Pets Needing their Vets During Lockdown

Saving Poppy’s Life

Poppy visited Croydon Vet because she was very flat and lethargic. Her owners were worried that she had eaten onions. She was stabilised and then moved to Streatham Hill Vets. At Streatham, Gabriella scanned her and along with blood tests, diagnosed her with a ruptured spleen, meaning she was bleeding into her abdomen from her spleen, the organ that produces new red blood cells.

Due to the severity of the condition, Gabriella got a blood donor as ruptured spleens often need a blood transfusion. So in came the lovely Jessie who donated her blood for Poppy.
The surgery was difficult and Poppy lost a lot of blood, however luckily she didn’t lose enough to warrant a blood transfusion (that can have its own side effects).

Poppy went home two days later and is doing well with her recovery! She’s very happy to have her favourite toy with her wherever she goes.

Happy News

Whilst there was so much uncertainty in the UK and sadness, we had some great news too!  Our brilliant vet Dr. Tanith performed an emergency Caesarean section and two beautiful puppies were delivered with our Operations Director Claire and Nurse Lauren fighting for the first boy and girl cuddle!

Bear’s Life Saving Surgery

This little cutie is Bear! 🐶😍 Bear has a condition called Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome (BOAS), which is a worrying but common condition in short-nosed breeds like English bulldogs, Pugs and Boxers. This syndrome can also make your dog susceptible to skin infections, heart and eye problems but the most serious threat to your dog’s welfare is the struggle to breathe, unfortunately, the condition can cause severe suffering and sometimes even death.

Luckily, our lovely vet Gabriella used her skills and expertise to modify his Airways via Surgery. One of the changes that was made to Bears’ airways during surgery was the widening of his nostrils (as seen in his pictures) to help him breathe a little easier. 🌬

Bear is now at home and we wish him a speedy recovery! We are looking forward to having him back for his post-surgery check-up in a few days.😊

If you too have a dog with a flat face or short nose such as pugs, french bulldogs and boxers, call our branches at Streatham Hill Veterinary Surgery or Briar House Vets to book a BOAS assessment with Gabriella and Enrico who have extensive training and great experience in diagnosing and treating this condition successfully!

Fred’s Emergency

Sweet Fred visited our Briar House Vets surgery for a rhinoscopy as he had suffered a very bad nose bleed. Introducing the camera up the nose (which produces an image on the TV unit), we were able to identify where the bleeding had started from and Fred was able to go home later that day feeling comfortable and happy!

This little cutie is Dhamer. She is 10 months old and had to be brought to us after her tail got trapped in her cage door. Vet Kate assessed the damage and unfortunately, due to partial degloving, it was determined that the end of the tail would need to be amputated.
Dhamer’s surgery went brilliantly and she is going home tonight with a slightly smaller tail but a huge fan club!

Yoko – A Brave Pooch

Yoko is a sweet 3 year old girl who had a big knee surgery done yesterday by our head surgeon Gabriella. 👍

Yoko’s surgery is called TPLO, or tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy, a surgery performed on dogs to stabilize the knee joint after ruptures of the cranial cruciate ligament.

Yoko has been such a brave patient throughout, we hope she has a speedy recovery – working on her rehabilitation and soon see her back to her active self!🥰💕

Naughty Acorn

We’d like to introduce you all to little Holly 🥰

Poor Holly was uncomfortable with her mouth and when she came in to see the vet, they were concerned that her jaw might be dislocated or even fractured! So they booked her in to have some x-rays and fully investigate to find the problem today.

As soon as our fantastic vet, Kate, had Holly under anaesthetic and could fully examine inside her mouth, she found a simple solution! 🎉

Ollie came to Briar for an ultrasound which enabled us to visualised a mass in his stomach. On the day of Ollie’s surgery (where we planned to take biopsies) Ollie’s bloods indicated that the mass had begun to bleed internally and his circulating blood volume was dangerously low – this put Ollie’s life in the balance.

In stepped Korg who donated a hefty 50mls of her blood to beloved Ollie. However, Ollie still needed essential surgery to evaluate the stomach mass which was still bleeding.

Following the transfusion, Ollie had stabilised so off to surgery we went…. 🤞🤞 In surgery, we located a large bleeding mass on his stomach wall which we resected and stitched the stomach back up. Under this anaesthetic, we also placed an oesopgagostomy feeding tube (a tube through a stoma in his neck, directly into the oesophagus and into the stomach).

On recovery from his anaesthetic, Ollie entered into a 14hr intensive care phase where he was monitored constantly, medicated and supported 💉🩺 🚨

Ollie smashed recovery and we were able to commence tube feeding him Friday morning…. which, in true Ollie style, was taken in his stride. We were able to teach his owner how to do this and Tuesday evening, we were able to discharge him home. Ollie is not out of the woods yet and still has a long road to recovery BUT with the top class care he received from Team Briar and the dedication from his owner to continue this supportive care at home…. and of course, with Korg’s help 🐱 😇….. he has won half the battle.
Keep fighting Ollie – We love you!!!

Vaccinations

During the lockdown, many of our companions were in desperate need of those important vaccinations. So, when we announced that we are resuming some of our routine services, these pets rushed into our clinics to get their vaccinations up to date. We had the pleasure of seeing many of our patients again whilst meeting your new companions.

When a puppy is born, it receives passive immunity from its mother in the form of maternal antibodies passed onto them through the mother’s milk. Following this, they will need to start their vaccination course between the ages of six to nine weeks. Several initial injections are required, to begin with, this will be followed by annual boosters to keep your furry friend up to date! If you missed your puppy’s vaccinations or your pet’s vaccines have lapsed, call our surgery to book an appointment. Understanding that getting these important jabs up to date is very important, we have resumed our Vaccine Amnesty offer which is a great 2to1 offer that helps your pet get back on track with their vaccines.