Case studies showcase the incredible work of vets and vet nurses in Vets Now Glasgow
Our emergency and specialty hospital in Glasgow is one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the country – and every week our vets and vet nurses there treat upwards of 200 out-of-hours emergency and daytime referral cases.
Each and every one of those is someone’s beloved pet with their own unique story to tell.
Here we look at some of the most remarkable cases to come through the doors of the hospital of late.
Rudi
Rudi miraculously cheated death after swallowing a stick measuring 26cm while out for a walk.
Because of the severity of his injuries, the two-year-old spaniel was referred to our Glasgow team and had to be rushed 100 miles from Fort William for specialist treatment.
Our vets were amazed he made it that far as the stick was just millimetres from severing an artery.
Fui Yap, the European specialist who operated on Rudi, said: “Rudi was incredibly fortunate the stick missed all the vital structures. He required intensive and complex treatment and was in the hospital for several days.”
Cookie
Almost 40 miles from her home, Cookie the cat was on the brink of death.
She’d been missing for more than three weeks when she was found by a passer-by and rushed to a vet. But her misadventure nearly proved fatal as she was less than half her normal body weight and critically ill.
Thankfully the one-year-old was referred to our ECC specialists in Glasgow who treated the wounds on her abdomen and hind legs and diagnosed her with the life-threatening condition re-feeding syndrome.
During her treatment Cookie took a turn for the worse and a blood transfusion was required urgently. Fortunately, brother Ollie came to the rescue, providing the blood Cookie needed to survive.
Cookie eventually returned home with loving owner Dorothy Boyle, who said at the time: “I can’t thank the vets at Vets Now enough for all they’ve done for Cookie.”
Refer a case
Rory
Tiny Rory was effectively brought back from the dead after 20 minutes of heart massage by a vet.
The Chihuahua is now a lively and mischievous puppy – but when he came into the world weighing just four ounces he was lifeless, and nobody expected him to survive.
Mum-of-five Lynne McMillan and her family had been looking forward to the arrival of the pup for weeks. But as excitement reached a peak ahead of the due date things suddenly took a turn for the worse when Rory’s mum, Pixie, was rushed to our hospital in Glasgow.
Staff told Lynne they couldn’t hear the puppy’s heartbeat and, with Pixie’s condition deteriorating rapidly, they may be better served to focus on saving her life.
Lynne and her family were distraught at the news and left fearing Pixie wouldn’t survive her ordeal. But later that evening they got a phone call to say a miracle had happened. Not only had Pixie survived, but plucky Rory had too.
Jasmine
She doesn’t know it – but little Jasmine owes her life to social media, the quick actions of another cat’s owner and a blood donation from her pet.
After losing an eye and suffering a broken jaw and hip in a horrific collision with a car, Jasmine was rushed to our Glasgow hospital for surgery.
She desperately needed blood following her op, so an online appeal was launched to find a donor. News of the plea reached Sam Bamford in North Lanarkshire who breeds pedigree Birman cats, and she rang Vets Now to say she could be there with nine-year-old Tyler in half an hour.
ECC resident Neus Elias-Santo Domingo said, following surgery, Jasmine was severely anaemic and in dire need of blood.
“Jasmine’s injuries were significant and undoubtedly life-threatening. Thankfully our appeal to find a donor for Jasmine was successful, and it was lovely to have a happy ending to such a traumatic story.”
Scout
Boxer Scout bounced back from a debilitating illness that left her so poorly her owner considered putting her to sleep three times and even paid for a cremation.
Scout spent months not eating properly and losing weight as Karen Paton battled to keep her alive by feeding her through a syringe.
But after being referred to internal medicine specialist Scott Kilpatrick, Scout’s health improved almost overnight.
Karen, an equine lecturer based in Perth, said: “We went through three months of hell with Scout. Our lives completely revolved around giving her medication and trying to keep food inside her and if she was sick we would have to start all over again. It was a living nightmare. But from the moment the specialists at Vets Now reassessed her, she has never looked back.”
Max
Pointer cross Max was saved by our emergency team in May after swallowing six corn on the cobs.
The puppy wolfed down the husks after finding a pile of them abandoned in a Glasgow park. But one of them got stuck in the eight-month-old’s digestive system leaving him in need of major surgery.
Our emergency vets decided to delay operating on Max for 24 hours as he was so dehydrated, but, thankfully, once they had stabilised him, they were able to successfully remove the corn on the cob husk.
Vet surgeon Marie-Philippe Bussieres said: “Thankfully, Max was able to bounce back from this major surgery. The complications he suffered from his dehydration and heart did give us some concern, so it’s nice to hear that he’s back to his old self.”
Merlin
Merlin’s life was saved with the help of a ground-breaking new treatment.
The four-year-old Great Dane, who weighs a whopping 10 stone, was losing blood because of a life-threatening twist in his intestine.
Getting sufficient donor supplies for such a large dog can be challenging as well as hugely expensive, so our veterinary team used a procedure called cell salvage, which effectively recycles the dog’s own blood.
Sheila McLellan, an emergency and critical care veterinary nurse, said: “Due to Merlin’s size – Great Danes are about 70kg – we knew we wouldn’t have enough blood to replace what he was losing so we used our cell salvage machine for the first time.
“This allowed us to take Merlin’s blood from his abdomen and feed it into the machine which essentially washed and filtered the blood, allowing our emergency vets to give it straight back to him.”