Abscess surgery would be the most common reason we would see sick cats. Cat abscesses are also why we highly recommend vaccinating outdoor cats against feline aids, even in preference to cat flu if a cat owner could not afford both vaccines.

When a cat (or dog) gets in a fight and the skin is penetrated, bacteria are lodged deep into the sub-cutaneous tissues or muscle. It is now a battle between the animals immune system and the bacteria. The “victim” may or may not develop what we call a “cellulitis” which is swollen infected tissue. This may or may not go on to develop an “abscess” which is our classic “pocket of pus” into which anti-biotics won’t penetrate and surgery for drainage is indicated.

Early intervention is the key to preventing an abscess and hence abscess surgery. If you are suspicious of a cat fight, then a quick trip to the vet and an anti-biotic injection in the first 24 hours will usually prevent an abscess from forming.

Once we have an abscess then surgery is indicated to drain the pus, as anti-biotics at this stage will not penetrate into the abscess. The other great advantage of surgery is that occasionally a claw or tooth will be found embedded within the tissue which would cause much greater problems at a later date if not removed. If the abscess is very large then we may place a penrose drain which holds the wound open for a few days after surgery, allowing it to continue to drain.

Anti-biotics are still indicated for a period of time dependent on the severity of the infection.

Cats may or may not be sick when they have an abscess. If they are unwell, off food or even vomiting, it may be that the patient has become septicaemic. This means that the bacteria are no longer just localized to the infected site but have travelled into the blood stream and throughout the whole patient. This is a far more serious situation and often happens when pet owners decide to let nature take it’s course and not treat the original infection. Sometimes this works, but if it doesn’t and we end up with a septicaemic patient, this can be potentially life threatening. Often it is advisable to have these patients on intravenous fluids and intravenous antibiotics for a few days.

To minimise chance of serious problems from fight wounds, vaccinate cats for feline aids and at the first sign of a fight, a quick visit to the vet and a single anti-biotic injection is all that is needed. If an infection is detected, don’t waste time in getting it properly treated.

Look under the heading “Lumps” in our Medicine section to compliment this topic.

No matter how small a lump, it may still be malignant and very dangerous. Sometimes we are more or less concerned depending on what a fine needle aspirate reveals about the lump.

Minor Lump Removal is certainly indicated if there is a suspicion of malignancy, and in fact the earlier and smaller it is when detected the better. Some small lumps may not be considered dangerous but may be removed because of their location. Examples of these include eyelid lumps that may abrade and irritate the eye. Rectal lumps are also worth taking off, because of where they are and the complications of trying to remove them if they grow larger.

If a lump is small but considered dangerous, we will still take a very wide margin of tissue around it in order to minimise the chance of re-growth. If it is considered to not be such a concern then we may leave it all together and just monitor it, or remove it with just a small margin, especially if in a complicated area such as the eyelid.

The only way to definitively identify the tumour is to send it to pathology. A pathologist can determine exactly what the lump is, and rate the likelihood of its spread or return. With this advice we now have options as to whether further surgery is warranted, or even radiation or chemotherapy.

All lumps should be checked by your veterinarian. If of reasonable concern then biopsy or surgical removal may be warranted. Upon surgical removal, pathology is the only way of determining the exact nature of the tumour. If pathology reveals a significant degree of malignancy, further options are available to reduce the chance of spread or recurrence.

Cherry eye is simply a swollen gland from the third eyelid. It looks like a cherry! The basics are as follows:

• In itself it is of no immediate emergency or concern
• About 20% are not a long term problem and can initially be managed until they resolve, so give them that chance. (See below)
• About 80% are a chronic intermittent problem or permanent, in which case they should be surgically corrected
• You do NOT need a specialist to do these. If your general surgeon is very experienced, it is a relatively simple surgery for a skilled surgeon
• There is a potential failure rate with surgery, even with specialists, so be aware of this and ask your preferred surgeon what the chances are of it reoccurring
• The skill and experience of the surgeon can also dictate the long term look of the corrected cherry eye. With more experience, it will be less likely to be bulbous or red (or indeed less likely to recur)
• Cost can vary greatly, as a comparison you can refer to our costs and success rate

