Christmas Pets at Abbeyfields Vets!
Meet Tiggy ! And look at what she arrived in for her visit yesterday.
Tiggy is quite an exceptional cat , with a huge personality and dose of feline attitude! She visits quite regularly with her owners since she’s on long term medication. This time she brought along some festive spirit in her full santa suit.
Tiggy is a grand old lady of 15 years plus, still the head of the house hold over her other feline pals Duncan and Wilfy. They join in the party spirit too, but Tiggy’s owner told us that Wilfy now has to wear the elf outfit that Duncan struggles to squeeze into!
Tiggy is a seasoned International Traveller on the Pet Passport Scheme and we regularly hear stories of her travels around Europe in a camper van. How cool is that, but also, when ever she arrives at her foreign destination, Tiggy is let out to tour the area and comes back to the camper for tea and bed. Its really uncommon for any owners to be so confident their feline friend will not get lost in a new location. Standard recommendation is to keep your cat in its new home for 2 weeks before letting out!
Tiggy needs long term medication for her hyperthyroid condition, which her owner has off to a T giving daily tablets. Now that’s hard in a cat anyway, but also Tiggy is a no – fear cool cat who can obey her owners requests without a fluster, but soon let us at the vets in Rocester know when she is agitated with an early grumble.
Nice she’s in the Christmas spirit and was happy to pose for the camera!
Alfie
Alfie was bought in to the surgery as his owner was worried he was just not his normal happy self. A thorough examination revealed that his gums were very pale and that he had a very fast heart rate.
We were very concerned about Alfie as he was severely anaemic and ran some blood tests to confirm a very low red blood cell count and that his blood wasn't clotting. We were very suspicious that Alfie may have eaten some rat poison which causes bleeding disorders. Unfortunately Terrier dogs are commonly poisoned with rat bait as they manage to get into small holes and find the poison or eat dead (poisoned) rats. 
As Alfie was so poorly he needed a blood transfusion to transfer clotting factors into his own blood to help it clot. Julie's Truman dog was a suitable donor and we collected half a litre of blood in exchange for a few cuddles and biscuits!
We then attached the blood via a drip to Alfie and slowly transfused the blood.
Alfie made a very rapid recovery and within hours was much pinker and brighter. After an overnight stay Alfie went home and is doing very well. He has to stay on Vitamin K tablets for four weeks to counter the long lasting effects of the poison but should make a full recovery.
Bronte
Bronte is a beautiful 3 year old Setter x Labrador, who her owners had as a rescue dog earlier this year. She came to us one evening after her owners noticed that she kept licking her back near her tail, and when our vet Lucy examined Bronte she found a wound the size of a 50 pence coin which looked a bit infected.
After some antibiotic and pain-relief injections, Bronte went home, ready to come in bright and early the next day for the wound to be stitched up. Click here to see what happens when your pet spends a day here at Abbeyfields Vets.
Bronte had a general anaesthetic (as her wound was too sore to stitch up under sedation) and her wound was flushed out with lots of sterile fluid, all of the infected tissue was removed and the wound was stitched up.
Later that afternoon Bronte was ready to go home with a fashionable new buster collar that she's wearing in this photograph (to stop her from licking at her wound – as dogs mouths are pretty unhygienic places!!), and a course of pain-killers and some antibiotics to clear up any infection.
Just over a week later Bronte was back to have her stitches out, and her owners were very pleased to report that she's back to her waggy-tailed best (although she may be feeling the cold a bit this winter with her freshly-clipped patch of hair near her tail!).
Freddie
Freddie is a six year old Persian cat who came to us in January 2011 after having several funny turns. He was otherwise a normal cat who was eating well and getting up to mischief.
When we examined Freddie it was evident that he had a heart murmur and a rapid heart rate called tacchycardia. A murmur is the result of turbulent blood flow in the heart and can be a sign that the heart is struggling to function properly.
As we were concerned about his heart we went ahead to perform an ECG and a heart ultrasound scan on him.
The scan revealed a very thickened left side of the heart and from these tests we confirmed a diagnosis of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is the most common heart problem in the cat and it often goes unnoticed and is a common cause of sudden death. It can be well treated if caught in its early stages but regular monitoring of the heart is required.
We treated Freddie with a drug called Hypercard which has slowed his heart rate down and enabled it to contract more strongly. We also give him a very low dose of aspirin (aspirin is toxic to cats at a higher dose) to prevent any blood clots forming.
Freddie responded wonderfully to treatment and is still very much with us and well today. This photo was taken 9 months after treatment was started.
Billy
Billy came in after several days of coughing and just not being his usual self. The cough was always worse when he was eating.
When we examined Billy there was no apparent cause of the cough, his heart seemed to be working well and his chest was clear.
We were suspicious that there may be something stuck in his throat that was causing the problem especially as the cough seemed related to eating. With the owner’s consent we went ahead to sedate Billy and look down his throat and this is what we found.................
This is not an uncommon finding in cats; we have removed several already this year!
Dogs and cats will often chew on grass when they are feeling a bit unwell as it may help make them be sick which then makes them feel better although this is not always the case and dogs in particular are not strict carnivores and will occasionally much on grass and berries.
Billy made a great recovery and is happily eating now!
