Harriet the Australian Cattle Dog was just 11 weeks old when she first visited Hall Veterinary Surgery. Australian Cattle Dogs are known for being highly active, independent and brave but its safe to say that when Harriet came through our doors she was not feeling like any of the above.
Harriet’s attentive owners first noticed vomiting, and a lack of energy and appetite. They immediately knew that something wasn’t right and phoned to book an appointment with Dr Jenny.
When Dr Jenny examined Harriet she found that she was extremely uncomfortable in her tummy and that she was very dehydrated. She was admitted to hospital where we started her on IV fluids and strong pain relief to keep her comfortable whilst we investigated further.
We then ran some diagnostic tests to find a cause for her symptoms. These tests revealed that Harriet had a painful condition called an ‘intussusception’. This is where part of her intestine was telescoping inside itself. Her ultrasound images (below) showed multiple loops of intestine inside each other.
Unfortunately this meant that little Harriet had to have a surgical procedure to correct the intussusception. Dr Jenny had to remove a small portion of her intestine that was dying. Harriet recovered well from her General Anaesthesia and was kept on her IV fluids and pain relief throughout the afternoon.
Harriet was taken to Canberra Veterinary Emergency Services via the Pet Ambulance for overnight monitoring and was discharged home to her loving owners the next day.
Just 2 weeks later we had another visit from Harriet and her family but thankfully this time it was just for her Puppy Vaccinations. We were all so pleased to see a gorgeous, energetic and bouncy puppy, a completely different dog to the one we had seen just 2 weeks earlier.
If it wasn’t for Harriet’s dedicated and loving owners she may not be here with us today.