It's Not Always What it Sounds Like

Quick update on the kitten from the August 5th blog. This is her face today:

The area that previously showed exposed bone is nearly completely closed! 

Proof positive that cats are GREAT healers! This sweet little kitten needs a home - HINT, HINT!!
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The past few days I've taken a few interesting pictures at work (thank goodness for cell phone cameras!) and even one video.
These are always great launching points for educational or fun topics.


The other day a guy walked in because his dog's foot was bleeding. He woke up and found him that way. The dog was a 10yr old Rottie mix.  He told the technician the nail had come off. Yes, if nails get pulled off (getting caught on something or breaking), there will be a lot of bleeding. I was expecting to see a toe with the "quick" exposed or the nail partially broken off. The "quick" is the soft pink tissue under the nail - the blood/nerve supply to that nail. 


When I examined the dog, this is what I saw:

This is NOT simply a missing nail. I asked the owner how long ago the nail was missing. He tells ME (clients always tell my techs one thing and me another -sometimes the receptionist has heard even a 3rd thing!) it's been missing ONE month!
This did not surprise me. The photo above shows a mass of some type growing out of the base of the nail. The edge of the mass was ulcerated and bleeding. The end of this dog's digit was very thickened and swollen, also consistent with some type of growth. The only solution for this dog is toe amputation. So we bandaged it up and hopefully he'll go ahead and do this procedure. They don't do well when they have to have bandages on constantly - the moist, humid environment is perfect for some nasty infections.


This is another case of a client simply not knowing that it could be something as serious as a malignant tumor. Many times, clients simply don't look at the problem area on the pet or if they do, they don't know how to evaluate what it means - exactly why it's always better to have us take a look at it and why senior pets really should get exams every 6 months.