This is a pretty cool video of inside one of our patients! We recently performed a laparoscopic spay on a deep chested breed; and we took the opportunity to pexy the stomach to the body wall. This means that a permanent attachment is made between the stomach and muscle ; preventing a life threatening condition where a stomach can twist on its axis.
We’ve had to save a number of dogs in recent years that presented with GDV including Burnese mountain dogs; Great Danes and basset hounds. Deep chested breeds are at risk for this condition. When the stomach twists; it causes a life threatening shock and systemic collapse. It’s a race against time to save them.
You can see the attachment of the stomach to the body wall in the first few seconds; on the left of the screen. The camera swishes around then and a purple spleen comes into view.
It’s a good idea to pexy high risk breeds at the time of their spay. A traditional technique would result in a massive incision; whereas lapascopy is minimally invasive.
It’s not every day you can see these secret places! Our clients are just brilliant; and this procedure means this patient got maximum benefit from the availability of laparoscopic techniques.
View from operating theatre
I have visited and worked in at least 30 clinics during my career; all over Dublin,London, Australia, New York and New Zealand. Practice design and location is so variable. As young vets we like to move around and gain experience and so I worked in the majestic Queen Mother Hospital in London; with it’s world class design at the time, as my first job. It was so impressive! I also worked in a converted Victorian toilet in a later job in Roehampton; which was interesting!! I used to take my lunch on a tiny chair surrounded by boxes. There were no windows. It wasn’t great.
A lot of industrial units are converted from warehouses; and are windowless too. I managed a fabulous purpose built hospital with cutting edge design for several years; which was surrounded by mountain scenery; but the architect managed to situate the consulting room with no windows and no cooling system; so you couldn’t ventilate odours; and we would bake in the summer. So claustrophobic!
So it’s not without thought that I situated my clinic in a tranquil environment; surrounded by several acres of nature gardens. My commute is 10 seconds from my kitchen. Our gardens are mature; and the view from the operating theatre is great! During quiet times; I love to go briar hunting. The grounds around the clinic are perfect for them; and they can be several feet long!! It’s very cathartic chopping them out of shrubs and trees. I highly recommend it as a mindful activity.
With all of my adventures; I did see though, that the building doesn’t really matter. The people are key. We like to keep our clinic a bit understated; and inviting and friendly; rather than too shiny and clinical. I guess personality counts in practice design! We practice high quality modern medicine and cutting edge surgery; it’s just that we like to do it surrounded by plants and nature!
The snow was lovely this week. This is the view from our operating theatre. Looks like I need to get the shears out and chop that
Bladder stone removal
Some followers have been asking for more behind-the-scenes surgery videos. These are covered by Facebook; so you can choose to see them if you’re not too squeamish.
This one is great! It shows us removing a huge bladder urolith under general anaesthetic this morning. Ouch!
Foreign body removal
For all my followers who keep asking for more surgery videos…this follows on from our post yesterday regarding a foreign body. It’s part of a dog toy sold in stores in Ireland at the moment. Facebook will cover this so don’t click if you’re squeamish!!
A lot of toys sold for pets are dangerous. If they’re chewable; be careful that they can’t break apart and be swallowed!!
That moment when … you’ve suspected a foreign body; found it on X-ray; safely got your patient to theatre; locate it; isolate off the offending obstructed bowel in a sterile manner; and you get to remove the amazing object and save your patient’s life..
After removing the offending stone; we closed the enterotomy site with tiny delicate stitches (not too tight; not too loose).. leak tested the site; applied an omental graft(like a plaster made from other structures in the abdomen) ; copiously flushed the whole cavity with warm sterile saline; and closed up. We need to pay attention to pain relief; because this really hurts. We also need to ensure our surgical technique is excellent; and we change our sterile gloves a few times throughout the surgery at different stages; so that our patient doesn’t develop life-threatening peritonitis.
Mille, our mischievous stone-eating Labrador, bounded home the next day and ate well for her owner. Another one saved!!
Stones don’t make good snacks, Millie!
Despite all the negativity I hear online and elsewhere; and the average time in practice for clinical vets being only three to four years; at 25 years and counting I still love my job!!
Our profession is experiencing a manpower crisis; experienced vets are selling their practices and retiring; and mentors are slowly disappearing.
