Tag: Dogs
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Pancreatitis, pt 2: treatment and prognosis
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Last week we covered diagnosing pancreatitis and the challenges associated with doing so. This week we look at management. The treatment of pancreatitis largely involves supportive care and monitoring for potential complications. Here, we recap the fundamentals. IV fluids IV fluids are critical in the acute phase to restore perfusion to core organs and correct…
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Pancreatitis, pt 1: diagnosis
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Pancreatitis is one of the most common exocrine conditions seen in small animal practice. It is caused by premature activation of enzymes (zymogens) within the pancreas leading to autodigestion, and can result in severe morbidity with the potential to lead to mortality. To this day, the diagnosis of pancreatitis remains a challenge – especially in…
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Recycling at the heart of things
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As a PhD student you get access to placements that can expand on your skills. Many of these for historians like myself are in archives or publishing but they weren’t really for me. So, when the opportunity to be a researcher for the TV show Horrible Histories came up, I jumped at the chance, and,…
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Seizures, part 2: the differentials
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In part one of this series we discussed the important questions to ask when taking a history from owners of dogs and cats that are having seizures. In this part, we look at the differential diagnoses for these cases. There are many ways to classify the different causes of seizures, but the simplest is as…
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Seizures, part 1: the questions to ask
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Clients often panic when they think their pet is having a seizure and can skip over vital information. Often, what an owner describes as a “fit” may actually be syncope, collapse from anaphylaxis or internal haemorrhage (for example, neoplasia), a vestibular event or a behavioural condition. True seizures True seizures can be divided into two…
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Hyponatraemia, pt 2: causes
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The causes of hyponatraemia can be divided into three major categories, based on serum osmolality. This is further divided based on the patient’s volume status (Table 1). Most patients we see in clinic fall into the hypovolaemic category, except patients with diabetes mellitus. Table 1. Causes of hyponatraemia based on osmolality and volume status (from…
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Hyponatraemia, pt 1: clinical signs
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Hyponatraemia is a relatively common electrolyte disturbance encountered in critically ill patients, and the most common sodium disturbance of small animals. In most cases, this is caused by an increased retention of free water, as opposed to the loss of sodium in excess of water. Low serum sodium concentration Hyponatraemia is defined as serum concentration…
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It’s never the owner’s knickers, part 2
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In my previous blog post I looked at the known veterinary phenomenon that dogs often eat underwear. This may then require surgery – which is clearly a stressful situation for owners and the vet team. And we all know that if surgery has been required, the likelihood of the underwear belonging to the owners is…
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Tales of an Indian winter
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It had been an ambition of mine since the beginning of vet school to do some type of work abroad, whether it be preclinical or clinical, a paid position or volunteer work. A big reason I undertook an intercalated MSc was for the option it presented for a three-month research period in Western Australia. Sadly,…
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It’s never the owner’s knickers, part 1
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I start with the proposed title for my memoirs, which may never be written as I do have this blog to share my life stories – but the idea and title are there for when I feel the urge. Anyway, let’s get back to the knickers… We all know that after surgery for a foreign…