With a little luck, this will be the first of many interesting veterinary cases I get to talk about. What I'm pretty sure is a german long-haired pointer presented last week with pancreatitis. During the ultrasound, which I assisted, the doctor noticed a strange artifact in the dog's bladder, which looked like a hollow circle with two 1/2-centimeter horizontal lines below it:
___(_)___
________
He inserted a syringe to draw some urine, and tapped at the artifact with the needle, which moved freely in response. He injected some fluid into the hollow circle, which appeared on the ultrasound to burst, but may have just lost its circular shape. The current theory is that a catheter, previously inserted in another hospital, was somehow pulled up into the bladder. If the circle did in fact burst, it might be a foley catheter, which has a small balloon attached to it. It may have been a normal catheter, and was just curled up in the bladder. The two horizontal lines are both parts of the same catheter, and form a connection that can't be seen by the ultrasound. The pancreatitis is being treated, and once the dog is healthier it will be able to be anesthetized and will probably get its bladder scoped.
I'm gonna try to get copies of the actual ultrasound pictures, which I'm sure the doctor has on his computer and would be happy to share. Detailed images of one of the horizontal lines shows thick outer walls and a more hollow center, definitely suggesting a catheter. That's the only theory the doctors have, that I know of, even though the Cornell hospital (where the dog last was) denies it could have happened. I'll keep you posted.
By the way, anyone want to adopt an overweight female pug, who might undergo a tracheotomy? Her owner couldn't handle the breathing problems, which made the weight problem worse (couldn't excercise) and vice versa, so she opted for euthanasia instead of surgery. Dr. Ross took pity on it, and now we have a hospital pug looking for adoption. The tracheotomy might not be necessary if a hardcore diet and regular, non-stressing excercise work. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about adopting it myself.
7 comments:
I don't like the Foley theory either. The only way a foley could slip inside a bladder would be if it was severed, in which case the balloon would not still be inflated. The inflation port would not be able to slip inside without tearing the urethra apart. That said, I don't have a better idea.
The pug needed a trach because its airway was occluded by fat deposits?
What is the pug like? Age, personality, appearance? I am not nuts about pugs in general, but Panda does need a friend . . .
And what a fascinating story! If I understand the normal-catheter theory, would the circle you saw on the ultrasound have been the end of the catheter, pointing straight at you? In that case when the vet injected fluid into it, it could have shoved the catheter back, causing the circle to disappear so that it seemed to burst. Maybe, anyway. If there's a next chapter, we'd love to hear it!
The vet would not be able to penetrate the end of the catheter with a needle without holding the catheter. If the balloon was somehow inflated, he might be able to pop the ballon with a needle.
That was Cornell's objection to the foley catheter theory, as I understand it. I'm not sure what the doctors' rationalization for that was. Mom, if it was a regular catheter the circle in the ultrasound would be made by the catheter curling like a roller coaster loop, which somehow opened up when he injected fluid into it.
I'm not nuts about pugs either. This one is 2 and half, all black, with a sad little face. She's severely overweight, to the extent that she doesn't seem too capable of being rambunctious, and apparently when she does her constricted airway gives her problems. Her airway, dad, was constricted all her life. She had a minor surgery to try to correct it about a year ago, and it didn't seem to work as well as it should have (not sure what they did). Because she couldn't excercise without hyperventilating, and because her owners fed her way too much, she gained a lot of weight, which they think it exacerbating the constricted airway problem. She seems like a sweetheart, and will probably find a home very quickly (there were vet students calling other vet students almost immediately upon its arrival), but I thought I'd let you know it's there.
By the way, did I tell you I work with the daughter of Mrs. Marcy, the SE librarian, and Mr. Marcy, the former SE gym teacher? She said she was gonna ask Mrs. Marcy about me. That should be interesting.
That doesn't sound like the right dog for us. It would be hard to keep her on a diet, given our complete lack of discipline on that subject with Panda. And if she can't play without getting into breathing trouble, being around Panda would be too rough on her.
However, Caleb, if somebody doesn't come forward soon (and it sounds as somebody will) let us know.
Oh, meant to comment on Jan Marcy's daughter. Of course I remember Jan well. She is a good friend of Sharon Crain's, and though I never knew her particularly well I say hi when I occasionally see her around town. What does the daughter do at the hospital?
Do NOT "let us know". You're (sic) mother is out of her mind with emptying nest syndrome. We have absolutely no use for a trached pug or any other kind of pug.
BTW, did I mention that we now have 96 of the species bovine? Yup, Pierogi gave birth to Kielbasa this AM, making 96. Up from a low of about 55 three years ago.
Don't need no pug.
Post a Comment