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030711Singapore pet health and
welfare, educational for animal lovers, from
Asiahomes Internet Tips for Pet Lovers, sponsored by AsiaHomes Internet.
August 13, 2003 Was it better late than never for the horn-eyed Chihuahua puppy? "The Chihuahua puppy is in a bad shape. It looks dead," Nurse Ann said. Death is a frightening word for a veterinary surgeon who has just completed an operation. If it died, the breeder would not forget as this was the first time his dog was operated by me. No second chances if it had died. I should not have operated on this two-month-old Chihuahua. Its breeder had not asked for the operation. He had merely asked me: "Do you have any drug that can reduce the 3-mm horn-like swelling from the eye cornea?" The 4-mm swelling came out from the centre of the eyeball. White cells heaped up and gravity curved the pole downwards with a red spotted end. It looked like a miniature unicorn's horn. I replied: "The Chihuahua's eye had been punctured deep. Emergency eye surgery within four hours would have helped considerably in the corneal ulcer healing. Usually it heals within ten days, in my experience." "It is over 100 hours," the breeder laughed. "No point in surgery. I use this Panalog ear and skin ointment and eye ulcers heal very well." "Panalog contains a potent steroid which reduces pain and inflammation," I said. "The dog stops rubbing its injured eye. However, the steroid suppresses the healing. The corneal ulcer had perforated and now there is a large horn of protruding tissue. Most or all doctors will recommend steroids on the eye ulcer." The breeder seemed convinced that the steroids had worsened the eye. "Surgery will cause the eye to bleed a lot," he said. He was too polite to comment about my competency. In his mind, should he entrust me to operate on his $750 puppy? Was I competent enough to operate on the human equivalent of "toddler"? He knew I had little experience in the anaesthesia and surgery of two-month-olds. This age group seldom needs such procedures and all Singapore veterinarians will not have an impressive track record of a few hundred cases behind them. "How much is the Chihuahua worth when it is 3 months old and ready for sale? Is it $1,000" I asked. Good looking ones do sell around $1,500 even in this Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) situation, but this was an ordinary looking fawn puppy. "Around $750." the breeder said as he took out the active puppy playing with its sibling in the cage and the Yorkshire in the adjacent cage. He always kept more than one puppy in a cage. Although he had trimmed the nails, the puppies could still injured each other's protruding eyeball by jumping and playing. Had he caged each individually, he would not have such problems. Or lesser incidence. 
"Nobody will buy this puppy," I said solicitously. "I can use it for breeding," the breeder said. I comforted myself that, the puppy would not be euthanased. Yet it would be blind in one eye if Panalog was applied more and more. It was too late to perform surgery but it was better late than never. Breeders are cost conscious in this recession and veterinary cost is a significant anti-surgery reason in addition to anaesthetic deaths. The $150 would wipe out his profits on this particular sale, most breeders would say to me. "Is it eating normally today?" I asked. "It had reduced appetite," the breeder said. This was not a good surgical prospect as it indicated that the Chihuahua was not perfectly healthy. "Let me bring back the puppy to operate and I will return it to you in four hours' time." I said. The breeder had not enquired about the veterinary costs and I had not warned him that the Chihuahua might die on the operating table due to the anaesthesia and its lack of excellent health. Now, it looked dead. I took the Chihuahua out of the box. The neck Elizabeth collar might have caused him stress and difficulty in breathing. I took it off. It was drowsy due to the effect of the tranquiliser. Before the surgery, its rectal temperature was 37.7 degrees Celsius when it should be at least 38.5 degrees. It had hypothermia. Its stools were soft. It had been pressing its head looking up the sky against the corner of the box indicating it had a headache. It whimpered continuously as if it was in pain. It had vomited during the 15-minute car ride from the Pasir Ris breeding kennel to the surgery and was groggy on arrival at the surgery. Should I postpone the now or never surgery? I had only one opportunity to help this little girl and four hours to return it to the breeder. The two-month-old Chihuahua is a sensitive puppy most people can't look after. It needed special care by an experienced breeder as it stops eating under stress or change of environment. I waited one hour for it to recover from the car ride and gave it some dextrose saline injections. Then I injected a very small amount of pain killing tranquiliser into its right back muscle to enable me to scrape off the excessive corneal tissue. A bit of the aqueous humour leaked out from the inside of the eye as I cut off the exuberant tissue. It was clear and watery and this meant that the inside of the eyeball was not infected. I stitched up the upper and lower eyelids to protect and heal the ulcer. Three fine 6/0 vicryl stitches closed the eyelid and put in antibiotic eye ointment without the steroids. The breeder was glad to see his puppy although he did not express himself unlike Caucasians. He cared much for his one hundred dogs as if they were his children. Once I told him that his friend had said that his old male German Shepherd was going to die soon since it had lost appetite and was not moving. He as so angry. The Chihuahua was alive in its familiar cage and was looking for the feed pellets. "Your puppy is hungry," I said as I handed him the dog. The grey thunderstorm clouds had burst some rain drops and I must rush to vaccinate thirty puppies in another place. "I have cooked a special brew for her," the breeder said. "How much do I owe you?" He was an old hand and knew what to feed when it came to the rearing of the delicate Chihuahuas as well as where to source the least expensive drugs, products and veterinary services. Other people in the trade do refer to him when they have some puppy problems. Would this belated surgery be successful in sealing the 5-mm hole in the cornea? Would the Chihuahua scratch off the stitches since an Elizabeth collar was too cumbersome? If it did so, it was back to square one. I would know ten days later. This case required veterinary follow ups the next few days and this tended to be costly if house calls were charged. As to how much the surgery cost, I did not charge him. He had not wanted the surgery to be done in the first place. Education of the canine breeder via the internet or report writing is important as there are no extension veterinarians to spend time with the breeder in Singapore. Professional breeders cannot afford the standard veterinary fees and do self treatment most of the time. Private vets with their own practices find that they can't earn much if they do extension work at the dog breeding farms. However, corneal ulcers are one condition breeders must seek prompt and emergency veterinary attention for the sake of their puppy if not for the profitability of the business. |
