Pet of the Month- Bobby

Bobby is a very lively eight year old Cocker Spaniel and apart from the occasional problems with grass seeds and the odd ear infection (all run of the mill for a Cocker Spaniel!) he has always been fit and healthy. So it came as a bit of a shock when he had a day being a bit off colour and showing no interest in treats, and it was even more concerning when he tried to get up off his bed and seemed a bit wobbly. Fortunately his owners decided to take no chances and arranged an appointment  at the practice straight away. When James, one of the vets examined Bobby he was initially surprised at how quiet he was, as he was usually such a livewire on the consulting room table! His temperature was a raised but more of a concern was the lump that could be felt deep in his tummy. Bobby was rushed up to the hospital and a blood sample was taken which showed inflammation and infection, an xray and scan were performed which confirmed the presence of a mass in the abdomen. From the xray it seemed possible this could be a lump on the spleen but an ultrasound scan showed that although the mass was very closely situated to the spleen it was not connected and was more likely to be associated with the intestines. Unfortunately for Bobby this meant an exploratory operation was required and the findings were rather unusual. In dogs at the junction where the small intestine meets the large intestine there is a small blind ending piece of gut called the caecum. In Bobby’s case the caecum was significantly distended and twisted and on the end of this ‘caecum stalk’ was a 7cm diameter ulcerated tumour. The tumour was removed but because its blood supply had also been so twisted and occluded it had started to degenerate inside Bobby and smelt very unpleasant indeed. Bobby was a sewn back together carefully and recovered in the hospital with lots of hugs and fuss from our nurses. He needed to stay in the hospital overnight on his intravenous fluids and antibiotics to help bring his temperature down. However after 24hrs he was bright enough to go home and now he is much more like his old self! We sent a sample of the tumour away to be analysed fearing the worst, but the results have come back and are very encouraging indeed, it would appear it is a tumour that is unlikely to spread and although it is invasive locally it looks like we have clear margins. Needless to say it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind week for Bobby, but it’s lovely to see him back to his old self.