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Animal Accident & Emergency is OPEN 24 hours 7 days a week if your pet needs veterinary help.
Essendon Fields (03) 9379 0700
Point Cook (03) 8368 7400
Rufus is a 9 month old Choc Point Burmese cat who presented to Animal Accident & Emergency as a referral from his regular vet for ongoing care after being diagnosed with a tail pull injury.
What is a Tail Pull Injury:
It is a common injury caused when a car runs over the cat’s tail pulling apart the sacral-lumbar or coccygeal vertebrae and stretching the nerves that go to the bladder, rectum, and tail.
Signs: Tail hangs loosely – paralysed tail, urinary and/or faecal incontinence to partial loss of sciatic nerve function.
Treatment: Cats will need to be seen by a vet and hospitalised so the bladder can be manually emptied and receive treatment to attempt to heal the nerves controlling the urination and defecation. The tail may need to be amputated.
All spinal cord injuries require immediate veterinary attention. Protect the cat’s spine and use a blanket or towel to lift the cat onto a flat surface like a board before transporting to the vet.
Rufus is currently receiving critical care at our Essendon Pet Emergency Centre, the staff at AAE wish Rufus a speedy recovery.
Pictured above: Rufus enjoying a neck rub from Dr Nicole Trigg after his morning examination.
Some of our critical care and emergency team members have attend the 2014 IVECCS in Indianapolis.
The VECCS (Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society) is a membership organization for Emergency and Critical Care Veterinarians, Technicians and Practice Managers.
IVECCS is attended by many clinical veterinarians, technicians and practice managers searching for the latest advances in equipment, instruments, pharmaceuticals, and information management tools. The theme for IVECCS 2014 is “Infectious Diseases: EM/CC Issues” which will be woven into the wide range of emergency and critical care topics included in the 400 hours of scientific program presentations. As always, the underlying objective will be practical application of these new and traditional modalities to optimize clinical patient care. Over 150 world class symposium speakers will utilize lectures, dry labs, workshops, wet labs and interactive training sessions to provide unsurpassed CE.
VECCS has conducted IVECCS 2014 in conjunction with the American College of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care (ACVECC), the Academy of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Technicians (AVECCT), the American College of Veterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia (ACVAA), the Academy of Veterinary Technician Anesthetists (AVTA) and the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM).
For more information on click on the link: http://www.2014.iveccs.org/
The CARE your pet requires
Marijuana is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs worldwide and is also known by a variety of other names such as ‘weed’ and ‘pot’. Marijuana comes from the plant Cannabis sativa and the term ‘marijuana’ refers to the various parts of the plant such as the stems, leaves, seeds and flowers.
Apart from its use as a recreational drug, there is active ongoing research into the potential medicinal uses of marijuana for the management of conditions in humans such as chronic pain and multiple sclerosis. In fact, marijuana has already been approved for medical use in some places around the world. Unsurprisingly, the increased use of marijuana in humans has also resulted in an increasing number of animals being presented to veterinary clinics suffering from marijuana toxicity after accidental exposure to marijuana products.
This article will describe the common methods of intoxication and clinical signs seen in patients. We hope that readers will be able to better recognise early signs of intoxication and seek early medical intervention for their pets in the event of intoxication. If you believe your pet has ingested a drug, you need to contact our 24 hour vet Melbourne.
Commonly Encountered Forms of Marijuana
Why is marijuana toxic?
The major active component in marijuana is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and can be found in varying levels throughout the different parts of the plant. Intoxication may occur via various means such as ingestion of a marijuana product (most common) and inhalation of toxic smoke. Once absorbed, THC is rapidly distributed around the body and exerts its toxic effects by binding to specific receptors within the brain and the rest of the body. While the effects of THC are yet to be fully determined, studies have found that clinical signs are related to the amount of marijuana ingested, and intoxicated animals often present with signs such as altered mentation or gastrointestinal signs such as vomiting.
Cardiovascular Signs
Metabolic Changes
Gastrointestinal Signs
Making a diagnosis
A diagnosis can usually be made based on history provided by owners, known or witnessed ingestion of marijuana and suggestive clinical signs. However, in the event where there is no known exposure, a presumptive diagnosis can still be made based on clinical signs and resolution of clinical signs after treatment. However, a definitive diagnosis can be obtained from analysis of stomach content or urine of affected animal if required. Our pet hospitals stock urine identification tests that aid in the diagnosis.
Treatment
There is currently no specific antidote for THC toxicity. Treatment consists of supportive care and symptomatic therapy. Most pets will need to be admitted to our veterinary hospital.
In cases that present acutely after ingestion, decontamination via the induction of emesis (vomiting) may be attempted if patients are still conscious and alert. In severe cases however, patients may present comatose and as such would require more aggressive measures such as gastric lavage (emptying) and enemas (manual emptying of rectal contents) to achieve rapid removal of marijuana from the body.
In addition, other supportive measures such as activated charcoal, muscle relaxants, ventilatory support (via the provision of oxygen), intravenous lipid administration and constant monitoring of the patient’s body temperature may also be required. Our Emergency Centres are open 24 hours / 7 days a week. Our intensive CARE units always have emergency vets on shift.
Prognosis
The prognosis for affected patients is generally optimistic. The majority of cases tend to recover within 5 days with no long-term adverse effects.
In severe cases however, recovery may be prolonged and complications such as death has been reported in cases of marijuana butter ingestion.
My pet has eaten marijuana! What should I do?
If you have any questions, please phone our emergency centres: Essendon 03 9379 0700 or Point Cook 8368 7400.
Our Centres are for Animal Referral and Emergency.
We are Always Open, We Always Care
References
This week our intern rounds will be focussing on Cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease covers a wide range of topics. In this weeks rounds, our team covers some of the latest literature on heart disease.
Two of the papers that we will be exploring:
If you’re a local veterinarian and you would like to attend the rounds, please contact our Essendon 24hour Pet Emergency Centre for details (03) 9379 0700.
Animal Accident & Emergency 