News

The experience of a friend in a small North Island town recently got me thinking how lucky we are here in the Big Smoke. My friend Lucy’s beloved cat, Flex, had been hospitalised after suffering road trauma injuries, including jaw fractures which necessitated tube feeding, ongoing pain relief and intravenous (IV) fluid therapy for a [...]

Squidge came to the Animal Emergency Centre via his usual veterinarian, where an x-ray had shown a fishhook stuck half way along his oesophagus. The medicine specialist from the Veterinary Specialist Group was called in, but was unable to visualise the hook using an endoscope, and it was over to the on-call specialist surgeon to investigate further. All was revealed when the surgeon opened Squidge’s chest to find the fishhook had pierced his oesophagus and was lying perilously close to one of the major blood vessels near the heart. A few millimetres closer and Squidge would have bled to death.

Catherine asked me to share the tale of her dog, Rosie, and warn other pet owners how dangerous slug and snail bait can be. Rosie is a big dog, but after consuming just half a box of metaldehyde she rapidly developed life-threatening seizures and was left fighting for her life at the ANIMAL EMERGENCY CENTRE hospital. Catherine, unaware of the potentially deadly effects of slug pellets, had left a box of metaldehyde on the outdoor table.

Andrea reports that within a few days of his return home, Ollie was fighting fit. In fact it was difficult convincing him to stay calm enough to recuperate! Almost a year on, you wouldn’t know there had ever been a problem, and with the preventative surgery performed at the time of the emergency procedure, he won’t suffer this awful condition in the future. This was a great outcome for Ollie, but Andrea shudders to think what might have happened if she had waited until morning to have him examined. She was surprised how swiftly Ollie deteriorated.