Poor little Heidi had a very difficult few weeks. Firstly we diagnosed her with bilaterally ruptured cruciate ligaments; and both of her knees were unstable. That was a shock. That means double surgery. We discussed the pros and cons of doing staged procedures; but we opted for a bilateral repair on the same day.
We had booked her for convalescence for a week; but she was up and walking almost perfectly within a day. She was the absolute best patient. Nathan our nurse took her under his wing and looked after her so well immediately post op. The biggest problem wasn’t getting her up and around; the problem was to stop her overdoing it!
She is the best and bravest dog. She never growled; and is always happy to see us.
Then she developed a really weird complication; a few weeks later. It started as an itchy spot; and then a weepy sore; and then it went hard. To our horror; a large piece of skin went necrotic and sloughed off. The whole team and Heidi’s owner went over everything. We checked all our heat pads but they were fine; she had no hot water bottle at home; she had no exposure to anything that could burn her; and we were really surprised.
The most likely cause is a rare cutaneous drug reaction. She was most likely allergic to some of the drugs used during her sedation, anaesthesia, and surgery. We may never know what caused it.
We had to manage the wound with surgical dressings until we had a healthy wound to suture. Then we had to reconstruct the skin using advancement flaps. Usually this would cost more than her orthopaedic surgery; but we are able to manage overheads and try to keep our cases in-house; which drastically reduces the costs. We always look after our clients as best we can; especially with any post operative complications.
The mystery wound healed up perfectly. But still, even though she went through all of that; she wags her tail on arrival ; and loves to come to see us. Every member of the team has looked after her so well and with enormous care and attention; especially Hermann, Nathan, Katie and Alessandra. It’s so rewarding to see her back to normal; running around and enjoying life!
