is always a pleasure to have in the hospital, she is such a good natured and well behaved girl. We love that Katie is still keeping the chickens in order!
“On first hearing Leah was diabetic we were all devastated. She is such a loving cheeky dog, with a wonderful personality. There was fear as well, what do we have to do, how will we cope? The first time we injected her was awful, the worry of have we done it correctly, did we hurt her? It is amazing how quickly we settled into a routine.”
“We are now into the second year of her having diabetes. We have never hurt Leah injecting her, if we appear to have forgotten to give her injection she nudges us to remind us. We now even recognise when the glucose levels aren’t quite right. We have had some traumatic times, all part of the learning curve. Our advice, get the right food, pick a time for the injections that suit the family, don’t be afraid. Talk to the wonderful staff of Hollybank, ask them all the questions you have, they are wonderful and no question is a daft one. Our biggest problem now…the clocks changing spring and winter..nightmare!!”
Leah is a bouncy and very lovable Labrador. Leah first presented to us at Hollybank with some classical signs of diabetes. However, whilst waiting for some of her results she deteriorated and went into a diabetic crisis called Ketoacidosis. This occurs because an alternative energy source to Glucose is produced (Ketones) which are toxic at high levels. Leah had some intensive care initially and has become a very popular and much loved patient.
Minnie is 13 years old and was a rescue cat. She was found at Daves Gym with her litter of 6 kittens and she was under 1 year old herself.
Minnie is a family cat and likes to be with people and wear hats. About 3 years ago she became lethargic, sleeping all the time and drinking lots of water. She was diagnosed with diabetes. Minnie is injected twice a day and since beginning her treatment is back to normal and lives a happy, lazy life.
Minnie is our only diabetic feline patient! She has stabilised really well with her diabetic treatment and we see her only for the occasional urinary tract infection (UTI). Animals with diabetes are at high risk for developing a UTI as the concentration of their urine can be affected and the urine may contain some glucose too which is a great environment for the growth of bacteria.
“Our Border Terrier Taz was diagnosed with diabetes almost 18 months ago. At first the family were a little daunted about how we could keep our beloved pet well and manage his condition.We were weary about trying not to adjust his routine too much, whilst keeping up with all the other usual family demands. It turns out, we need’nt worry as Taz and the family have now got used to the process, and he’s just as happy and unfazed as he’s ever been!”
Taz is a cheeky Border Terrier who initially was very worried coming to the vets. However, the more and more time Taz spent with us the more he loved having a fuss and now happily comes to spend the day with us for his repeat blood glucose curves.
