All Creatures Pet Month

Soda McLaughlan

"Soda" McLaughlan, a gorgeous nine year old Labrador Retriever from Ballykelly for the Pet of the Month section. Soda, one of the well known Ballykelly "kids", is currently recovering from an operation at All Creatures on her knee to repair a ruptured cruciate ligament. Her owner is allowing her to recover in style on the sofa. If anyone sees her owner giving her too many treats or extra dinner, please report this to the weight management nurse at All Creatures!

Many thanks to Mac for the pictures

MEET JAKE HARKIN

This stunning 12 year old tom made a remarkable recovery from a severe head trauma due to a road traffic accident.

"Jake is unbelievable - it's as though the accident never even happened! I don't know if his bad eye has fully recovered or not, but it certainly isn't affecting him in any way if it hasn't. He's an amazing wee cat, especially considering that he will be 13 in August."

Thanks again for looking after him. We still can't quite believe we still have him and he's so unaffected by it all!"

Thanks to Cathy and Sean for the smashing pics!

Meet ROVER PEGGIE

Meet Rover Peggie, the two year old base-jumping German Pointer from Fife in Scotland! Rover was over on holidays and fell off the cliff at the Bishops Road viewpoint on Benevenagh Mountain in Limavady. Despite a plunge of nearly 400 feet, Rover managed to survive the sheer drop.

His owners mounted a harrowing mountain rescue to get him to safety and he was brought to our Limavady clinic for emergency stabilisation. We treated Rover for shock and were still in disbelief the next day that he was still alive. With such a fall he should have shattered every bone in his body but managed to escape with one damaged disc and one crushed vertebrae.

We stabilised Rover for his journey back home to Scotland the next day, where emergency spinal surgery was carried out at Glasgow Veterinary College. We wish Rover a speedy recovery and at present the neurosurgeons are very pleased with his progress. Read all about Rover’s daring adventure in our local newspaper….

http://www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk/news/local/cliff_fall_dog_fund_is_raising_hope_1_2106512

Our thanks to Roxanne and Barry for presenting us this very interesting case and the photos

Meet MURPHY LITTLE

We must say we have a soft spot for the Dogue de Bordeaux at our clinic. Murphy Little, a handsome 4 year old (and littermate of our own Dogue de Bordeaux, Brook) has some unusual tastes and his owners, Rhonda and Tony, noticed that he hadn’t been to the toilet for a few days. He slept on some carpet for his bed and in recent days a large chunk of carpet had gone missing. Putting two and two together, it was soon realised that Murphy’s digestive system was obstructed with the carpet. Murphy’s stomach was jammed full of carpet strands which had swollen as they lay in his stomach, refusing to budge.

Murphy had to have an emergency gastronomy under general anaesthesia to remove the obstruction - the amount of carpet removed almost half filled a carrier bag. Rhonda and Tony’s prompt decision to bring Murphy for immediate attention meant that Murphy made a very speedy recovery. Here you can see him chewing on something more sensible! We did recommend that Murphy’s owner should maybe invest in carpet from our friends in Ideal Carpets, Limavady - stockists of excellent wearing carpets!!!

Ingestion of foreign bodies is a common problem in pets - pet owners should be aware of the symptoms……..vomiting, constipation, loss of appetite, dullness, abdominal pain, failure to pass normal stools. If you think your pet may have eaten something it shouldn’t have, please contact us at the clinic immediately.

At All Creatures Vets in Limavady, Mr. Montague regularly treats Dogue de Bordeaux from all over Northern Ireland, dealing with skin problems such as atopic dermatitis, folliculitis and demodectic mange; ruptured cruciate ligaments, arthritis, ear problems and broken teeth.

Meet ROSIE

“Rosie", a cute 12 year old Westie, is one of a little trio of Westies, well known and well exercised on the streets of Ballykelly!

Her owners, Tracy and Jordie noticed that Rosie had been getting more tired of late and not wanting to go as far on her walks. They brought her in for a check up. We all thought she might just have some arthritis but thought it would be a good idea to run some routine bloods and xrays just in case anything else was involved.

It turned out that Rosie had a haemorrhaging tumour in her spleen. Emergency surgery had to be performed that night to remove Rosie's spleen. Rosie is now recovering from her surgery (in style, as you can see!) and the Ballykelly folks hope to see her out on her regular walks soon.

Rosie sadly lost her battle with cancer in November 2010 and is much missed by the Ben, Daisy and the rest of the Dempsey family.

SHAY ARTHUR

This is a very special 10 year old male Border Collie, called Shay, belonging to Mr and Mrs. Arthur from Derry. His owners noticed that he had not been his usual self for a few weeks, more tired and only picking at his food. They had visited a mixed practice several times to try and get to the bottom of what might be wrong - he had numerous blood tests and x-rays but everything checked out ok. However he did not seem to get any better.

After a few weeks, Shay was seen at All Creatures for a second opinion. He had a full clinical examination and alas, it was discovered upon looking in at the back of his throat, that he had cancer affecting one of his tonsils.

As Shay had the most wonderful temperament and was still fairly young for his breed, we decided to remove the cancer. Some weeks now later Shay is doing really well - eating as normal and back to him usual self. That lump at the back of his throat must really have been sore! Our hopes are with Shay that he will continue to remain well in the months and years ahead. Many thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur for these beautiful pictures.

Shay sadly lost his battle with cancer in October 2010. He is much missed by his owners.

Meet RUFUS GEORGE

Rufus, a handsome collie cross, was knocked down by a car at the age of just 10 months. He received multiple serious lacerations to his legs and underside, had multiple liver lacerations resulting in serious intra-abdominal loss of blood, his right lung was collapsed and his left hip was dislocated. Rufus required a blood transfusion, emergency abdominal surgery, chest drains and surgical replacement of his hip.

Our own Dogue de Bordeaux, Brook, donated the life saving blood so Rufus might always have a little crazy streak from now on! In spite of his serious injuries, Rufus made a remarkable recovery at our clinic. He should not have survived the ruptured liver injury but somehow he did. We hope he has a trouble free 18 years ahead!

Our thanks to Joe & Karen George for this beautiful photo!