Animal Hospital of Statesville
181 Mocksville Hwy, Statesville, NC 28625
(704) 872-3625 Office (704) 872-2490 Fax
Tour
(Under
Construction)
PETS OF THE MONTH
Feline
George Austin
George
is a 14-year-old female cat who has been a patient at AHS since 1999. George first presented for a rapidly growing mass on her
right hip. A biopsy of the
mass revealed George had developed a sarcoma tumor as a result of her
rabies vaccine given at another clinic.
This is a very rare syndrome that occurs in one out of ten thousand
cats. When it does occur rapid diagnosis and treatment is
essential. George had a hemi-pelvectomy
performed, which removed her right rear leg and half of her pelvis.
This is essential in these tumors as they are very aggressive and
spread rapidly. George
recovered well from this procedure with no re-occurrence of the tumor.
George
moved along happily in life and other than some bladder issues had done
remarkably well until last August when she developed hyperthyroidism. An
overactive thyroid gland had caused her to lose weight and become sick.
This has been controlled relatively well with a topical medication
to suppress thyroid hormone.
Recently,
George has developed what we believe to be inflammatory bowl disease and
has started medications to help with this disorder.
Through all this George has continued to be active, playful, and full of life. Though she went through such a major surgery at an early age, George never let it bother her and always remained upbeat and happy. For all these reasons George is AHS’s pet of the month.
Canine
TEX EVANS
Tex Evans is a very friendly; calm 11-year-old Labrador retriever mix. He is happiest outdoors wandering his fenced property, sniffing here and sniffing there. Our staff here at The Animal Hospital looks forward to giving him lots of petting every spring/summer at his annual wellness visit. Tex has had good fortune as he has been a very healthy dog most of his life. At the end of June this year, Tex suddenly stopped eating and quickly lost a great deal of weight over the next few days. His owners were very concerned and brought him in for evaluation right away. Tex’s physical exam was unremarkable except for weight loss. As Tex is a senior dog, we were concerned about diseases such as cancer, diabetes mellitus, and kidney disease that tend to strike middle age to older pets and can show little outward evidence. Blood and urine testing made these diseases unlikely. Tex’s owners also noted that he tends to chew on sticks and things in the yard. We took x-rays of his abdomen and found some unusually dilated areas of stomach and small intestine. We subsequently fed Tex a special contrast material called barium that fills and outlines the intestinal tract and glows brightly on x-rays. Several more x-rays were taken over the next 4 hours. The barium outlined a partial obstruction in Tex’s small intestine. The obstruction was suspected to be either a cancerous tumor or something Tex had eaten and had lodged in his intestine. The next step was surgery to find out exactly what the obstruction was and try to remove it. Tex’s owners eagerly consented to surgery, which resulted in great news. A golf ball-sized mass of rope/fiber in his upper small intestine was removed easily. The intestinal tract would be able to move normally again and its contents move forward. The procedure was curative and Tex did great. He began to eat and feel well shortly after surgery. Right now he is probably wandering his yard sniffing here and sniffing there. We, at The Animal Hospital of Statesville, proudly name him as pet of the month and look forward to his next wellness visit.