Please be kind to your vets and vet nurses. We work really hard, every day, behind the scenes. I find it sad to see so many younger vets dropping out of clinical practice so quickly. Veterinary teams are the best people in the world, when they are happy and working well together in a mutually respectful way.
It’s not an easy job; but it’s a brilliant job.
This is beautiful Dara! She came to us for acupuncture for a very sore leg; and we were delighted to help. Acupuncture is incredibly useful for neural pain and osteoarthritic pain; but it’s of limited use where there is a mechanical lameness. I was suspicious of cruciate disease when I examined her.
We requested all of the notes and radiographs from her previous vet; and we focussed on some subtle radiographic changes in her stifle joint. We sought an opinion from our wonderful ortho surgeon; who recommended a sterile joint tap as part of a work up.
The joint fluid was found to have inflammatory markers; which confirmed our suspicions of a partial cruciate rupture. This is a failure of the integrity of the knee joint; and results in instability. Eventually this causes irreversible osteoarthritis. We recommended an elective surgery to re-model her stifle and restore her function.
This journey has been difficult and upsetting for her owners; because it involves deciding to do a painful elective surgery on behalf of a pet who can’t speak for themselves! But Dara’s owner bravely opted for the orthopaedic procedure; despite all the associated risks. It’s scary, trusting your pet to your vet for an anaesthetic. They do hover between life and death during surgery; and it’s our job to pull them through safely.
I took this little video post operatively. Dara was fine! Very comfortable and not crying. Our patients get the best analgesia; and we keep them as pain free as possible. I think she was actually doing better than her owner at this point 😉😉. She’s gone home now to recuperate. Her prognosis for excellent function and a pain- free life is very good; and we’re thrilled to be able to help her. Isn’t she just the sweetest soul!
Ah Lucy the little singing vet opens the Toy show! So lovely to see little girls aspiring to be vets. Not so long ago it was just men that could go to university.… well done Lucy!
**** DON’T PLAY THIS VIDEO IF YOURE SQUEAMISH! ****
This video shows the moment a tiny miniature singleton Pomeranian puppy was safely delivered at c-section just a few hours ago. Her mummy is teeny. It’s a Halloween delivery! Maybe the puppy’s name should be Spooks….
We’ve been watching mummy closely for the past few days; with progesterone testing and clinical exams to make sure she didn’t have any complications at delivery.
A single pup pregnancy is high risk. These surgeries really akin to human paediatric surgery crossed with human obstetrics; everything has to be perfect. She’s a gorgeous little Halloween baby! For some of you, a video like this is footage of the miracle of life; but for the squeamish among you it’s like a horror movie. 😂😂 it’s Halloween; so I’ll let you decide…
Cute X-ray of a little dogs skull we thought we would share. We have digital radiography; meaning we can have X-ray results in minutes. Much faster, in general, than the HSE!! We don’t need to wait for a radiographer to take them; or the radiologist to read and report them; or the anaesthetist to be on standby; we are the anaesthetist, radiographer, radiologist and surgeon.. all rolled into one!
Nature is powerful. This lone pup (mummy only made one!) is looking for his mummy just five minutes after being born. Mum was recovering. A single pup pregnancy is high risk, and often results in c-section. The little cry is just so sweet; this video best with the sound on. We kept the pupper warm under a heat lamp and until mum was up and around and ready to go home. He’ll have him mum all to himself; and that’s what boys love!
For everone asking about Arnie the cat that was brought to us with a head injury; the news is that he’s settled in his new home with a gorgeous couple who are so sweet to him. He’s a little timid and scared, but he’s healing; he can see and seems to be fully recovering. Thanks for all the well wishes. He’s a very lucky cat and we’re just thrilled to see him getting better every day. We’ll remove his orthopaedic wire in a month or so once his mouth is healed, and hopefully he’ll live happily ever after. 🥰
**warning .. surgery video., don’t press if you’re squeamish!**
How is your day going! We’re very busy.. you know.. removing socks from puppies.. as you do.
So we just had a little patient vomit up a giant tapeworm. If you watch the video you’ll see it wriggling. Try not to scream. Fleas act as an intermediate host to tapeworms; and they pass them on to cats and dogs. If you’re flea control is up to date it’s unlikely your pets will get tapeworms. Please talk to your vet about prevention.
