Tuesday 27 May 2014

Decompression in canine GDV: orogastric intubation? gastric trocarisation?

Background

Gastric decompression is an essential part of the initial pre-operative stabilisation of dogs with GDV once aggressive intravenous fluid therapy is under way. There are two methods of achieving this: orogastric intubation and needle puncture (gastric trocarisation).

Friday 23 May 2014

'Clinically proven' - what should it mean?

I recently came across information about a cooling mat for dogs and cats. AniMat Cool Gel Mat™ (AnimAlarm®, http://theanimalarm.com/animat-cool-gel-mat/) which the company says “uses a unique patented gel that stays cool automatically with no activation”. Well of course this pricked my interest because I started to think about ways in which we could use this in the clinic.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

PCV vs. HCT, TS vs. TP

Measuring manual packed cell volume (PCV) and refractometric plasma total solids (TS) has long been part of the emergency database; moreover these parameters are often reassessed during hospitalisation.