15 Feb 2021
Vets in Essex save life of young rescue dog injured in suspected road collision some months earlier.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Vets at Southfields Veterinary Specialists in Essex have saved the life of a young rescue dog so badly injured many internal organs were in the wrong place.
Two-year-old Romanian rescue dog Florence had collapsed in shock and was fighting for breath when she arrived at the referral practice.
Southfields clinical director Henry L’Eplattenier arranged for radiographs of her chest, which showed her stomach and part of her liver were sitting in her chest cavity, and compressing her lungs.
It is suspected Florence was injured in a road collision, and required Dr L’Eplattenier to operate to save her life.
He said: “Florence must have had some sort of accident in the past involving a big blow to her abdomen, possibly a road traffic accident. Radiographs showed she had a very dilated stomach, which was compressing the lungs and preventing proper ventilation of the lungs.
“The outline of the diaphragm could not be recognised either, which suggested a rupture of the diaphragm. I explored the abdomen and confirmed a small rupture through which the stomach had migrated into the chest.”
Dr L’Eplattenier added: “The stomach was so dilated that I had to increase the opening in the diaphragm to pull the stomach back into the abdomen, where it belongs. Once the stomach was back in place, we then realised that part of the liver was in the chest, too.
“There were some adhesions between the liver and the chest, indicating the rupture was not recent, but that the dog had been living like this for a while – probably several months.
“Finally, once the stomach and liver were back in their normal positions, chest tubes were placed so that we could evacuate the air from the chest and I could stitch up the diaphragm.”
Although weak initially, Florence recovered well and the chest tubes were removed three days after the operation, allowing her to return home.
Dr L’Eplattenier added: “Florence had only been with them for three months after she’d been rescued from Romania. She had been found heavily pregnant and had a litter of puppies before being adopted by her current owners.
“They had noticed some regurgitation and retching in their puppy, but did not worry too much about it, as Florence was otherwise very active and did not look ill. So, they were naturally very alarmed when she suddenly started struggling to breathe and collapsed.
“I suspect the regurgitation and retching were caused by the rupture in the diaphragm, and the abnormal position of the stomach. This should be resolved now the stomach is back in its normal position.”
