More Progress on the New Clinic

Here's some new pictures of the new clinic. The external walls are going up, plumbing is going in, and the steel has been delivered for the front archway. Enjoy!

Hard Working Dogs

This is Branco, one of our favorite Belgian Malinois police dogs. Branco works with his handler at the Durham City Police Department and brings his rope toy with him when he comes to see us. He's a handsome boy!

There are an estimated 2500 dogs working with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. The work that they do helps keep us and our communities safe.

As a part of Triangle Veterinary Emergency Clinic's commitment to the community, we provide emergency care for active duty police dogs free of charge.

Let's hear it for service dogs everywhere!

All you can eat buffet...

Anyone who's ever had a Lab knows that this breed likes to eat. I mean they REALLY like to eat. So when they accidentally get access to the entire bag of food, this is what happens.


This is an x-ray of the abdomen of a Labrador Retriever who managed to sneak his way into the food bag. Ouch! Talk about a tummy ache. Actually it can be a bit more dangerous than just an aching belly. The dry food tends to absorb water, and the food often swells. The result is that the animal can actually get dangerously dehydrated. And then there's the mechanical danger - the weight of the food can increase the risk of the stomach twisting on itself (GDV - gastric dilatation and volvulus). GDV is an immediate danger, and is often fatal without emergency surgery.

In the picture below the blue circle represents the approximate size of the normal stomach, the red circle represents the approximate size of the stomach after a normal meal. The green line is the outline of the stomach in this pet.


Some people jokingly say that Lab's don't have the "I'm full" neuron in their brain. But it's not just Labs; lots of different breeds of dog will eat themselves into a hospital visit. Fortunately, they also usually do quite well with appropriate treatment.

Delia

Isn't she awesome? Delia is a beautiful 10-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier who was very sick with a bleeding splenic tumor this past December. Emergency surgery fixed the immediate problem, but now she has a mass growing in her heart. We get to see her... She has to come in for periodic rechecks to monitor the cardiac mass. That means Delia has batted for the cycle, having seen all four of our services (Emergency, Surgery, Internal Medicine, and Radiology)!

Delia is a fantastic girl, and we enjoy seeing her. It's always a mixed emotion though; we love the patients, but we wish they didn't have to come see us so often!

That's not supposed to be there...

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. Look at the above images. Yes, that's right, that IS a sewing needle that is stuck in this cat's rectum. Ouch!

What usually happens is that the cat finds a piece of string and begins to play with it, as cats like to do. Inevitably, the string gets stuck on the little bristles (called papillae) on the tongue. Since these papillae all point backwards, the string only moves one way - down the back of the throat. Uh oh, what's that? A sewing needle on the end of the thread? Well, that will have to be swallowed also.

In this case the needle almost made it's way out of the large intestine. Unfortunately, the needle got caught at the level of the pelvis, and didn't want to come out. Fortunately, Dr. Grafinger was there to save the day! Surgery involving the large intestine is always dicey, and this needle had punctured the intestine on both sides, so the outcome was far from certain. But, this kitty recovered nicely, and is resting comfortably at home.

And all is well that ends well.

(PS: String is just bad for cats, even if there is no needle attached. Try to keep your cat away from string, thread, etc).