Southern View: October 23, 2018

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4 Tuesday October 23 2018 Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi SOUTHERN VIEW News Hooked on fishing McMaster & Heap Veterinary practice THE DANGER OF FEEDING BONES Hillmorton’s Lucas Rolston, 6, joined about 5000 other children and parents at The Groynes lakes for the annual Take a Kid Fishing event With the popularity of feeding raw food diets now, we are seeing on the rise intestinal damage and blockages due to dogs eating the wrong sort of bones on a regular basis. Over the past six months we are doing exploratory surgeries to remove bones that have got lodged somewhere in the gastrointestinal tract almost on a weekly basis– often we see these patients late Friday afternoon so they end up being operated on that night and transferred to the afterhours. All this costs a lot of money and is stressful for the owner. I’m not saying all bones are bad but I think owners have to be aware of the pitfalls, research carefully the safer bone options like raw meaty bones and supervise carefully when there pooch is having a good old chew. In some adult dogs with no medical issues, feeding balanced and complete raw diets may be okay but we at McMaster & Heap will never be advocates of feeding most bones on a regular basis and certainly not to puppies. Very occasionally feeding a large RAW meaty cannon bone is great for teeth cleaning and general enjoyment. I limit Lola my Labrador to a raw cannon bone twice a month and it’s binned after one hour of chewing. Once I forgot to take the bone away and after three hours she was still knawing away and the pulp in her upper canine had bled into the tooth. Luckily it healed quickly and she didn’t need the tooth extracting. The nutritional value of bones is poor and their complication rate high. Dental disease is common and we will often see fractured canines and dying teeth from the pulp of the tooth getting permanently damaged from continual chewing on a hard object for too long. Again supervision is needed. Gastrointestinal disease, presenting with vomiting, regurgitation, diarrhoea and inappetance is commonplace (especially with the feeding of cooked bones ) as is the dreaded and expensive to treat “pancreatitis” patient. Baked or barbequed bones become hard and brittle causing splintering and subsequent piercing of the softer tissues. And then we have the blockages, where bone is “stuck” and can’t be pushed along with peristalsis, requiring surgical intervention – not a cheap option but a necessary one if we are to save the patients’ life. Now we come to my beloved “Henry” who regularly loves to visit me and have some sort of operation fairly regularly. We have a close relationship now. In January he was This is Henry NOT allowed on the furniture very sick with pancreatitis and hospitalised for days, then in August on a Sunday we surgically removed a foreign body from his small intestine and very recently he got a large knuckle bone completely stuck in his oesophagus requiring emergency surgery. He usually bounces back quickly from surgery but this last visit he’s had a few quite serious complications from eating bones. The large knuckle was removed through his pharygnx carefully with the use of forceps. Due to the oesophageal damage he’s had difficulty eating and regurgitation issues. He also had exploratory surgery to remove many sharp shards of bone from his stomach that were not able to pass through Henrys intestine. As a result of the regurgitation due to the surgery and eating of bones, he now has aspiration pneumonia which is holding his usually super recovery back. Henry has spiking fevers daily, feels listless and is off his food – a rare event for a Labrador!! He is currently taking nine medications, four of which are antibiotics. He’s been a daily inpatient getting intravenous fluids to support him as he hasn’t wanted to drink much. His owners are performing coupage several times a day to help clear secretions from the lungs. This is a bit like physiotherapy on the lungs to dislodge mucous and fluid pooling in the lungs so Henry can breathe easier. He coughs up the secretions in his airways and swallows them. Suffice to say the latest update from Henry is great news. He’s back home, eating much better, off intravenous fluids but still on a variety of medications. Pneumonia will probably take three to four weeks of antibiotic therapy to clear his lungs completely. Henry was very lucky as his owners will do anything for him and acted quickly getting him to us. He’s certainly worthy though of the love he has from us all. As you can see from his photo, he’s one “cool dude”. Dr Michele McMaster Fireworks Spectacular Slide ‘n’ Ride Take the bus to the fireworks — free! Plus enjoy a go on one of our hydroslides.* Shuttle buses leave Taiora QEII from 5pm, 2 November Return buses from 9.30pm Bookings essential. For details, visit ccc.govt.nz/events * Conditions apply. The bone lodged in his oesophagus Henry recovering from pneumonia Open 7 days Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624 e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz www.mcmasterheap.co.nz McMaster & Heap
SOUTHERN VIEW Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi Tuesday October 23 2018 5 Local News Now Fire rages, homes at risk at The Groynes LUNCHTIME: A volunteer showing children how to prepare and cook their catch. WATCH AND LEARN: Casebrook resident Elijah Sim, 9, and volunteer Andy Eastwick. HOOKED: Riley Gerrard-Walsh, 7, Alana Benney, 8, and Kayden Benney, 7, of Rangiora, show off the fish they caught.. PHOTOS: AARON CAMPBELL Archer GROUP Archer Village 166 Colombo Street, Beckenham Boutique Lifestyle Village and Home For inquiries phone Sue (Sales Manager) on 021 902 626 or 943 6006 or email sue@archer.org.nz LOVELY TWO BEDROOM VILLAS AVAILABLE NOW PLUS NEWLY BUILT TWO BEDROOM VILLAS AVAILABLE NOV 2018 Archer Village | Linrose Village | Thorrington Village | Archer Homes | Archer Tours www.archer.org.nz
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Southern View: October 23, 2018

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