September Highlights

From cute pets with grass seeds and BOAS surgeries to ultrasounds and life-saving cesarian, check out some of our September highlights below!

Elvis – For the heart

This cutie is Elvis pictured here with his vet Viraf and nurse Sarah. He has been coming to Streatham Hill Vets for treatment of ventricular tachycardia (VT). VT is a heart rhythm disorder. The heart is divided into four chambers, the two top chambers are called the atria and the two bottoms chambers are called the ventricles. With VT the ventricles in the heart are beating too quickly or chaotically, this means that they may not have enough time to fill up with blood between beats, and produce a rapid heart rate. When Elvis presented to us he had a heart rate between 250-300 beats per minute. The normal heart rate for a dog is about 70-140 beats per minute. 😱

• Fainting
• Weakness
• Exercise intolerance
• Increased heart rate
• Shortness of breath
• Confusion
• Collapse or fainting

An ECG and ultrasound scan of the heart was performed on Elvis to help diagnose VT. Due to the very high heart rate, which was worrying, lidocaine was given to Elvis through a catheter into his vein. Lidocaine helps to reduce the heart rate and is an anti-arrhythmia drug (A drug designed to treat an abnormality of heart rhythm). You can see in Elvis’s ECG his heart rhythm before and after the use of lidocaine.

Elvis is doing well and has been moved on to oral medications to continue to treat his VT. We continue to monitor him and so does his amazing and dedicated owner.🐶

The last grass seed of the year – Hopefully!

Little Jimi visited Briar House Vets with very sore ears 😢
Vet Enrico set to work and removed a total of FOUR grass seeds from his ears – poor little love!

Jimi had to be sedated so we could remove these safely and his sedation and recovery was monitored by our lovely Registered Veterinary Nurse Emma 👩‍⚕️ 🩺 Being available on the weekend meant we could get Jimi sorted and back home swiftly!! Great work Team Briar 😍😍

They are safe and well

Sweet Maggie was brought into Lakeview Vets after struggling to give birth ( dystocia ) to her kittens, this is a life-threatening condition for Mum and her babies if not able to deliver naturally.

Because of this serious emergency, our wonderful dedicated Senior Veterinary Surgeon Greg rushed to her aid on his day off to perform a Caesarian Section!!! ❤️❤️ This is a procedure which involves removal of the kittens from the uterus while Mum is under General Anaesthesia. 😺 Once removed our amazing nurses Jules and Mellisa stimulated the newborns to breathe, keeping them warm and safe until Maggie recovered from her surgery ❤️❤️❤️

We are so pleased and happy to say that Maggie was able to go home with her two gorgeous kittens 😍😍 Just look at those pictures and an incredible video of them all!!! We just can’t get enough of them ❤️❤️❤️ We will continue to keep in close contact with her Human Parents throughout their recovery!

If your pet exhibits any of the following during labour we would like to hear from you:

• Mum has had 20 minutes of intense labour ( straining ) but has not produced a kitten
• There has been no kittens born for two hours
• Mum is depressed, lethargic, has a fever, is distressed or exhibiting pain.
• She has fresh blood loss from her vulva for more than 10 minutes.
• If her gestation is longer than 68 days with no signs of labour.

If you are worried at all that your pet is in difficulty during birth, please don’t hesitate to give us a call, our experienced long-standing staff are always on hand with advice.

Loki’s BOAS Surgery

Lovely Loki, who joined Briar House Vets for a complex BOAS Surgery, spent the evening at ‘Briar Hotel’ under the watchful eye of our team and was fit for discharge the following day😍😍 But not before some Team Briar cuddles 😍😍 See you for your post-op check Loki xx