AN UPDATE ON SHELDON Many people would have heard that Sheldon has been in the wars and has been in veterinary care since Thursday evening but without details. A huge number people have either been in touch with me directly or have enquired via Judith OBrien and Cathy Huitema. Without actually seeing it happen, it looks like he stuck his nose under the side fence and was pulled under it by one of the dogs next door. As a result he suffered a fracture across the muzzle. He has a few other minor injuries which are fine. Fortunately once he was fully in the yard, nothing further happened. Perhaps his snout looked like a rat or something. It will be followed up though. I took him to my usual vet where they diagnosed the fracture and transferred him that evening to the Golden Grove Veterinary Hospital. X-Rays confirmed the fracture and the following morning, I took the option of having him referred to the Adelaide Veterinary Specialist & Referral Centre at Norwood. I transported him down there and he was immediately checked in. He was operated on Friday afternoon to clean out any foreign matter plus damaged bone and tissue. A puncture wound on his leg was also cleaned up. He had a feeding tube inserted and a support muzzle fitted. Had a call on both Saturday and Sunday morning by the Surgeon giving me an update. Yesterday afternoon, I visited him for about an hour. He is walking around fine and his tail still wags 100 times a minute. He was his usual sooky self, so typical of Cocker males. I had a call this morning from the Vet to update on Sheldons condition. The swelling in his face has gone down and his jaw and teeth are in excellent alignment. After consultation with one of his senior colleagues who has also treated similar situations, they have decided that inserting screws and plates or wiring of his young bones and teeth is an unnecessary risk and may potentially cause more problems than cures. As things are pulling back together naturally, he will be fitted with a custom muzzle to immobilise his muzzle to allow healing. This has been done quite successfully several times before for similar fractures. He will be knocked out lightly this morning for a final clean up of the mouth and outside the jaw, bit of gunk there, before fitting the muzzle. He will need the feeding tube for about 4 weeks to ensure proper healing. Assuming all goes well, I will be able to pick him up around 5pm this evening. A huge thanks to the Vets and Nursing staff at Pets4Vets at Salisbury Park and Golden Grove for looking after Sheldon in the initial stages. My sincere thanks to Dr Andrew Dunn of AVSRC for not only his expert work on Sheldon but also for the way in which he explained everything that needed to be done and his daily updates. My thanks also to the nursing staff of AVSRC.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 02:06:40 +0000
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