These are abdominal radiographs of an acutely vomiting cat from this week. Maybe you’re better with radiographs than me: I’m not completely convinced on the basis of those that laparotomy is indicated. How about this?: This is an oblique view of the mid-abdo. The jejunum is a bit of a mess. … Continue reading
Ah pancreases, pancreases, pancreases…..I don’t think anyone finds it easy to get good views of all parts of the canine pancreas in all individuals. Deep-chested dogs, dogs with painful abdomens, gas in the duodenum and/or caecum are all confounding factors. I find that using a high frequency linear probe is enormously helpful: the interpretation depend … Continue reading
It’s always dangerous to read too much into a single case. However, this is potentially really exciting. Bo, a female Giant Schnauzer, was only five years-old in 2017 when she became inappetent and developed a pronounced ascitic effusion. Serum biochemistry revealed mildly elevated liver enzymes and significantly supranormal post-prandial bile acids. On ultrasonography, in addition … Continue reading
Yesterday I saw an elderly dog with recent onset anorexia, apparent abdominal discomfort, bloody diarrhoea, and a single episode of vomiting. On examination this patient also turned out to have loud left- and right-sided systolic murmurs. And on echocardiography he exhibited findings consistent with left-sided congestive failure due to apparent mitral valve disease, secondary pulmonary … Continue reading
In the vast majority of congenital extrahepatic shunts, the portal vein (PV) exists in normal relation to its tributaries and branches but is hypoplastic due to diversion of flow. Just occasionally, one comes across a shunt with complete absence or interruption of the PV. Vet Surg. 1998 May-Jun;27(3):203-15. Congenital interruption of the portal vein and … Continue reading
It’s an observation of ours that mediastinal lymph nodes are often prominent in cats with congestive failure. This can cloud the issue of identifying the primary cause of pleural effusions. I haven’t come across a published account of this phenomenon although I doubt it’s a completely novel observation. In human medicine it’s an established feature: … Continue reading
This is an observation as yet unsubstantiated but interesting nonetheless. This kind of change is only seen regularly in the hepatic nodes. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to do histopath on any but I’m not aware of any published reports of this phenomenon. My personal theory is that these changes are a … Continue reading
After a break of a couple of years we’ve seen two cases of angiostrongylosis in the last few weeks. As ever, it continues to manifest in a variety of presentations. The first case, a dog with a cough of a couple of weeks duration, was seen after seizuring. Within 12 hours she had suffered catastrophic … Continue reading
The patient here is a 7 y.o. Bull Terrier with a several-week history of progressive diarrhoea and malaise. She is markedly hypoalbuminaemic and her duodenum looks like this: In the course of routine ultrasonography she also turned out to have this rather alarming oscillating intracardiac mass attached to the chordae of the tricuspid … Continue reading
Early diastolic flow through the mitral valve, represented by the E wave on Doppler echocardiography, is driven by the pressure gradient between the full left atrium and the relaxing left ventricle. In most canine and feline patients, the commonest cause of accelerated transmitral flow is pathologically-increased left atrial pressure….due to either mitral insufficiency or compromised … Continue reading
