CALLING ALL HAPPY HOPPERS.

Drake’s Rabbit week is here, the 21st – 26th May 2012.

we are now offering all rabbits a free health check with one of our qualified nurses.  we can discuss all areas of rabbit care from husbandry, feeding requirments, weight checks, preventative health care and answe any questions you may have regarding your bunny.

During this week only, we are offering £10 off our combined Myxomatosis and VHD vaccine.

Every rabbit goes home with a free goodie bag so don’t miss out, come in and see us or book an appointment on 01822 854255

Pebbles, a two year old female neutered tabby cat, was rushed into Drake Vets late one Saturday night by her worried owners after she returned home very distressed and bleeding profusely from her mouth.
 

Pebbles was admitted for emergency treatment, she had an x-ray of her head to determine the cause of the bleeding as she had two deep wounds on either side of face. To the horror of the vet and Pebbles’ owners the x-rays showed that she had been shot!
 

The gunshot had entered the side of her cheek, injuring the roof of her mouth, slicing her tongue, breaking her bottom jaw and wounding her other cheek on its exit. The vet worked hard to fix her wounds, suturing her tongue and the roof of her mouth back together. She was kept in over the weekend for intensive care and pain relief.
 

However due to Pebbles’ extensive facial injuries she found it very difficult to eat. The vets decided to place a feeding tube into her oesophagus in order to feed Pebbles without her using her sore mouth. She had further surgery to place the feeding tube (which enters via a small hole on the side of her neck) and by later on that day she was receiving special liquid food via the tube.
 

Pebbles was a star patient and very well behaved throughout her treatment, she was well enough to go home a few days later as her owners were happy to continue with tube feeding themselves. Over the following week Pebbles went from strength to strength and began eating by herself again.

It’s now been nearly a month since her ordeal and Pebbles is doing very well, eating by herself and even brought home a mouse as a present for her delighted owners.

Molly is a 5 year old female greyhound who was brought into Drake Vets in December as she had developed a cough and breathlessness after excercising and she was also lethargic and off her food. On examination by Chris the vet, she was found to have a raised temperature and signs of pneumonia. Molly was prescribed antibiotics.
 

Molly’s symptoms didnt fully improve and after further investigations including blood tests and x-rays, no definate clue as to the underlying cause was found. Molly was still poorly in January despite the treatment and it was decided to refer Molly to a specialist vet as she was still very depressed. The investigation continued and her chest was found to have settled although she was still very ill, a swallowing disorder was suspected but the exact cause was still a mystery.
 

A few days later she began to develop severe neck pain and was taken back to see Chris and with neurological tests it was felt that she had developed meningitis. This was an inflammatory condition affecting the covering of the brain and spinal cord. This was likely to be a condition called GME which required high doses of steroids to control. A sample of fluid from the brain would help to diagnose this but it was felt that she had been through enough and trial therapy was started. To everyones great relief, within 24 hours she began to show signs of improvement and over the coming few weeks she went from strength to strength as she was eating well and her signs all went away as she felt better. She is currently still on steroids but at a much reduced dose which she will eventually come off.
 

Molly had Granulomatous Meningoencephalitis (GME) which causes inflammation of the covering of the brain, this type of meningitis doesn’t respond to antibiotics, only steroids or other immunosuppressive drugs will help. We suspect that the low grade meningitis at first caused swallowing problems and this could have led to pneumonia and the meningitis signs eventually became more obvious. She should make a full recovery and is doing very well so far.
 

Molly has been a star patient through her ordeal and we are all pleased that she is doing so well, she has coped with examinations and investigations with great stoicism and its good to see her back to normal.

Whisky is a 6 ½ year old West Highland White Terrier. In November last year Whisky was brought into the surgery after his owner found a lump under his front leg. In himself he was fine – his usual bright and lively self. On examination, vet Ulrike found that all his lymph nodes were slightly enlarged and advised his owners that further investigation would be necessary.
 

Two days later Whisky was anaesthetised and biopsies were taken from several different lymph nodes. These samples were sent to the lab along with blood for analysis. His owners were warned that it could be bad news.
 

Whisky recovered well from his operation and bounced back in for his post operative check 2 days later with his wounds healing well. He even posed for pictures for our new website and brochure while he was here.
 

A week later the results were back. It was what the vets feared – lymphoma! A malignant condition that affects the lymphatic system and could therefore affect all the organs in his body.
 

After discussion with the vet Whisky started chemotherapy here at Drake Vets to hopefully put the lymphoma into remission. He was also given other drugs to slow the progression of the lymphoma and drugs to prevent gut problems and sickness associated with chemotherapy.
 

The chemotherapy was given weekly for 6 weeks. Whisky responded well but not as good as the vet had hoped. He was passed on to a referral centre specialising in oncology treatments where he started a new chemotherapy regime. To everyone’s joy Whisky has responded well to treatment.
 

Blood tests show that Whiskys liver has been slightly affected by his illness but he shows no symptoms. His lymph nodes have all reduced in size and he is bright and bouncy and enjoying life. Like us humans receiving chemotherapy, he has some slight hair loss but this doesn’t bother him!
 

Whisky has an excellent quality of life and we all hope that he continues to respond well to treatment to keep the lymphoma under control or well and truly into remission.
Whisky never complains having his unpleasant treatment, numerous blood tests and different people examining him.
 

A real star!