This Month at Vetrica

10 April 2005

Latest News

This page contains the latest news from Vetrica and Vetrica OnLine. It updates at least monthly, and will also keep you up to date with the latest news about animal care and welfare.

An archive of previous articles is also available.

Regular Worming Guidelines

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association recently revised its guidelines regarding the routine worming of dogs and cats. This brings them into line with what we have been recommending at Vetrica since we opened in 2001. Specifically, the recommendation is to worm against roundworms every month. Members of our Dog and Puppy Health Plans can be assured that by using Program Plus^®, you are correctly following this "new" advice already.

MRSA and Pets

With the general election looming next month, the NHS has been in the news a lot recently. One of the major topics of debate is the problem of a drug resistant bacteria called MRSA, and hospital acquired infections. MRSA is principally a bacteria carried by humans, but it can be transmitted to animals from humans, especially when undergoing a surgical procedure. Consequently, the British Veterinary Association recently issued guidance that included, among other things, that vets wear gloves while operating. You can be assured that at Vetrica, all surgical procedures, are carried out with the veterinary surgeon wearing sterile, single-use gloves. All surgical procedures means just that, no matter how minor, and includes such things as minor wound suturing and cat castrations. This has been the case since the day we opened on 10 December 2001, and it will always be the case. The routine use of gloves in this way is not usual in veterinary practice.

Another precaution employed in the more modern NHS hospitals against the spread of MRSA is the use of hands-free taps. At Vetrica, our surgical scrub sink has been hands free since the day we opened. When we say "WHERE PETS COME FIRST", we really mean it.

You can read more about our anaesthetic and theatre policies here

Myxomatosis

Last week, we had our first case of myxomatosis this year. This is a generally fatal disease of rabbits, spread by rabbit fleas and mosquitos. The main symptom that people see is a swelling of the face and eyelids, as you can see in the picture on the right. The photo doesn't really do justice to the degree of swelling of the eyelids that this rabbit had, and it's important to note that not every rabbit with eyes discharging like this one have myxomatosis.

What confirms myxomatosis (as opposed to a bad case of conjunctivitis), is that rabbits with myxomatosis also develop swollen genitals, as you can see in the photograph on the left. The skin over a rabbit's testicle is usually paper thin. In this rabbit it was approximately 2-3mm thick.

Myxomatosis is easy to prevent. We have a safe, effective, inexpensive vaccine, but it does need to be given every six months. Because the virus can be spread by flies, all rabbits should be vaccinated against myxomatosis, not just those kept outdoors, or near fields. This month we're offering more than 30% off the usual price of a myxomatosis vaccine with this voucher.

Quote of the Month

He doesn't bite hard.

This Month's Interesting Case

The process of removing dead and infected tissue has left quite a large defect in the skin of Tiger's tail.

Tiger is a 4 year old cat that arrived home one day with a large wound to the middle of his tail. It was a couple of days before he was brought to use, so by that time a simple repair was no longer possible. Under general anaesthetic, we cut away all the infected tissue, and repaired his tail as much as we could. However, as you can see from the photograph on the right, there was still a large open area left.

Tail bandages have to cover the whole tail!

The trouble with leaving such a large open area in a cat is that the animal will inevitably lick the area. Cats have very abrasive tongues, and transfer bacteria onto the wound. The wound simply will not heal if licking is not prevented. So we have to apply a bandage to the area, with special dressings that encourage healing. Tail bandages need to cover the entire tail, or they get "wagged off". The photograph on the left shows Tiger with his bandage on.

The skin defect has filled in with granulation tissue, marked "X".

Eight days, and two bandage changes later, Tiger's tail was healing very nicely. The hole that had been left in the skin had filled up with a special kind of tissue called "granulation tissue". This provides the framework for new skin to grow across the defect.

At this point we used a different kind of dressing that encourages new skin growth over the granulation tissue. This is a collagen pad that we lay across the wound, and secure with a bandage as before. Collagen is the major protein holding skin cells together, and does an excellent job of encouraging new skin growth.

After three weeks, Tiger's tail has almost healed.

After a further ten days, the wound had healed completely, although it will take a while for the hair to re-grow.

This case illustrates just how long it can take for some wounds to heal. From the day of Tiger's operation, to the day we allowed him to be free of his bandage was about three weeks. Had we seen Tiger on the day of the accident we may have never have had to cover his tail. Skin wounds that we can suture usually take no more than ten days to heal.

Special Offer for April 2005

Click on the voucher for a printer-friendly version.