CONCORDIA NEWS

Wong Wong lives in a rescue shelter. One day the volunteers realised he was eating a bit less and breathing a bit fast. Blood tests at local vet did not tell us what was wrong with him. Further investigations including x-rays was performed and showed he had air in his chest cavity preventing his lungs from expanding properly. Therefore CT was performed to identify the location of air leak. This was followed by exploratory surgery. To everyone's surprise, we found a grass seed bursting through one of his lung lobes! The diseased lung lobe was removed. Wong Wong is back to living his normal happy and active again!

Godzilla is a 1 year old Maine Coon. He presented after stabilisation at another emergency clinic after he jumped and fell from 8.5 floors. He suffered severe soft tissue injury to his body wall and multiple fractures on his pelvis and both hind legs. On top of that, because of the serious trauma he sustained, he developed systemic inflammatory response syndrome with persistent fever, low white blood cells, loss of protein and non-healing wounds. With his dedicated paw-rent, multiple surgeries to mend the broken bones and body wall, and around-the-clock intensive care, he is finally back on his 4 feet!

Kylie is a 10 year old Husky. She had chronic right hind limb lameness which had not improved with conservative treatment (painkillers, joint supplement and injections) and acupuncture for weeks. Therefore owner brought her to us.

We first saw Jack when he was 5 months old. When he was adopted by his current owner, he was already not walking well on his right forelimb. We suspected he broke his leg when he was younger. No surgery was performed at that time to correct his problem and his bones had sort of healed up with much mal-alignment causing persistent lameness. His current owner brought him to us. We assessed his condition and decided to wait till he reached further skeletal maturity before surgery was performed.

For minimally invasive surgery, there are no patients who are oversized. Sesame has undergone sterilization and gastric fixation through minimally invasive techniques and is in the process of recovery. In fact, patients of any weight can benefit from minimally invasive surgical techniques.

Have you ever noticed your dog 'hopping' on one of their back legs, or not moving away smoothly as he or she gets up and walks? This strange behaviour may be caused by an unstable kneecap or 'patella'. Patella luxation is a common orthopaedic condition in small dogs in Hong Kong but can also occur in some larger breeds. It involves dislocation of the patella out of its normal position, thus preventing the knee from extending properly. Instability can result in pain and sometimes persistent lameness. Whilst mild cases may not need surgery, clinical cases can benefit from simple surgical procedures. Affected patients that have early surgical intervention can continue to live a normal, active and pain-free life and surgical correction will greatly lower the risk of associated knee injuries.

Ding Dong came to Concordia after months of persistent ear infection, which had not cleared up despite treatment. On examination, his ear canals were narrowed and inflamed. Computed tomography (CT) was performed to get a fuller picture of the condition of the external, middle and inner ears. Our CT images revealed that both middle ear compartments had actually been affected. There was even bone erosion in the left middle ear! Surgery was performed, and to our delight, Ding Dong’s ear problem has finally cleared up!

Fi Fi came to us when she was 8 months old with a fractured elbow. Radiographs revealed that her elbow had broken into 3 pieces. To add to the complexity, her joint surface was involved. The elbow joint is unique, as it has major nerves and vessels in the proximity. Fi Fi only weighed 2.3 kg, and her delicate bones, which could further break during surgery, made the fixation procedure extremely challenging.

A few months ago, we welcomed 8 Jai, an 11-year-old American Shorthair, to our hospital. He had a mass in the duodenum, which we confirmed through ultrasound and CT scan. Both the pet parents and Dr. Elaine were concerned, as masses in the digestive tract are usually malignant. As such, endoscopy was used to confirm Dr. Elaine suspicion of a benign polyp, an uncommon condition: having enough information is crucial to draw up a suitable and effective treatment plan.