Helping pets recover through these difficult times takes a lot of time, veterinary skill and nursing care as well as a close working relationship with their dedicated owners. But it's the pet themselves that are the real heroes, coping with pain, injury and stress without knowing in the way us humans do why they are in the hospital and not at home, that things will improve and that they will get better. These are just some of the pets that received their certificate for our 2014 Pet Bravery Award.
Lemon Bayes
Lemon a domestic shorthair cat fractured his back leg after a suspected fall. Recovery was life threatening as Lemon had suffered a previous injury which resulted in a leg amputation. Saving this three legged cat's badly fractured leg was imperative.
Arthur Ashton
Arthur, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who had developed a round mass around his lower right canine and involving his hard palate. Laboratory tests found he had a benign tumour in his jaw but as it was growing - intervention was needed. Arthur had a partial right sided maxillectomy removing an area of jaw and a couple of teeth. Arthur was intensively nursed following this major operation and did amazingly well. 12 days after his operation we were able to remove his stitches and discharge him. A brave boy indeed!
Izzy Noble
Izzy the Iguana had stopped eating normally but was growing in size. Further investigations revealed that she was egg bound. She had to undergo abdominal surgery to have the eggs and both ovaries removed. Nursing care, a return of appetite and Izzy's bravery resulted in a full recovery for her.
Henry Sexton
Henry is a Selkirk Rex cross Exotic cat who was under the care of David Garrett after being presented with a very swollen eye and bite wounds to the top of his head. Henry's sight in the damaged eye was at risk and extensive surgery was needed to repair the bite wounds on his head. It was thought this was due to a serious cat fight and blunt trauma to the left side of his face.
Jessica Flack
Jessica a Giant crossbred rabbit was referred to us for a complicated fracture repair of his right hind. Recovery was difficult for her and two surgeries were required to keep this bunny on his feet.
Jordan Rogers
Jordan is a one year old ginger and white long haired domestic cat. He came to us after chewing some live electric wires and being electrocuted. He suffered burns to his tongue and roof of his mouth, though didn't seem to be otherwise harmed. A month of checks followed and his wounds started to heal. Eating became a concern as Jordan lost weight and he was not his playful self at all. 36 days after the injury Jordan was discharged. His mouth had completely healed, he returned to normal eating habits and was putting weight back on.
Dotty Ixer
Dotty was only 10 weeks old when she was admitted after being off her food, having bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea and collapsing at home. She was isolated following concerns from vet Gemma that she may either have eaten a foreign body or it was infectious parvovirus. Aggressive treatment commenced given her age and severity of her condition. A foreign body was ruled out and test results showed no presence of parvovirus, but her response to treatment was very slow and she continued to unproductively vomit. She needed 24 hour nursing care and plasma transfusions as well as continuous intravenous fluids. After 4 days of treatment Gemma arranged a referral and Dotty's owner took her to the Queens Veterinary School Hospital in Cambridge. She stayed for 2 days for further tests and treatment, before being readmitted to our ward. Tests performed at Cambridge revealed a more sensitive strain of parvovirus and Dotty's treatment continued. Against all odds Dotty turned a corner and regained her strength becoming a normal happy little puppy again. She was discharged 3 weeks after she initially came into us and given a clean bill of health two weeks later.
Candy Perkins
Candy, a lovely lion head x dutch rabbit, was brought to us by her owner as a second opinion. Vet Robin was concerned about her teeth and her reduced appetite over the preceding days. He anaesthetised Candy later that day and removed multiple overlong molar teeth using a specially designed rabbit dental burr. Candy's teeth continued to grow as the owner was adviced, so this had to be repeated a month later. Candy returned to us again after her owner noticed blood in her urine and straining while trying to urinate. On examination she was very painful around her abdomen. After stabilising, Candy was x-rayed, this revealed a large urinary stone in her bladder. She went straight to theatre to have it surgically removed. Candy recovered very well and was able to urinate easily. She returns to us to have her teeth trimmed when needed, but is doing really well.
Lemon Bayes
Lemon a domestic shorthair cat fractured his back leg after a suspected fall. Recovery was life threatening as Lemon had suffered a previous injury which resulted in a leg amputation. Saving this three legged cat's badly fractured leg was imperative.
Arthur Ashton
Arthur, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who had developed a round mass around his lower right canine and involving his hard palate. Laboratory tests found he had a benign tumour in his jaw but as it was growing - intervention was needed. Arthur had a partial right sided maxillectomy removing an area of jaw and a couple of teeth. Arthur was intensively nursed following this major operation and did amazingly well. 12 days after his operation we were able to remove his stitches and discharge him. A brave boy indeed!
Izzy Noble
Izzy the Iguana had stopped eating normally but was growing in size. Further investigations revealed that she was egg bound. She had to undergo abdominal surgery to have the eggs and both ovaries removed. Nursing care, a return of appetite and Izzy's bravery resulted in a full recovery for her.
Henry Sexton
Henry is a Selkirk Rex cross Exotic cat who was under the care of David Garrett after being presented with a very swollen eye and bite wounds to the top of his head. Henry's sight in the damaged eye was at risk and extensive surgery was needed to repair the bite wounds on his head. It was thought this was due to a serious cat fight and blunt trauma to the left side of his face.
Jessica Flack
Jessica a Giant crossbred rabbit was referred to us for a complicated fracture repair of his right hind. Recovery was difficult for her and two surgeries were required to keep this bunny on his feet.
Jordan Rogers
Jordan is a one year old ginger and white long haired domestic cat. He came to us after chewing some live electric wires and being electrocuted. He suffered burns to his tongue and roof of his mouth, though didn't seem to be otherwise harmed. A month of checks followed and his wounds started to heal. Eating became a concern as Jordan lost weight and he was not his playful self at all. 36 days after the injury Jordan was discharged. His mouth had completely healed, he returned to normal eating habits and was putting weight back on.
Dotty Ixer
Dotty was only 10 weeks old when she was admitted after being off her food, having bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea and collapsing at home. She was isolated following concerns from vet Gemma that she may either have eaten a foreign body or it was infectious parvovirus. Aggressive treatment commenced given her age and severity of her condition. A foreign body was ruled out and test results showed no presence of parvovirus, but her response to treatment was very slow and she continued to unproductively vomit. She needed 24 hour nursing care and plasma transfusions as well as continuous intravenous fluids. After 4 days of treatment Gemma arranged a referral and Dotty's owner took her to the Queens Veterinary School Hospital in Cambridge. She stayed for 2 days for further tests and treatment, before being readmitted to our ward. Tests performed at Cambridge revealed a more sensitive strain of parvovirus and Dotty's treatment continued. Against all odds Dotty turned a corner and regained her strength becoming a normal happy little puppy again. She was discharged 3 weeks after she initially came into us and given a clean bill of health two weeks later.
Candy Perkins
Candy, a lovely lion head x dutch rabbit, was brought to us by her owner as a second opinion. Vet Robin was concerned about her teeth and her reduced appetite over the preceding days. He anaesthetised Candy later that day and removed multiple overlong molar teeth using a specially designed rabbit dental burr. Candy's teeth continued to grow as the owner was adviced, so this had to be repeated a month later. Candy returned to us again after her owner noticed blood in her urine and straining while trying to urinate. On examination she was very painful around her abdomen. After stabilising, Candy was x-rayed, this revealed a large urinary stone in her bladder. She went straight to theatre to have it surgically removed. Candy recovered very well and was able to urinate easily. She returns to us to have her teeth trimmed when needed, but is doing really well.