Blog Archives
Lab Mix with Degloving Injury Gets Second Chance with Three Legs
When Chance first came into the San Jose Animal Care Center (SJACC), it was evident that his left hind leg was badly injured, reportedly after he was hit by a car. Chance had suffered a degloving injury, which means that the skin was missing from his leg, leaving the bones in that area exposed. To make things worse, the bones in the affected area of Chance’s leg were not attached and connected like they should be. The injury was gruesome, but Chance was otherwise in good health and spirits.
Veterinarians at SJACC made sure Chance was comfortable by giving him pain medications along with antibiotics to fight infection. The vets bandaged and splinted Chance’s leg and changed it daily while waiting for an owner to come to the shelter and claim him. The wet-to-dry bandages also served to clean out the wound from dirt, debris, and dead tissue, allowing fresh tissue to take over.
Chance – Leg Wound After Repeated Wet-to-Dry Bandages Following Injury from Hit-by-Car Incident.
San Jose Shelter Pushes Forward and Strives to Save More Kittens Each Year
Less than 1-Pound Kitten with URI
The summer is when kitten season is in full swing. Because cats are such prolific reproducers, animal shelters tend to become overrun with kittens during the summer months (or, more accurately, most of the year in California animal shelters). With such a high influx of kittens, it is often hard for shelters to keep up with them and the care they require.
Many shelters euthanize kittens under two pounds upon entering the shelter, even if they are healthy. You can imagine what the fate is for kittens that are not healthy. The San Jose Animal Care Center (SJACC) does not follow this practice. Rather, the SJACC has worked hard to save a higher percentage of kittens each and every year and has gradually decreased the weight at which the shelter’s veterinarians feel it is safe to perform surgery (using special protocols for these fragile mini-kitties) and adopt out kittens. As of 2014, the minimum weight kittens must be for surgery to be performed at SJACC is 1.3 pounds.
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!
Tails of a Shelter Vet 