To manage these quite simply, gently massage the cherry eye and many will pop back in. Ask your vet clinic to show you (our nurses offer this for no charge), or look at Youtube examples. If in itself this does not work, then steroid drops often help facilitate this by reducing the swelling. Now we strongly recommend the following points here:

• Many vets reach for ointments with antibiotics
• We urge vets not to use ointments as these are often quite irritating and this is not a bacterial condition, so topical antibiotics do not help
• Some of the ointments have steroids in them which can help (but the concentration is less than ideal), but again being an ointment, they are more irritant than solutions or drops
• As such we recommend Maxidex pure steroid solution (or drops) as the initial medication if massage alone is not significantly effective
• If using massage and drops, ideally the cherry eye should reduce within 2-3 days.

We recommend surgical correction if:

• The cherry eye is non reducible for more than 2 weeks
• The cherry eye is consistently a problem, popping in and out, for more than 2 months.
• Please note: The longer a cherry eye remains out, the higher the chance it results in cartilage damage that results in a more difficult correction, and less pleasing long term aesthetic result

There is a cheap and easy old technique that just cuts the cherry eye away. This can work and be successful, but there is a significant chance that later on in life dry eye occurs, as the gland is partly responsible for the tear film. Dry eye can be a difficult and very expensive condition to maintain for the rest of your dogs life, hence quality surgeons do not recommend this procedure. It’s quite easy to do compared to surgical correction of the eye, but is not in the patients best interest. You are really rolling the dice with both your dog’s health and ultimately your own finances if you end up with a dry eye.

Correct surgical technique will reduce the cherry into a pocket and will be stitched down holding it in place, but preserving the gland. They can be a little inflamed for a few days to a week or two but most settle down back to normal. Some can retain a little prominence, but the chance of this is significantly reduced with experience and skill of the surgeon.

There is a potential recurrence rate no matter the surgeon, specialists included, that again will be less with more skilled and experienced surgeons. There also seems to be a vast price difference for this procedure within our profession from clinic to clinic. Our price range is as follows:

If done on top of another procedure such as desexing or airways or both: *$560 per eye.

If done as an isolated procedure: *$950 for the first eye plus $560 if both need to be done.

Please note, the above prices do not include potential extras such as surgical fluids or pre-anaesthetic blood screens.

Our surgeons are yet to have a recurrence of a surgically corrected cherry eye, but it is always possible.

* Prices are subject to change. For the most up-to-date pricing, please contact us directly.

Intestinal surgery can be indicated in a variety of situations. Probably the most common reason would be to look for and remove intestinal foreign bodies. By “intestinal foreign bodies”, we mean any object that has found it’s way into the intestinal tract that in fact should not be there! These of course are many and varied. Here is a list of some of the common ones that vets find:

• Corn cobs
• String (potentially very nasty)
• Stone fruit pips
• Pebbles and small rocks
• Sticks, including kebab sticks!
• Parts of children’s toys
• Cooked bones
• Chewed up pieces of clothing
• Whole pieces of clothing (Labradors … they’ll gulp down anything!)

Intestinal foreign bodies may or may not be felt or detected on radiology. They can be one of the most difficult things to identify. Symptoms often start with lethargy and inappetance and progress to vomiting and diarrhoea If the offending agent is not easily identified by palpation, radiology or ultrasound, we may recommend an “exploratory laparotomy”. This means that we will open the abdomen up under general anaesthesia and “have a look” to see if we can find anything. This is in fact a very cost effective and productive way to at least “rule-in” or “rule-out” an intestinal foreign body and is highly recommended in cases that are confusing. If palpation or diagnostics reveal a foreign body, that’s great, surgery is indicated. But negative diagnostics do not in fact rule out the presence of a foreign body. Hence in suspect cases a quick exploratory laparotomy is indicated, as the main concern with intestinal foreign bodies is that if left too long, the intestine may become compromised. There are two main surgeries that are performed to remove a foreign body. 1)A simple intestinal or gastric incision: This is performed when a foreign body is detected within viable healthy intestinal tissue. Through a simple incision the object can be removed and the wound sutured. 2)Intestinal Anastomosis: If the intestinal tissue is not viable due to the pressure exerted on it by the foreign body, then it will need to be removed. The whole section of questionable intestine is cut out and the two healthy ends of intestine are sutured together. This is obviously a much larger and potentially more complicated procedure than the simple intestinal single incision.

