Vet Times

Tag: wound

  • Flank approach to the bitch spay

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    Having finally settled in one place in Jaipur, India, my friend and I were able to relax a little, safe in the knowledge we had two weeks of neutering for population control ahead of us. Being in an unfamiliar environment, and with our patients mainly being strays, we were prepared for very different methods of…

  • Meshed skin grafts

    Meshed skin grafts

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    Meshed skin grafts have several advantages over non-meshed grafts. Meshing is the creation of several rows of staggered, parallel incisions into a graft. Usually, a number 11 scalpel blade is used to make incisions 1cm long and roughly 1-2cm apart along the long axis of the graft. The resultant mesh allows the graft to be…

  • Doc Hollywood

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    We live in troubled times – economically, politically, and socially. This blog being mostly focused on veterinary matters, I’m going to turn my attention to the most animal-relevant of society’s many questions, which is this: How did the Americans get so good at telly? Like many right-minded people, my wife and I have become addicted to…

  • Low-level laser therapy for dogs

    Low-level laser therapy for dogs

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    Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a rapidly growing adjunctive therapy in companion animal practice. Low-level laser or cold laser therapy is a non-invasive procedure that uses light to stimulate cell regeneration and increase blood circulation, thus helping damaged tissue to repair. LLLT can be used to treat dogs with arthritis, tendon or soft tissue injuries, and…

  • Venusians, Martians and abscesses

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    Despite my continued annoyance at the non-appearance of hoverboards, the 21st century is truly a wonderful time to be alive. Contrary to the repeated attempts of 24-hour news channels to make us believe otherwise, many of us live in more tolerant and less violent societies than any of our ancestors. Men and women are now considered equals,…

  • Tie-over bandages can be great for wound management

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    One of my colleagues showed me a technique we found to be a really useful aid to wound management. We all know open wounds can take ages to heal by second intention, depending on wound size, infection, blood supply and a patient’s health. My colleague recommends tie-over bandages are used until the wound is no longer infected…

  • How to survive insomnia

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    It’s examination time and vet students across the UK are frantically trying to fill their heads with long, complicated words they can’t even hope to spell. With exams comes stress (which can manifest in many different ways), but as a professional bad-sleeper I wanted to share some advice on surviving an old adversary of mine: insomnia. Loosely, insomnia…

  • Subcuticular sutures: a great idea in sensitive regions

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    We routinely audit postoperative complications for our canine neutering surgery. Over time, it became clear we were seeing a few castration wounds come back in where the dog had licked both the wound and surrounding area, making it sore to the extent it was delaying healing. In some cases, additional treatment was required. We then wondered to…

  • Check out pad wounds thoroughly

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    Last Saturday I had a “walk in” – a very cute spaniel that was limping slightly and had a cut pad. The owner thought she might have trodden on something. A good palpation didn’t seem to suggest the presence of any foreign body and the dog was very stoical. My previous experiences suggest any foreign…