Sunny, a 7-year-old handsome Bengal cat presented to London Vet Specialists for chronic vomiting, diarrhoea and weight loss. Lucky Sunny, he was adopted by a lovely family who decided to take him straight to the vets after noticing his tummy symptoms. After a few months of trying different foods and some medications to sooth his stomach, it was clear that something wasn’t quite right. Sunny’s regular vet decided to call upon the team of LVS specialists when they felt something abnormal when examining his intestines.
When arriving to LVS poor Sunny was not in the best shape. He was thin, dehydrated and very weak. Dr Alex Hatch, specialist in Emergency and Critical Care immediately took over to address his serious condition. Sunny was given intravenous fluids to replenish his hydration, medications to help settle his stomach and pain relief to make him more comfortable.
Once feeling brighter, an abdominal ultrasound was scheduled with Dr Ian Jones, specialist in Diagnostic Imaging. He identified a circumferential thickening of the small intestine (jejunum) that was causing a blockage that explained why he was losing weight and vomiting: no food was able to go through! The image below shows two normal sized intestinal loops (blue arrows) up top and the red arrows outline the concerning segment.
Surgery was indicated to remove this abnormal part of Sunny´s intestine to relieve the blockage and try to determine why it happened. Dr Janet Kovak McClaran, specialist in Soft Tissue Surgery, offered a novel, minimally approach for this surgery allowing a less painful and quicker recovery. Sunny had key hole, camera assisted surgery, which allowed visualization and removal of the area causing the blockage. The image below shows a wound retractor device that allows the intestine to be exteriorized. The red area (highlighted by red arrow) causing the obstruction was then removed and the normal bowel (blue arrow) stitched together again as represented in this drawing.
Sunny made a remarkable recovery and started eating and gaining weight straight after the procedure. The results from the pathologist confirmed that the abnormal part of his intestine was scar tissue (perhaps from an old injury) with no sinister or cancerous cells identified. Thanks to the team of LVS specialists, Sunny can expect many bright days ahead!
