27/12/2008 by Arielle.

It was thankfully not a very busy day at work today - in between Christmas and New Year. I did however have a proportionately high number of dogs in today that needed bandages changed on their legs or paws from cuts from being out on a walk.I think there were 3 different dogs that needed bandage changes but 1 dog needed his bandage changed 3 times in one day!

Freddie is a gorgeous large happy Golden Labrador. He had cut his pad while out having a swim in the river last week. The nurses remembered him well as he came in dripping with smelly river water and wagged it all over them as they bandaged his foot.

It needed redressing. I put a new red bandage on round the back with the nurses and by the time I returned Freddie to his owner, he had licked it so much. The owner requested that I redo it as it looked tighter and less comfortable than the original bandage. I obliged as Freddie is so easy and he was thrilled to go back round to the hospital and sniff out the cats!

My final appointment of the evening was Freddie yet again. He had been home, pulled his ‘more comfortable’ bandage off and opened up the flap of skin on his pad. He was thrilled to be back and dragged me round the back for yet another bandage change. He knew exactly where he was going and pushed the hospital door open with his head and jumped on the table to have his bandage changed. This time he went home with a big collar for round his neck so that he left his bandage alone!

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18/12/2008 by Arielle.

My favourite kittens came in this morning for their second vaccinations and identichipping. I have seen the one before and written a blog about her. She is called Fred and is a Maine Coon kitten that licked a kettle and burnt her tongue.

This time, it was her sister George who was in ‘trouble’. She had managed to get her collar caught around her mouth and she had swallowed the bell. She had been fine with no signs of vomitting and I could feel a little round lump in her intestine ready to be passed hopefully with her next visit to the litter tray! The owner said her husband was trying to jiggle her and see if they could hear it!

What little characters Fred and George are. As identichipping involves a lot of paperwork, we left them to sniff every corner of the room. They particularly liked one area where the wall stuck out and they rolled and smeared their happy facial pheromones all over it. They are both ginger and were given their names after the Weasley twins in  Harry Potter. Having boy names really suits their characters!

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04/12/2008 by Arielle.

My evening consulting puzzled me. I had 3 cats one after another that needed treatment for exactly the same condition - a cystitis or bladder infection. One cat proved so difficult to treat as she was so vicious and could not be handled. I gave the owners antibiotics to treat her with rather than risk my hands being mauled!

By the third case of seeing a cat that looked perfectly normal but was urinating frequently and passing small amounts of blood, I realised the reason. It has been very icy for the past few days - we even had a scattering of snow yesterday (much to my children’s delight).

This is bad news however for cats that are used to only going to the toilet outdoors as the ground is so frozen they either do not go or hold it in until the earth thaws a bit and by then, they have a bladder infection.

Some cats also only drink from puddles outdoors. Obviously these would freeze too so cats can end up not drinking which also sets them up for a cystitis or even worse - the early signs of kidney failure in old cats if they do not drink enough. Spare a thought for outdoor cats when a cold snap arrives!

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29/11/2008 by Arielle.

Everyday that we work as a vet in a small animal practice, we statistically will have at least one euthanasia. My day yesterday was statistically worse and I had 3 very emotional euthanasias of 3 very ill and old and loved pets - 2 cats and a dog.

One cat did something that I have never experienced before and maybe because of the strain of the day, tears welled up into my eyes when I saw it. I had to quickly wipe them away before the grieving owner (a man) noticed so that I did not appear too unprofessional.

Holly was a beautiful 15 year old silver tabby in the end stages of kidney failure. Her kidneys had shut down and all she could do was sit in front of a water bowl and drink but still she remained very dehydrated. I offered the owner the option of putting her onto a drip, but thankfully he declined as it is such a short term option with cats at the end of a very unpleasant and very common condition.

As Holly was so dehydrated and comfortable on the table (she lay down purring as her owner fussed and cried at her head); I chose to give the lethal injection into her kidney rather than her vein. It is not as quick an option as giving it into the vein, but it means no noisy clippers and holding Holly still to find a vein.

She did not even react to the injection but continued to purr as her owner told her over and over again how much he loved her. I noticed her slipping away, still purring and then she rubbed her cheek onto his hand and her head dropped and she went. It was as if she could sense she was going and she gave him a final affectionate farewell. Cats never cease to amaze me.

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21/11/2008 by Arielle.

I has a busy morning consulting yesterday and had one emergency rushed ahead of all my other clients waiting in the waiting room. It was a kitten called Freddie who was salivating profusely. Freddie is a female and cross between a tabby and Maine Coone - a gorgeous fluffy ginger big kitten!I rushed to the the hospital round the back to find that my conscientious nurses had already given Freddie the once over and taken her temperature for me. They has looked her in mouth which is the first thing I did, and noticed a red ring around the tip of her tongue - it looked very sore and Freddie felt very sorry for herself as the saliva formed a little moustache around her mouth and upper lip.

