What Happens When…

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…Your Pet is Microchipped?

A microchip is a small chip, the size of a grain of rice, that is placed under the skin with a needle a little bigger than a vaccination needle.  Microchips have a unique number which we will register to your personal contact details onto a national database.  This means if your pet was ever lost and picked up by the police, the dog warden or taken to any vets, they can be scanned to obtain the microchip number and your details can be accessed by contacting the database.  We routinely microchip dogs, cats and rabbits.

Microchips can be placed in a normal consultation with either one of our veterinary surgeons or nurses.  No sedation or local anaesthetic is required and we routinely microchip young puppies and kittens.  We first use a handheld microchip scanner to scan your pet.  This ensures that there has not already been a microchip placed (this is especially important if the history of your pet is unknown).  We will then place the microchip between your pet’s shoulder blades and scan your pet to check it is in correctly.

The whole procedure takes only a couple of minutes.  Occasionally microchips can migrate underneath the skin a little and, rarely, they will migrate further around the body.  When scanning to see if a pet has a microchip the whole of the animal’s body is routinely scanned to ensure one is not missed if it has moved.

In 2016 it will become law to have your pet microchipped. Although it is not currently a requirement (unless your pet is travelling abroad) we do strongly recommend getting your pets microchipped so we can return them to you safely if they do ever become lost.

 

Hollybank’s Brave Pet of the Month…Benji!

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We recently saw Benji out of hours when he wasn’t very well, not wanting his food and just curling up in the corner. When he came to the practice he was a bit tender in his abdomen and not as bright as usual. He was also a bit pale when we looked at his gums. To investigate further we decided ultrasound scan Benji’s stomach and to run some blood tests. We were concerned that as he was pale he could have something in his abdomen that was bleeding and making him uncomfortable.

On the scanner we could see that Benji had a mass in his liver, however we couldn’t see any obvious fluid building up in his abdomen. We kept Benji in for observation and gave him pain relief to make him comfortable.

In the morning Benji was a bit brighter but we started to see some fluid building up and were suspicious that the mass in Benji’s liver was bleeding. By putting a needle through the muscle wall we confirmed that the fluid was indeed blood. Liver masses can be benign or malignant and can spread to other organs, sometimes before the first mass is found. There was a chance that if we operated to try and remove the mass and stop the bleeding that they would be nothing we could do, particularly if the tumour had spread. However the only other option would be to put Benji to sleep. Tumours within the abdominal organs can be prone to bleeding as they are not normal body tissue, sometimes with lots of blood vessels supplying them. Once they start bleeding they can be fatal if we don’t do something to stop it.

Benji’s owners decided to operate and we successfully removed the mass from Benji’s liver. During recovery we had to give Benji fluid support to maintain his blood pressure and to help replace his fluid loss due to the mass bleeding. We also had to provide Benji with pain relief, and other medication to reduce the risk of infection and to stop him feeling sick.

Within a few days Benji was feeling much better, comfortable and eating well. Although he had to have strict rest initially he soon recovered, and once his wounds were healed he was back to his normal self.

We sent a sample of Benji’s tumour to the lab to find out what type it was. Unfortunately it came back as likely a malignant tumour, so we are monitoring Benji closely for any recurrence. Thankfully his most recent scan was all clear!

Celebrating Hollybank’s 5th birthday!

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Hollybank turns five years old on March 2nd!  It has been a busy few years which has seen the practice become a Royal College accredited hospital and grow from strength to strength. As a practice, we feel it is very important to be part of our community.  We have had a close relationship with the local children’s charity The Joshua Tree since we first opened, raising money for them through our annual open days and evenings and via the collection box in reception.

This year we have decided to do something a bit different!  To mark our birthday we will be donating £1 for every vaccination we do to the Joshua Tree.  Cat, dog and rabbit vaccines are all included and the scheme will run from 2nd March 2014 for 12 months.  Look out for regular updates on the total raised so far!

If you would like to find more about our chosen charity, visit www.thejoshuatree.org.uk.