Name The Foregin Body
Last summer, I examined a dog for lameness. The owner noticed something in the dog's back paw and brought her in. Look at the pictures closely. Name the foreign body and describe how you would remove it.
Diagnosis: Lawn Mower Spring
According to the owner, the foreign body is a spring from his lawn mower. The end of the spring appears to have penetrated the outer aspect of the dog's paw and then continued to 'screw' through her toe. The spring cut through her skin down to the tendons. I cannot imagine how painful this must have been. She almost lost her toe.
The most important principal to follow in removing any foreign body is to first "do no harm." After placing the dog under anesthesia, I planned to cut the spring into pieces before removal to minimize damage. Unfortunately, the spring was tougher than my bolt cutters. I bent a pair without leaving a dent on the spring. I had to slowly thread the coil back out of the toe. After it was removed, I flushed the wound, sewed up the lacerations and bandaged the foot. The dog went home on antibiotics and pain medication. She seemed much happier when she left, even with a bandage on her foot.
Diagnosis: Lawn Mower Spring
According to the owner, the foreign body is a spring from his lawn mower. The end of the spring appears to have penetrated the outer aspect of the dog's paw and then continued to 'screw' through her toe. The spring cut through her skin down to the tendons. I cannot imagine how painful this must have been. She almost lost her toe.
The most important principal to follow in removing any foreign body is to first "do no harm." After placing the dog under anesthesia, I planned to cut the spring into pieces before removal to minimize damage. Unfortunately, the spring was tougher than my bolt cutters. I bent a pair without leaving a dent on the spring. I had to slowly thread the coil back out of the toe. After it was removed, I flushed the wound, sewed up the lacerations and bandaged the foot. The dog went home on antibiotics and pain medication. She seemed much happier when she left, even with a bandage on her foot.
Hi. My cat was brutally attacked by two pitbulls and my cat survived the attack. No broken bones and no internal bleeding according to the emergency vet. Lots of wounds everywhere and I notice his entire belly area is a dark red bruise... very dark. Is he going to be OK? I have the x-rays. The emergency vet said he should pull through, but these deep bruises look horrible.
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I am so sorry to hear about your cat. Thank goodness he survived. Bite wounds are like icebergs, the real damage is below the surface. The crushing action of the jaw tears the upper layers of skin away from the deeper muscular layers. Blood pours into the space from all the torn capillaries causing bruises. As the blood is broken down and reabsorbed, the area changes color from red to purple to sometimes almost a greenish color. It sounds like your cat sustained significant damage to his abdomen.
With bite wounds I worry about infection, pain and possible rupture/puncture of an internal organ. When teeth penetrate, they actually inject bacteria under the skin. With time, the bacteria can spread throughout the body causing a systemic infection. An abscess forms if the bacteria just grow in the area of the bite. Bite wounds are terribly painful because the teeth crush the normal tissue. I know from personal experience that the third day is the worst. Lastly, organs such as the urinary bladder or intestines might be punctured. If this occurs, they leak into the abdominal cavity causing even more problems.
I hope your cat is on strong antibiotics and pain medicine to help him recover. Is he eating, drinking, urinating and defecating? If not, call your regular veterinarian right away. Although I am happy that the emergency veterinarian did not see any problems on the x-rays, some problems don't show up right away. Some cats require I.V. fluids for several days because it hurts too much, even with the pain medicine, to eat and drink.
Although the immediate situation was addressed at the emergency clinic, be sure to see your regular veterinarian right away. As indicated above, your cat is still early in the healing process. There are many aspects to the continuing care that may be required and ongoing analysis will be important to heading-off and/or treating what may develop. Even if everything goes well, I hope to be clear in pointing out the likely need for pain medication for awhile. I wish you and your cat all the best after this trauma.
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Dr. Nelson, I've seen a lot of weird things, but a lawn mower coil is a new one on me! I always read your Make the Diagnosis and Name That "Thing", and ponder before reading your answers. I suspected threading backwards might be the only option, you must have been on pins and needles!
Poor baby, luckily the owner brought her to you and she's as good as new now :)
For Dave, please heed the excellent advice Dr. Nelson has given you. Those wounds can be serious and require proper wound care management and follow up with your vet on a continual basis. It can take time for them to heal completely but your vet needs to see your kitty regularly to monitor the wounds and provide additional care if necessary.
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