Day 21: Infection, Pancreatitis, Sores and Proper Treatment, Dog Attack

                 The few patients we had today (that weren’t simple appointments like nail trims and/or wellness tests) were a pug named Roxy, a Terrier named Lacey, a Tabby cat named Trixie, a Mastiff that had been in over the weekend, and a Yorkshire Terrier named Diego.  Roxy was staying because she was vomiting, had diarrhea, and was also very stuffy and had a slight fever (sign of a possible upper respiratory infection).  She is receiving the antibiotics Cerenia (to help with the vomiting), Ampicillin (to treat a possible upper respiratory infection), Metronidazole (a.k.a Flagyl; to help regulate his digestive system), and Amoxicillin (to help fight the upper respiratory infection).   Lacey was in the stall next to Roxy, and she had Pancreatitis (as I said on Day 20, pancreatitis is an inflamed pancreas. The pancreas releases digestive enzymes, helps neutralize the acid in the upper gastrointestinal tract, and releases insulin into the bloodstream to help regulate the cells’ intake of glucose. When the pancreas is inflamed, it releases those digestive enzymes prematurely [which can cause all sorts of problems], and it doesn’t neutralize or release insulin the way it should).  She is receiving the antibiotics of Flagyl (to get her digestive system back on track), Ampicillin (to help reduce her resulting fever), Cerenia (to help stop the vomiting), and Buprenorphine (to help ease the pain).  Trixie came in as an appointment today because she was dripping urine, which caused sores to show up around her anal area.  This had been going on for a couple of weeks, but instead of bringing her into the hospital, the owners would hose her bottom off a couple of times a day and then apply Vaseline to the area (not smart at all; their ignorant actions only made the sores worse).  Dr. Lou sprayed some CarraVet on the sores to help remove the dead tissue and debris, and then she applied some Vetericyn VF to the wound to help it heal the wound (the Vetericyn works like white blood cells; Neutrophils [part of white blood cells] release oxychlorine compounds to get rid of bacteria, and the Vetericyn releases these oxychlorine compounds as well, helping the tissues heal and killing nearly 100% of the bacteria within a minute of being applied).  She sent Trixie home with a bottle of each the CarraVet and the Vetericyn VF, both to be applied twice daily for a week.  She’ll then come back in for a check-up.

Roxy the Pug.

Lacey the Terrier.

The sores on Trixie's bottom (the two dark bumps under the anus).

The Mastiff had come in sometime during the weekend, so I wasn’t able to see him.  He had bloat (stomach twisted 180 degrees), so he was rushed in for surgery as soon as his owners discovered he had bloat.  The surgery went over well, but early Monday morning he died.  Dr. Todd performed an autopsy on the Mastiff, he discovered it was because of Necrosis (death of cells) in the stomach; it was compromised for too long, so it weakened and perforated.  Basically, the owners discovered something was wrong with him too late; the stomach’s cells began to die since there wasn’t enough blood getting to them, and a hole began to form where the dead cells were.  When Dr. Todd looked at the stomach, nearly half of it was black (hence, nearly half of it was dead) and there was a small hole in that area.  Unfortunately, bloat is hard to catch if the owner is unaware of the signs, and if it’s not caught quickly Necrosis can start happening and the dog will die.  Diego came in sometime over the weekend as well; he had been attacked by two Pitbulls, and they damaged his neck and neurological system.  He has draining tubes in his neck (to drain fluids like pus), has stitches in various cuts/gashes on his neck, some damage (bruising) to his left eye, is hardly able to move on his own, and his head keeps doing a constant twitch.   He is receiving daily neurological exams, and he is receiving the antibiotics Cefazolin (to kill bacteria/inhibit bacterial growth), Rimadyl (anti-inflammatory medicine to relief joint pain), Genticin Eye Drops (to help fight off any bacteria that may have gotten into the eye), Triple Antibiotic Ointment (to help heal the eye), and Clavamox (as I explained on Day 12, Clavamox is a β-lactam antibiotic and a β-lactamase inhibitor; certain types of bacteria produce the β-lactamase enzyme, which will break the β-lactam ring structure of penicillin-like antibiotics.  This will cause the antibiotics to be ineffective against the infection, so the β-lactamase inhibitor of this antibiotic prevents the bacteria from producing the β-lactamase enzyme so that this doesn’t happen and the antibiotic will work.  Also, this antibiotic contains β-lactam, which interferes with the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall and ends up killing off the bacteria.  So, the point of β-lactamase and β-lactam working together is to use β-lactamase to prevent the bacteria from releasing an enzyme that will prevent the antibiotic from working, while at the same time having the β-lactam kill off the bacterial cells).  Hopefully he’ll begin healing and be able to start controlling his movements again soon!

Dr. Todd cutting through the stitches from the surgery two days ago on Saturday to see the stomach and perform the autopsy.

The stomach (area circled in blue).  I couldn't get a clear picture of the blackened part of the stomach (I was helping hold the dog), but it can be seen that the right side is darker than the left side in the picture.  As he turned the stomach over and around, we could see how the majority of it was nearly completely black.

Diego.  He is unable to move, besides the twitches of his head.

Some of the tubes, cuts, and stitches on Diego's neck.