This is another very common finding in gastro-enteric cases and one of the great advantages of performing an exploratory laparotomy in suspect cases. As with all cancers, some will be resectable and some will not be. This decision is often made “on the table” once the surgeon has identified the nature and extent of the problem.

‘Holly’ the Labrador

Holly is a 13 year old Labrador who came to us after another veterinary clinic had not found the problem to her breathing concerns.

Holly’s human mum called us to discuss her situation as the previous three months work up had not come to a diagnosis at the other vet clinic. Holly had become exercise intolerant, with increased respiratory noises upon exercise, and a very significant change to her bark, having become hoarse of recent weeks. We advised that LP (Laryngeal Paralysis) will be the problem, and she was due to come and talk to us regarding surgery the following week.

Unfortunately, Holly was rushed to us the very next morning as she could not breathe properly and had completely collapsed. It is not unusual for LP patients to collapse suddenly, often dying within hours. Holly’s family were left having to make the immediate decision to perform emergency LP surgery.

Although usually sent to a specialist by most general practices (when you can get them!), our head surgeon Dr Davids does this surgery regularly – which is one of the advantages of being a SAH client! Unfortunately however, Karin was on holidays but she answered the phone upon our emergency call, having only returned from interstate the day before, and within the hour had Holly on the operating table.

The following videos show her condition before and after surgery.

Pre-Surgery – Note how closed her windpipe is and how much trouble she’s having breathing

Post-Surgery – Note how open her windpipe is and how she can now breathe with ease

From these it is easy to see what the problem is, and why these patients do so much better once corrected. Holly was lucky, close to being one of the ones that die suddenly. Ideally this condition should have been diagnosed and acted upon months earlier before becoming so bad.

Holly was also suffering quite badly from arthritis in the previous six months, being treated with chondroprotective injections and anti inflammatories. Although not guaranteed, we often advise that dogs who can’t get enough oxygen because of their LP can struggle a lot more with arthritis, and it is not uncommon to see this also improve after surgical correction. Holly certainly found this to be the case, getting around much better than she had for some time. It’s remarkable how much better life is when you can breathe properly!

View the lovely Holly happy and enjoying life. You may read a testimonial straight from Holly’s owner by clicking here.

‘Bella’ the Bulldog Cross

Bella is a 9½ year old entire female Bulldog cross who presented to us at Southern Animal Health late on a Sunday afternoon, 6-8 weeks after her last oestrus cycle with a four day history of vomiting, inappetence and lethargy. On physical exam she was found to be dehydrated, have a bloated abdomen and a purulent (pussy) vaginal discharge. Abdominal x-rays were performed confirming fluid filled loops seen in the region of the uterus. A full haematology and biochemistry blood analysis was also performed and showed a very high white blood cell count, electrolyte changes, and protein loss. Bella was stabilised on IV fluids, pain relief and IV antibiotics and scheduled for surgery first thing the next morning once re-hydrated and stable.

Bella had surgery to remove her infected uterus first thing the next morning. Her uterus weighed about 4kg (a normal non-pregnant uterus usually weighs no more than 100g), was particularly delicate and ruptured easily after removal from the abdomen, suggesting that had treatment been delayed any longer, Bella may not have survived. She came through the surgery really well, was much more comfortable post-operatively and eating by the afternoon. She stayed in hospital on IV medications and fluids one more night to aid in flushing toxins from her body and ensuring a quicker recovery. She was sent home with a course of broad spectrum antibiotics and pain relief and by the next day, her dad reported that she was back to her normal bouncy self.

Unlike most general practices, SAH is open late on weekends and is able to provide services that may otherwise require going to a 24-hour emergency clinic and sometimes costing 3-4 times as much. Without prompt veterinary treatment, dogs like Bella may unfortunately sometimes have to be euthanized.

If you or anyone you know would like advice about desexing your female dog or cat, please feel free to contact one of our friendly staff members on (03) 9584 6100 to have a chat.