Casper the golden retriever
Meet Casper, an extremely handsome 7 month old Golden Retriever who visited us at ChesterGates under emergency circumstances earlier last month, when he was feeling rather poorly! His devoted owners had become concerned when Casper started vomiting and showing signs of abdominal pain, so they rushed him to his primary care vets. After some tests, Casper’s vets diagnosed him with an intussusception – this is a serious condition where a portion of the intestines folds into itself, creating a blockage. This type of problem requires emergency surgery, so Casper was referred to our brilliant Specialist surgeon Georgia Jenkins. It was early evening by the time Casper arrived with us, so he was cared for by our team of emergency on-call clinicians, available for any patient who needs us outside of our normal opening hours.
On arrival, Casper was lethargic, but still managed to wag his tail for our on-call team! He was assessed thoroughly our Specialist anaesthetist Ffion Lloyd, who administered strong pain relief and fluids to help with Casper’s comfort and dehydration. She created a bespoke anaesthetic plan for Casper, to ensure he was as safe and comfortable as possible throughout his surgery. This included a special local anaesthetic block, performed using our team’s brand new ultrasound machine, to provide additional pain relief.
Once safely under anaesthetic and expertly prepared for surgery by our theatre nursing team, Georgia performed an exploratory laparotomy in Casper, opening his abdomen to confirm the intussusception and make sure there were no other problems with his intestines. She carefully unfolded the intussusception, and removed the injured portion of gut with a specialised stapling device. Throughout anaesthesia and surgery, Casper was monitored carefully by Ffion to ensure his safety and comfort.
Casper the golden retriever with Kelsey, our Student Veterinary Nurse
Casper was transferred immediately after recovery from surgery to our wonderful night team of Registered veterinary nurses, interns and veterinary care assistants. They made sure Casper progressed well overnight and remained pain-free, as well as offering plenty of cuddles. You can see how much he enjoyed the attention in the photo of Casper with our lovely student veterinary nurse Kelsey!
The morning after surgery, Casper was already feeling much brighter, and was happy to receive a tasty breakfast of freshly cooked chicken. He remained in the hospital with us for a further 48 hours to ensure his surgical site was healing as expected and his pain levels were under control.
Georgia was extremely pleased to see Casper back a few weeks ago for his final post-operative check, 2 weeks after his surgery – he was very bright and happy and healing was progressing excellently. His surgery was a huge success, thanks to Georgia’s expertise, our team’s diligent care and his owners’ dedication. Thank you to his primary vets for referring him to us, and to his owners for allowing us to share his story.
