A deviation from the "normal" at BEH

Wow! What a week it has been!  In addition to the usual cases (lamenesses, joint injections, and arthroscopy surgery), we had some non-equine patients visit the clinic.  Our first visitor was a one-month-old calf that was non-weight bearing on one of its hind legs for the past few weeks.  Upon physical exam, the calf was painful to palpate over its femur.  We took numerous radiographs and even ultrasounded a bump that was over the painful area, but could not find any abnormalities other than her lameness and the bump.  The owner reported that the calf has been gradually improving and can rise on her own, so we sent her home with her owner with the instructions to keep an eye on her and bring her back if anything gets worse.  Our other “abnormal” visitor was a dog that came in for radiographs.  He had a suspected foreign body and the clinic he was being treated at had a broken x-ray machine, so they brought him to BEH to borrow ours.  It was a great reminder of how helpful our profession can be when our colleagues are in need.

Examining the calf.

In lateral recumbency to take radiographs.

Dr. Provost also has taken in a new kitten and he spent the day at the clinic on Friday.  Who doesn’t like having a cute kitten to play with in between lameness exams?!

Dr. Provost's new kitten!

A couple weeks ago, I accompanied Dr. Hackett to the racetrack to perform a dynamic endoscopic exam (You can read the blog post here http://msuequine.blogspot.com/2014/06/lamenesses-galore-at-beh-and-trip-to.html).  After reviewing the footage Dr. Hackett confirmed that the horse did have dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP), and this week the horse came in to have the surgery to correct this condition.  This procedure, known as a “tie forward”, involves the placement of a permanent suture around the larynx and bones of the hyoid apparatus in order to bring the larynx forward. This forms a tighter seal between the epiglottis and the soft palate and significantly decreasing the likelihood of the soft palate displacing over the epiglottis.  The surgery went very well, and the horse has a great prognosis for returning to racing after he recovers from the procedure.

Photo from VM 547-Respiratory diseases lecture (Dr. Susan Holcombe)

Closing the subcutaneous layer of tissue on the tie forward procedure

At the end of this long week, we had a colic come in late Friday night.  After our initial workup, which showed a great deal of gas distention and likely a displaced large colon, we put the patient in a stall to observe while we gave a bolus of fluids.  She showed us very quickly how painful she was, and after about 30-45 minutes of unsuccessfully trying to control the pain, we rushed to surgery.  This patient had colic surgery at BEH back in 2009 for a small intestinal problem, but this time we found that she had a right dorsal displacement of large colon and significant gas distension.  In surgery Dr. Provost relieved the excess gas and placed the colon back in its proper position.  

Friday night colic surgery with Dr. Provost and Dr. Moschgat

Distended cecum and large colon

Moving gas through the intestine to the cecum in order to suction it out.

Even though it was a long night (Finished surgery a little before 3:00 am, patient recovered from anesthesia about 4:15 am, and we finished cleaning surgery about 5:00 am), it was so rewarding coming back in to the hospital after a quick nap and seeing how comfortable our patient was after surgery!  She is already eating bran mashes and doing great.  She will be staying several more days with us as we monitor her and re-introduce hay into her diet, but Dr. Provost is optimistic that she will make a full recovery.

Just finished surgery... yes that's 2:55 AM!

This week has certainly reinforced the variety of cases that we experience in veterinary medicine; “Routine” is an illusion. I only have 2 weeks left here in Somerset, so we will see what kinds of interesting cases come in to the clinic before I leave.  Until next time!