Cases of the month.

September 08, 2012 at 10:15 AM

Flossy gets a bite on the bum.


Flossy is a young male rabbit who was presented to the clinic with a large swelling on his back side. The large swelling was an abscess that had formed as a result of a bite wound from his brother. Now I am sure many cat owners will be familiar with bite wound abscesses but rabbits are rabbit_autumn_12.jpgquite different. In a cat the abscess tends to burst, the infection drains out (usually on the owners bed!) and the wound heals up. This doesn’t happen in rabbits the abscess tends to slowly get bigger and bigger filling up with a thick cheese like contents. The only solution in these cases is to remove the entire abscess in one piece preferably not opening them at all. Flossy was given a general anaesthetic and surgery was performed to remove a huge abscess on his back end. The wound was carefully sutured up, which is especially important in rabbits as they are excellent at chewing through sutures. Rabbits are often quite small creatures so maintaining their body temperature during surgery is most important. Flossy came through the surgery well and has had his sutures removed. We sometimes see bite wound abscesses in rabbits but the most common type of abscess is from tooth root abscesses. It is very important that rabbits eat lots of hay and grass to prevent this from happening.

 

Inky gets put back together.

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Inky is a female 13 year old cat who you would have thought was past getting into accidents. We don’t really know what caused Inky’s injury but the most inky_fx_2012.jpglikely is coming into contact with a moving car. Inky was brought into the clinic in a distressed state and was immediately treated for shock with intravenous fluids and pain relief. Once she was stable, x-rays were taken which showed a badly fractured Tibia. Amputation was considered but I only like to  do this as a last resort. I decided to  reconstruct the leg using cerclage wire to  recreate the tubular shape of the shaft while inserting a pin down the centre of the bone to keep the bone in a straight line. I enjoy inky_fixed_2_2012.jpgorthopaedic surgery but I am often surprised that easy looking fractures can often be difficult to put together and difficult ones can sometimes just lock back into place. Luckily for Inky the piece naturally seemed to link back together and create a strong bone when finished. Inky although somewhat grumpy looking in this photo, post op turned out to be a model patient who started walking slowly on the fracture within a few days. Inky will have one more surgery to remove the pin but the wire will be a permanent souvenir of  the accident.



Category: 2012

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