UK Vet Companion Animal

Figure 1. A dog with severe ear wound, causing a complete loss of the outer ear, before and during treatment at the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust. This is one of many cases believed to have been caused by New World Screwworm.

The year of the maggots

The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust is a small UK registered charity, founded in 2002 by sisters Heather Armstrong and Stella Brewer. The aim of the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust is to reduce rural...

Figure 2. A superficial, partially embedded corneal foreign body in a dog. This piece of plant material was forcibly rinsed from the corneal surface.

Dealing with penetrating foreign bodies in the eyes of small animals

Ocular injuries are observed more frequently in young dogs of less than 5 years of age, as well as in hunting and working breeds such as English Springer Spaniels and Labrador Retrievers. Injuries...

Figure 5. A lateral cervical radiograph demonstrating emphysema. Gas lucencies are seen subcutaneously (arrow 1) and within the fascial planes of the neck (arrow 2). Any gas lucency evident that is not within the trachea or oesophagus raises suspicion of dorsal pharyngeal or oesophageal puncture.

Acute oropharyngeal puncture wounds: a review

Owners may recognise a specific event leading to the injury, such as their dog running for or retrieving a stick (Robinson et al, 2014). Alternatively, owners may be out of sight from the event and...

Figure 1. Superficial incisional surgical site infection after exploratory laparotomy.

CPD article: Biofilms and surgical site infections

A surgical site infection is a nosocomial infection temporally associated with a particular surgical procedure. A bacterial wound infection can be defined as the presence of more than 105 bacteria per...

Figure 4. Summary flow chart demonstrating the decision-making process regarding antibiosis in open fracture patients.

Emergency management of open fractures

Patients presenting with an open fracture must be carefully assessed. Open fractures are typically the result of high-energy trauma (Anderson and Gustilo, 1980), such as automobile accidents, so any...

Figure 4. Patient wearing a protective body bandage made from Granuflex (ConvaTec, USA) and cohesive bandage (NVS, UK). This body bandage was worn for 20 weeks to support wound healing and to prevent further self-trauma. It was also acting as a brace to support the back. Concerns were raised regarding the patient's quality of life if this was required to be worn long term. Note the patient's wide eyes and lack of facial grimace.

Using acupuncture to manage wound healing and chronic back pain in a guinea pig