The nurses were taking bets on what Freddie could have licked. Sophie was sure that she had licked some boiling tea. I thought maybe also a toilet block that some people use.

When I called her owners through and treated Freddie with strong painkillers, antibiotics and soft food; they knew immediately what she had done - she had licked the kettle.

She is apparently the most inquisitive of their 2 kittens and they jsut couldn’t keep her off the kitchen counters. I explained that this may be the solution and she may now stay well clear of the kitchen counters altogether!

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08/11/2008 by Arielle.

Jem is a gorgeous Blue Merle Border Collie. She was a rescue dog and being a typical intelligent Border Collie, she has a slightly nervous disposition.

Her owner knows of her fear of fireworks and managed to get very organised for this season (with bonfire night on a Wednesday this year, we seem to have more fireworks then ever) and she purchased a ‘Sounds Scary’ cd months ago. Jem was made to listen to fireworks on the cd to completely desensitise her. Her owner  said it worked so well and eventually Jem was just sleeping peacefully through the cd.

Jem came in today as she had signs of a bladder infection or cystitis. She was too scared to go out and wee in the garden last thing at night as she usually did and was not going at all. This led to the urine sitting in her bladder for far longer than normal and the bacteria then multiplying happily.

I tried very hard to collect a urine sample from Jem. I took her for a walk round the back where so many dogs wee but being a typical Collie, she just wanted to look for her owner  and did not sniff the ground at all. We knew she had not emptied her bladder since 3 that morning. We did have some success just as they were leaving - she weed by the reception desk and I was finally able to test her urine.

Jem did have to be treated for a cystitis, but the cause was fireworks!

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27/10/2008 by Arielle.

My heading is a bit deceiving - I do not mean be frightened of old cats with long claws, but be aware that old cats can end up in a lot of pain if their claws are not checked regularly!

I had a client in today with her 18 year old cat which was limping. On close examination, I saw that one of her claws had grown right round and into the pad. It was so sore to touch and bled once the claw was safely clipped. I had to put her onto antibiotics as well as the claw in the pad had resulted in bacteria causing a nasty infection.

I obviously clipped all her claws and the relieved owner said that she would probably now not end up always caught in the carpet.

Clipping cats’ claws is an easy procedure but just take care to clip only the tip where it hooks as there is a nerve and blood vessel that you can cut if you cut too high.

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20/10/2008 by Arielle.

I just had the word ‘parrot’ marked on the computer as my next client to call through. I expected to see a large covered cage with an African Grey parrot in it and was startled to call through a couple with a huge pet carrier on wheels and a beautiful Macaw hanging onto the door of the cage.

They had called her Tess and she needed her nails clipped. I had a lovely young human physiotherpaist watching my consultations with me as she wants to become a pet physiotherapist. We both marvelled at the beauty of Tess (I had never dealt with a Macaw before) but then I had to work out a way of safely clipping her very sharp claws without stressing her to much or getting bitten.

The owner held her on his arm and she let out an almighty squawk and shed all the morning’s breakfast down his leg. I went to fetch my satsuma that I had for my lunch to bribe her to stay still.

When I started the procedure (trying to avoid her extra long hooked beak), she took fright and flew to the furthest spot of my room; her huge wings flapping in the small space and all I could see was Anya the physiotherapist hiding her head in her hands as the huge Macaw tried to land on her head but then realised it would have no hold and landed on my computer instead.

After all the excitement, I realised that Tess was actually quite tame and I just got on with the job and quickly popped her back into her large pet carrier. Anya was relieved. My satsuma remained uneaten!

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15/10/2008 by Arielle.

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13/10/2008 by Arielle.

My last consultation of the morning was a very emotional one. A young couple brought in their two 5 month old kittens Belle and Jasmine with suspected smoke inhalation.

They had been woken at 2am by smoke pouring through their ceiling and a fire burning their house. The neighbours semi-detached home had caught alight and it has spread into their home. They were able to get all 6 cats out of the house (luckily the neighbour had no pets), but Belle and Jasmine took fright with the fire engines arriving and darted indoors through the catflaps.

The owner was ready to rush in after them but the house was full of smoke so 1 fireman went in to find them. The owners were both very shaken and emotional and both exhausted. I was thrilled to put their minds at rest that both kittens were fine. The smell of smoke in my room was very strong but both kittens were bright and Belle was purring so much that I struggled to hear her chest sounds.

I asked the owners where the fireman had found the cats and he said he had not asked but was sure that they would been to hide under the stairs - their favourite hiding place when strangers enter their home. They were born in that very spot. I reassured him  that this would been an ideal spot as the smoke from upstairs would not have travelled there. All I advised was bathing both kittens as they would have licked the smoke off their fur. What an ordeal for all of them!

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