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.

 

What Happens When…

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…Your Pet is Hospitalised?

Any patient coming in for a procedure spends the day with us. However, on occasion it may be necessary to hospitalise patients for longer. This may be because they require a drip (intravenous fluid therapy), medication that cannot be administered at home (such as strong pain relief) or because they need very close monitoring.

If your pet has to come and spend longer than a day with us then they will not be on their own overnight. We have a vet or nurse in the practice 24 hours a day to ensure that your pet is closely watched, that they have the appropriate medication when needed and to make sure they don’t get lonely!

We have separate wards for cats and small furries (like rabbits or guinea pigs) and for dogs, to ensure that any stay here is as stress free as possible. We have clean kennels with plenty of comfortable bedding and warm blankets. Our isolation facility is available for any patients that we are concerned may be infectious. This has all the same comforts as our other wards but gives us the ability to keep any risk of infection away from other inpatients.

Each hospitalised patient has a ‘Hospital Sheet’ that details when they should receive checks and medication and allows staff to note down when they have passed faeces and urine, if they have vomited and when they have eaten or drunk. These accurate records allow us to closely monitor your pet and act quickly if there is anything we are concerned about or if anything new develops.

Whenever your pet is staying with us we will call you with an update of their progress at least twice a day and more frequently if needed. If they are just in for a short stay we normally try to avoid having visitors as this can often lead them to them becoming unsettled when you leave. If patients are in isolation then unfortunately we cannot allow visitors due to the risk of infection. Patients staying longer that are not in isolation can sometimes have visitors and we will always discuss this with you on an individual basis.

By the very nature of being hospitalised your pet will be unwell. We understand that is a stressful and worrying time for both your pet and for you and will do everything we can to try and ease your worry as much as possible.