Pet answers: sore dogs, bald dogs and fat hamsters…
Don’t settle for pet theories, get pet answers! Veterinary surgeon Cees Bennett answers your animal health questions
MY DOG IS LAME ON ONE OF HIS BACK LEGS AND I HAVE BEEN TOLD IT IS A CRUCIATE LIGAMENT AND THAT SURGERY IS REQUIRED. IS THIS THE ONLY OPTION?
Ouch! If it is a cruciate ligament that has been damaged he will be a very sore dog. A lot will depend on the assessment that a vet will do. They will feel the leg and manipulate the knee to determine the range of motion and stability of the joint. If they think it is a strain or just minor damage then sometimes just rest and anti-inflammatories are recommended for a couple of weeks, but if there is not a dramatic improvement they will quite likely want to take an x-ray of the knee joint under sedation. For the vast majority of cases where the cruciate ligament has been badly injured or torn, surgery is required as it will not get better otherwise. This can be done by a few different techniques (with a very wide cost difference, from £500-£4000, so think of insurance!) but all of them are a big operation with a long healing time. The outcome success rate varies with the skill of the surgeon but is generally high.
I HAVE A SIX-MONTH-OLD STAFFY WHO HAS SOME BALD PATCHES ON HER FACE, NECK AND LEGS THAT ARE GETTING BIGGER. SHE ISN’T ITCHING AT ALL AND IS TREATED FOR FLEAS SO WHAT COULD IT BE?
You don’t mention what type of flea treatment you use (as I have discussed before many flea treatments don’t work) but by your description of where the patches are fleas are less likely. My first suspicion would be that she has something called demodex mange. Demodex mites are very small parasites that live in the hair follicles. Normally this is not an issue but sometimes they can become very active and cause a lot of hair loss and inflamed skin, but often not itching. It can be diagnosed by skin scrapings and microscopic examination and at the same time the vet may do a fungal culture to rule out ‘ringworm’. There are various treatments available for demodex but they would need discussing with your vet. Fortunately it is not contagious to other animals or people.
I HAVE A TWO-YEAR-OLD HAMSTER AND HER STOMACH IS VERY SWOLLEN. SHE IS WELL IN HERSELF OTHERWISE AND IS EATING NORMALLY. COULD SHE JUST BE GETTING FAT?
You don’t mention how quickly she has become swollen but if you suddenly noticed it then it is unlikely to be obesity. Unfortunately it is quite common for elderly hamsters to have tumours but it could also be constipation, ovarian cysts, heart disease or organ enlargement (like the liver). A vet can palpate her abdomen and hopefully give you a better idea and further tests are possible. In many cases we can’t remove tumours or cysts – so as long as she is well we would monitor her only for these – but treatment is possible for some conditions.
Do you have a pet or animal health question? Send it to us at: Cees will endeavour to answer all questions, whether published or not!
Cees Bennett, BVetMed MRCVS Veterinary surgeon and Joint Venture Partner at Peterborough Vets4Pets 231-233 St Paul’s Road Peterborough PE1 3RL Tel: 01733 890777 & Bretton Vets4Pets Inside Pets at Home Unit 2 The Bretton Centre Peterborough, PE3 8DN Tel: 01733 261094.
