Week 11
Another interesting week here at LEMC! Over the weekend, I attended the AVMA Convention in Denver. It was my first AVMA convention, so I did my best to attend a variety of CE talks (from surgery on brachycephalic dogs to practicing fear free for our small animal friends.) Monday through Wednesday, I was in ICU and floating in the clinic. There were a number of colic cases, one of which was an older gelding presenting for discomfort starting the afternoon before. On rectal palpation he was found to have gas distension. Buscopan was given to decrease the gas distension to decrease his discomfort and allow a proper rectal exam, as the doctor was met with too much resistance from the distension to feel comfortable completing the rectal exam initially. The horse was tachycardic and when refluxed with a nasogastric tube, he gave up 14L of net reflux. This particular horse did not have the option to go to surgery or go to ICU for IV fluids and monitoring. Oral fluids made him more uncomfortable, so the owner was presented with the option of trocharization. The trocharization site was visualized with ultrasound in the paralumbar fossa and prepped sterily. The extension set off the end of the short term catheter used for trocharization was placed in a small bowl of water to visualize the gas leaving the intestine. He was kept for the day at the clinic for monitoring. Without any sign of improvement, euthanasia was elected for the next day.
Another case that stands out was an older miniature horse that was extremely painful and also didn’t have a surgical option. Without signs of improvement, euthanasia was elected for. Necropsy was also elected for, revealing three hard impactions along the intestine, one of them being at the pelvic flexure.
We also had a colic that did go to surgery. In surgery, a mesenteric tear, an impaction, and a large colon displacement were found and corrected. She is recovering well now in ICU.
Mid-week, I spent some time with team surgery and was able to watch a cast change on an Andalusian mare who had lacerated her legs severely while out in pasture. She presented a few days later for discomfort with the cast change, as it’s important that she’s comfortable enough to bear weight on the cast. Thursday was also spent with Dr. Hill. She performed a gastroscopy and an exploratory abdominal surgery. The abdominal surgery revealed an extremely inflamed cecum. After she discussed her findings with the owners, euthanasia was elected for. The gastroscopy (of a different horse) revealed gastric ulcers but otherwise nothing remarkable.
Friday was spent with Dr. Dunbar. She performed extraction of 109, which was really interesting to watch. The horse needs 209 extracted as well, but that will be done on a different day. The tooth came out in two big pieces and two small ones. Sclerosis was noted at the tooth root on radiographs, so he’ll definitely be feeling better after having those two teeth removed. We also did some primary care- vaccines and physical exams. After the primary care visit, a quarter horse mare was brought to us for a pre-purchase exam. She was fairly lame in front and behind on flexion. Her feet were radiographed and the findings were discussed with the owners. It was determined that they would have her shod and she would be given the chance to adjust and become more comfortable before a sale decision was made. Our final visit was for vaccines of a yearling. The vaccine visits were a welcome change for me after the unfortunate cases that I’d seen earlier in the week. Before our day was done, we were able to peek in on Dr. Hill’s maxillary flap surgery and extraction of a broken 109.
Thanks for reading!
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