Caesarian/cesárea

Uterus of a pregnant bitch, caesarean

A 3 y.o. pug had been whelping for 12 hours, without successfully producing any puppy, and now she was showing signs of tiredness. Although she had a previous litter of 6 without any of the issues she was having this time, her owner wanted some phone advice as to what she could do at home. Because Matilda was still pushing, I advised her owner to keep her in a quiet place, not to stress her to prevent any dystocia, and close monitoring if there was any progress. In case no puppy were produces in half hour, my best advice was to bring her down to our hospital (read more)

Why should my cat have a litter before being neutered? / ¿Porqué mi gata debería tener crías antes de esterilizarla?

 EN ESPAÑOL AL FINAL DEL TEXTO 

Because everybody thinks so. Everybody but the experts, to be honest.

According to the magazine Veterinary Records of 26th April 2014, 85% of litters are unplanned!

RSPCA is lauching a campaign to dispel this "one litter myth". Here are few facts (read more):

Rabbit castration/castración de conejo

Sterilization of skin by Lisa Waters.

Male rabbit neutering procedure is, basically, identical to any dog or cat castration. Depending on the area where it takes place, some surgical steps may differ. It is always carried out under general anaestesia and, therefore, there exists some risk that any sedation entails.

El proceso de esterilización del conejo macho es, básicamente, idéntico al de un perro o gato. En función del lugar donde se realice, algunas pautas quirúrgicas pueden variar. Siempre se lleva a cabo bajo anestesia general y, por tanto, se corre el riesgo implícito en cualquier sedación.

Dog with cryptorchidism/ perro con criptorquidia

Criptorchidism occurs when both testes, for an unknowed cause but remarked heredity, are out of the scrotum. The testes remain high in the abdomen during the pregnancy. During the first 6 month of life they move from the abdomen through the inguinal canals into the two sides of the scrotum. After this time it is highly improbably they descend.

El criptorquidismo se da cuando ambos testículos, por razón desconocida pero de marcada

Miths about sterilization/Mitos sobre esterilizaciones

• If I don't let my female pet to have, at least once, a litter, she'll have cancer: on the contrary, no hormons means much less chances to have breast or prostate tumours (hormon-dependents). Besides, female ones cannot have uterus infeccions. And say goodbye to phantom pregnancies too because there are no more hormonal cycles.

• Si no dejo que mi perra/gata tenga camada al menos una vez, tendrá cáncer: al contrario, no soltar hormonas disminuye el riesgo de tener cáncer de mama o de próstata (hormonodependientes). Además, las hembras no tendrán infección uterina. Y di adiós a los embarazos psicológicos porque no hay ciclos hormonales.

• Even so, females should have puppies once: Why? there is not a single evidence of either phisical or psichic problem in neutered pets.

Spaying pregnant, female cats/ esterilizar gatas preñadas.

Now is the time of the year when most female cats are pregnant. It 's very common to bring us a female one already pregnant, to be spayed.

The technique is not different from an ordinary

neutering (although in the UK it is usually done through the left side of the cat). The main risks are that the veins and arteries are much more full of blood, as they have to feed unborn kittens, and that the teats are also bloodier and full of milk. The one in the photo above was bringing five kittens. The larger litter this year, seven kittens (photo behind)

Depending on the cat's way of living, the outside stitches can be simple ones (right photo) for a homely or quiet cat, or some harder, although uglier, ones for stray or wild cats.

Dangerous piometra/Piometra peligrosa

Mondays are normally the busiest days. At midday a new client arrived with a 10 years old golden retriever that had been that weekend in another veterinary hospital. After 2 weeks of a nonstop discharge through her vulva she was very down, on the verge of death. Her owners were advised to leave her in hospital for an emergency surgery. I agreed with them and she was left in my clinic. At lunch time my assistant and I began the risky sterilization, having a very old, very week, very lethargic, very anaemic patient (28% red blood cells), platelets very down and the white cells very high.

Los lunes son los días más ocupados. A media mañana llega una nueva clienta con una golden retriever de 10 años que había estado el fin de semana en un hospital veterinario de urgencia. Tras dos semanas sin dejar de secretar por su vulva, estaba muy abatida, a punto de morir. A sus dueños se

Little female cat

Not all cases have a happy end for a vet. After 10 years of practice I ended one of the dozens of sterilizations in a female cat, not heavily pregnant as she happened to be. There was no issues during the spay and, after all day in the surgery, very awake, she is picked up to spend her first  sick night at home. At one in the morning I was called, she is bleeding a lot.

When she came back the bleeding had stopped some minutes before.