In these days of Angiostrongylosis (in the UK anyway) we know all about the threat posed by snails to our pets’ health…. This case concerns an acutely dyspnoeic 1 y.o. domestic short-haired cat one Sunday afternoon. His thoracic radiographs are interesting. Place your bets….name that tracheal foreign body! I guess I blew it with … Continue reading
This poor chap was a British Short-Hair and 3 y.o. at presentation. He was presented for progressive weight loss with polyuria/polydispsia and proved to be azotaemic. However, his kidneys are another story -we are concerned here with his heart. On physical examination he proved to have systolic murmurs on both left and right sides about … Continue reading
This is a an adult DSH of unknown age and provenance who presented with ascites. His owner reported him as being otherwise active and well. He was not tachypnoeic or hyperpnoeic (resting respiratory rate in the clinic 26/minute). On auscultation he does have left and right-sided murmurs and a gallop sound on the left. Ultrasonographically, … Continue reading
A previously-healthy, three-year-old, indoor DSH was presented with a 2 day history of cough and deteriorating respiratory distress. These are the thoracic radiographs: Looks pretty suspicious for a right sided pneumothorax. This is cat who has definitely no contact with motor vehicles. But….spontaneous pneumothorax is certainly a possibility: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24697868 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22344603 It’s not common and, as … Continue reading
I should be doing my accounts but this is really a lot more interesting. A few weeks back I posted a case with gas in the portal circulation. Today’s cat has the other potential cause of gas densities in the liver: aerobilia. This is also not common. He is a quite poorly little cat with … Continue reading
This is a cat who was investigated early in life on account of episodic malaise and raised bile acids. At the time a provisional diagnosis of primary hypoplasia of the portal vein was made. This is the main portal vein: The main portal vein is obviously and abnormally narrow but flow within it is hepatopetal. … Continue reading
This is a 5 month-old cat with recurrent haematuria. The bladder: The bladder is almost empty apart from a collection of calculi up to 4mm diameter. And this is very suspicious in a young cat. The vessels at the porta hepatis are interesting, although the portal vein and its tributaries are arranged normally the whole … Continue reading
Renal infarcts in cats are common incidental findings on abdominal ultrasonography in cats. Hickey and others (2014) reviewed disease associations in cats with renal infarcts diagnosed on ultrasonography or necropsy. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24528199 A significant association with cardiomyopathy was observed. However, that doesn’t explain for me why so many cats have apparent infarcts. Certainly in our population … Continue reading
Interesting cases from this week, happily doing well at present. The first, a cat with acute vomiting and profound malaise: The first two seconds of the examination. Don’t want to jump to any conclusions but a stomach dilated to that extent raises the prospect of mechanical or functional GI obstruction. And there’s some ‘stuff’ in … Continue reading
Ranitidine has been bugging me for a while. My experience is that it’s very widely used in small animal practice. Obviously it’s unlicensed. What is the evidence for its use? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22792515 Lidbury et al found no effect of ranitidine (75mg bid) on GI transit times in dogs http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21864875 Favarato et al found no effect of … Continue reading
