Vomiting dog

I saw a dog yesterday, that had been vomiting for 3 days, on enquiring about the dogs history I found that he had a history of pancreatitis , the owners had been good with diet, but had recently changed diet to a new pet mince and given the dog a marrow bone, both sources of fatty diet, so I strongly suspected pancreatitis again. We admitted the dog to hospital and took blood to look at pancreatic enzymes, the amylase and lipase were very high, so that confirmed my diagnoses, we placed the dog on fluids, antibiotics and pain relief, he will need to stay in hospital for the next few days. The moral of the story is always be careful of feeding dog fatty meals

Mammary Gland Abcess

I saw a dog yesterday that had a large mammary gland abcess, it was about 8 and 1/2 weeks pregnant, full of puppies, they had taken it to the emergency center the night before and been given antibiotics but now the abcess had opened up wide under considerable tension. The owner was keen to reduce the mess, so I opted to sew the wound under local anesthetic, I am not sure how long the suture will hold. It might have been better to leave it open. But the owner was happy that I had tried.

Sore Eye

I saw a cat today that came in with a sore eye, He had been treated at a local vet surgery for a few months with out any success, It most likely is a herpes virus ulcer http://bit.ly/PV1ol they have treated it with tricin, lysine and some other antiviral medications but with out any suceess, the owner felt frustrated because every time he went to the vet surgery he saw a different vet that had a different idea how to help. I think this is because there is no easy solution to herpes viral infections. I have started it on Conoptal, and booked it for further investigation

A sad euthanasia yesterday, a good clients dog had suddenly started to lose a lot of weight, had an enlarged chest cavity and pale gums, They had no further money to investigate as her Husband has just become unemployed, but it was very likely to be some kind of tumour. We opted for euthanasia, the owner was distraught with grief, I can only try to act with compassion and offer a few words of comfort, my heart goes out to pet owners at this time, it is so hard to let pets go but it is a reality of pet ownership as most pets only live for 10 -15 years if you look after them well. I want to help more and that is why I want to promote the use of pet loss counselling at http://www.petsandpeople.com.au

Photo of Michael O'Donoghue and his pets

1st post

This blog is about my mission to help improve human animal relationships, that is to help people who help pets, It will be about my daily progress, my life as a vet and also about being a pet owner.

Today I had a difficult surgery on a cryptochorcid cat, I had trouble finding the missing testicle, I had to ring a friend for advice, but I was pleased it all finsished up well.