This Month at Vetrica

15 July 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.

Heat Wave

The recent hot weather has brought a number of problems for our pets in Dunfermline. We've seen a number of dogs with problems related to simple overheating. Just as we find life tough in the sun, so do dogs, and it's important to remember this. Thanks to many publicity campaigns over the years by animal charities such as the Dog's Trust and SSPCA, most people are aware of the dangers of leaving dogs in cars on a sunny day. However, it's not just inside a car that they can suffer.

Most dogs have a thick fur coat, great for the typical Scottish weather, but not so great in the heat that we are now enduring. When it's hot, don't have your dog chasing balls or sticks. Strenuous physical exertion can and does kill in the heat. Roads, pavements and sandy beaches can get very hot in the sun and burn a dog's pads. Remember this when walking your dog, and try and stick to grassy or woodland areas, especially around midday.

Animals can get sunburnt, especially white ones. White cats are particularly vulnerable and should have high factor (SPF 30+) sun cream applied to their ears before being allowed out.

Dogs with long coats ought to be clipped back. In breeds where this is not the tradition they do look a bit odd, but it's only for a short time while the hair grows back, and your dog will really feel the benefit.

Make sure your dog, cat or rabbit's hind quarters are clean at all times. Blowfly strike is a common, very distressing and possibly fatal preventable disease at this time of year. We see it mostly in rabbits, but usually at least one or two dogs and cats every summer also.

This Month's Interesting Case

After cleaning up the wound, you can see a large amount of skin loss with exposure of underlying tendons.	Snoopy is a 2 year old domestic cat. She was thought to have been hit by a car, and was brought to Vetrica with a severe injury to a hind leg. There was extensive loss of skin with exposure of the underlying soft tissues. After cleaning up and removing the hair, the whitish coloured tendons are clearly visible in the photograph on the left. The skin was sutured to close the wound as much as possible, followed by the application of a special non-adherent dressing.
After only eight days, Snoopy is already looking much better.	Two bandage changes later, and healing is already well underway. The tendons have become covered with a pink material called granulation tissue, which forms a scaffold over which new skin can grow. At this point the dressing is changed from a non-adherent one in favour of a collagen pad. Collagen pads promote much more rapid skin healing.
Sixteen days after the accident and skin re-growth is well underway. The foot is much less painful now.	After a further two bandage changes, you can see how rapidly new skin is growing across the granulation tissue. This is only just over two weeks since the accident.
Less than four weeks after the accident and Snoopy is almost fully healed.	Less than four weeks after the accident and Snoopy's skin has almost completely healed, and we were able to leave the foot uncovered.

In previous years, we would have expected Snoopy's recovery to take at least two months, and in many cases much longer. Collagen pads are a true revelation, speeding healing in serious skin wounds like this very dramatically. Snoopy is now able to lead a normal life again.

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