Bonnie, an 8year old Shih Tzu, was seen on the 23rd of July with sudden onset of pain and lethargy. She was triaged by Beth, one of the nurses, and then assessed by Mary, one of our vets. Following this, Bonnie was admitted for further investigations, including in-house blood and urine tests, to allow for pain relief administration and monitoring.
Bonnie was sedated for abdominal x-rays and an ultrasound scan which showed stones in her bladder. As a result, Bonnie was anaesthetised for a Cystotomy. This is where an incision is made into the bladder wall, allowing the vet to remove the stones. Eight stones of varying sizes were removed from her bladder, which were sent off to an external lab for analysis.
Bonnie was kept in for the day for intravenous fluid therapy and monitoring. Her pain was assessed every 4 hours using the Glasgow Acute Pain Scale for Dogs. This is a tool that can be used quickly and reliably to assess if pain relief is required. Over the day, she was tempted to eat, recovered well from her anaesthetic and started eating some food. She went home that evening on ongoing pain relief and antibiotics.
The following day she had a post-op call and was recovering well. She was in for a post-op check with Beth on the 4th of August. Again, her wound was healing well, and she was bright and back to her normal self.
The results of the stones are now back. Results indicate that Bonnie will need to be fed a specific veterinary diet to help reduce the chance of recurring stones.
We are all pleased with her excellent recovery. Bonnie has been a lovely patient to look after and has become a favourite with all the nurses. Well done, Bonnie; you deserve your bravery award.
