Blog Archives
Before & After – Total Makeover Edition – The Importance of Grooming Matted Hair Coats
While much of what I write about on this site has a lot to do with the medical care that my team and I are able to provide to the animals within the animal shelter, something that is often overlooked as not being medically related is an animal’s hair or fur.
Many animals that do not have short hair coats are in need of grooming on a regular basis in order to keep their coat healthy and prevent it from becoming matted. You may think that mats are unsightly more than anything else, but you may be surprised to learn that they do have health consequences.
Matted hair can be soaked in urine, feces, or tears, keeping these bodily fluids close to the skin and resulting in a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. What manifests can be a potentially serious skin infection.
Matted hair can also conceal wounds and overgrown nails, the latter of which have the ability to grow in 360˚ circles and straight into and through the paw! Ouch!
For this dog, getting neutered was also an opportunity to get a complete makeover! Check it out…
Before! About to undergo anesthesia, though we weren’t really sure what he looked like underneath all that hair!
Before & After – Maury – Surgery Turns Gruesome Tail Injury Into Cute Faux Manx Tail
I am so excited to finally be able to share this kitten’s story! Maury came to us in late February, and though he had quite a personality, there was something about him that drew our attention and concern – his tail!
Maury sustained a severe wound to his tail that left it mostly degloved (without skin) and severed with a vertebrae exposed at the tip. While he did not share his story with us, the injury he sustained did not dampen his spirit – Maury was a cheerful, playful kitten from the first moment I met him.
We provided Maury with a comfortable kennel with lots of soft bedding and good medication to relieve any pain he might be experiencing while we waited for an owner to come forward to claim this adorable little kitten. Yet no one came.
Blocked Cat Reunited With Owner After Emergency Intervention
A few weeks ago, a cat came to me in the morning as a transfer from the emergency clinic that handles our after-hours medical care. The cat was a male, black cat that was blocked (unable to urinate), in very poor condition in the emergency clinic, and remained in very poor condition upon coming into our care at the San Jose Animal Care Center.
Most cats that come to the emergency clinic in this kind of poor condition without any identification are at risk of being euthanized. This cat, however, had a microchip, so the emergency clinic received authorization to spend more than our normal limit per animal on this cat, because we had reason to believe this cat had a home!
Before & After: Cavalier King Charles Gets Second Chance After Extensive Surgery to Remove Tumors
An adorable 12-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel came to us at San Jose Animal Care & Services with multiple problems.
Before
The most obvious problem was the large mass that was on the front right of her chest. Though her long locks covered and concealed much of her body, we also found another mass on her belly and a large umbilical hernia. Like many Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, this little girl also had a heart murmur.
A rescue organization saw past her age, heart murmur, lumps and bumps, and agreed to find her a forever home. Read the rest of this entry
The Forensic Veterinary Examination
Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of my job as a shelter veterinarian at a large municipal shelter is that I get to be involved in veterinary forensics.
For those of you who have seen shows such as Animal Cops or CSI, you may have an idea of what this entails. Essentially, I work with animal service officers to investigate and prosecute cases such as animal abuse and neglect by performing examinations on the animals that are the focus of the investigation to determine whether my examination supports or fails to support the case.
Some of the interesting cases I’ve seen so far include:
- Dogs allegedly killed by other dogs
- Dogs that were allegedly abused.
- Dogs that were allegedly neglected, such as owners allegedly failed to provide the dogs with medical care after a substantial injury or attack.
- Dogs that were allegedly sodomized.
- Dogs that died from unknown causes and were found on a crime scene that was part of a police investigation.
Before & After – Struggling with Paraphimosis
Paraphimosis Before Phallopexy
It’s an awkward problem. It’s also often misunderstood. Many people see a dog with paraphimosis (par′ă-fī-mō′sis) and think the dog is sexually aroused. While any male dog may normally (even without sexual arousal) extend his penis beyond the sheath or prepuce that normally covers his penis, the penis should be able to retract back within the prepuce and out of sight without any difficulty. When that doesn’t happen, we have a problem. Paraphimosis is the term we use when a dog’s penis is unable to fully retract back within the prepuce. The first paraphimosis case I cared for was a chihuahua. His penis was stuck outside of the prepuce, but fortunately it simply appeared dry. Some dogs with paraphimosis may develop swelling, strangulation of the tissue, infection or necrosis. This dog was lucky. Read the rest of this entry
Before & After – Feral Cat With Notoedric Mange Gets Treated and Forever Home Thanks to Trapper
On one of my surgery days at HSSV, a feral cat was trapped for TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) and brought to me for surgery. Immediately upon looking at him, it was clear that he wasn’t doing well. While I neglected to take a photograph of his condition at the time, I can assure you that the skin on his face and neck was akin to the photograph at the right – cracked, hairless and oozing.
We saved him for last as we were worried about him having an illness that would be transmittable to the other animals in our care (or even to us as humans).
Before & After – Vinnie’s Puppy Strangles Didn’t Stop Him From Finding a Forever Home
One of the things I love about shelter medicine is the ability of a shelter and its staff to take an animal that would easily be overlooked or considered for euthanasia and give them a chance to heal and get a second shot at life.
There are many animals that come into the shelter broken, malnourished or with various medical concerns that need to be addressed. Oftentimes we become so enveloped in caring for the animal that we forget to recognize how far the animal has come in its recovery. We often think back to the grainy image stored in our memory of the animal when it first arrived in our care but have no actual image to reflect back on to remind us and show others how much of a difference we made. That is why I am going to make a concerted effort to take photographs of animals early on in their treatment so that I can share with you the many success stories that we see in animal shelters.
To start off the Before & After series, it is only appropriate that I share the story of Vinnie.
Tails of a Shelter Vet 