October 2010 - Flint Butler
Flint's 'Bottom' trouble
Flint is an 8 year old, Old English sheep dog with a lot of character, big spirit and determination. He was operated on in early October and unfortunately things took a turn for the worse.
Flint was first presented when his owners noticed him passing blood in his faeces. Blood tests were run and he was booked in for x-rays and examination by ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that his prostate gland was slightly enlarged. Flint was given an injection containing hormones to help reduce the size of his prostate gland. He was sent home with some liquid paraffin to aid him in passing faeces. Unfortunately Flint relapsed and he was now straining when passing faeces.
The next step was to admit Flint for a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy revealed a perineal hernia on the left hand side of the anus and a suspected neoplasia. Biopsies were taken and sent to an external lab. Flint recovered well from the anaesthetic and sent home on three types of antibiotics.
The lab results came back as negative to neoplasia. He was to be booked in for a further procedure in two weeks time to repair the perineal hernia and castrate him; this would also help reduce the size of his prostate gland. Once again brave Flint took to the table for what hopefully would be the last operation needed to put him back on all four paws.
Flint came through the procedure and anaesthetic well, unfortunately his problems began upon recovery. Although bright in himself Flint began to haemorrhage from the operation site and his scrotum was now swollen. He was given some medication to help lower his blood pressure and his intravenous fluid rate was increased to prevent his circulating blood volume from decreasing. Flint was still haemorrhaging an hour later and was placed onto a synthetic blood replacement along with more medication to lower his blood pressure. The vet felt that flint was suffering from a blood clotting disorder meaning his platelets would not form a clot; therefore trying to re operate on him was not an option. Although still haemorrhaging slightly the blood was dark and not resembling fresh blood. He was checked overnight every couple of hours and remained stable. By the morning only a small amount of old haemorrhage was being passed. He was bright and able to walk out.
Next was trying to get Flint eating. As he had been such a brave dog and had pulled through a slightly worrying evening, the nurses decided that roast chicken would be the way forward. Flint very much agreed with this and was extremely keen to wolf the chicken down. To his owners delight he was allowed home later that day.
Flint returned two days later for a post op check. Unfortunately his wound had begun to break down. Some of the sutures were removed and he was given a cream to apply twice daily to the wound and allow it to heal by second intention.
Flint returned regularly for checks and has recovered brilliantly. He is back to his normal happy self now and is being thoroughly spoilt by his owners.
