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PLUCKY PATCH CHEATS DEATH THANKS TO
WIRRAL VET FINDING RARE TUMOUR
A plucky pooch called Patch has cheated death thanks to a Wirral vet
who discovered he had a rare tumour.
The seven-year-old black Shih Tzu was showing no signs of being unwell
but unbeknown to owner Cheryl Dolan, from Seacombe, he was a
ticking time bomb and months away from certain death.
Cheryl, 44, had been gearing up for her pooch to have a cyst removed
from his eyelid at Acorn Veterinary Centre in West Kirby, which is part
of Willows Veterinary Group, when it was recommended that he have
pre-operative blood tests. With Patch being young, fit and healthy, vet
Mel Pryer did not expect any issues to arise but as a precaution offered
the tests to Cheryl, who thankfully did not hesitate to say yes. Mel’s
thorough tests revealed Patch had an issue with his kidney function and
following further investigation, a scan showed he had a tumour on his
parathyroid gland. It was the first time in vet Mel’s 20-year career that
she had ever seen the condition. Although the tumour didn’t turn out to
be malignant, the dangerously high levels of calcium it was causing his
body to produce would have resulted in Patch dying from ki dney failure
within 6-12 months and if left untreated for much longer, could have
caused irreversible damage.
Vet Mel has worked for Willows Veterinary Group since 2008 and
has recently moved with the Acorn team to their new state-of-the-art
refurbished surgery in Acacia Grove. She said: “When we did the pre-op
blood tests, they came back with signs of kidney disease. So we started
investigating and found he had high levels of calcium which was being
caused by a tumour. Never in my 20 years have I come across this type
of tumour. It is rare. So I am very relieved we picked it up in the pre-op
blood tests. The anaesthetic used in the operation to remove the cyst
from his eyelid would have caused further damage to his kidneys and in
six to 12 months time it’s likely he would have died from renal failure.
There is no doubt Patch’s life was saved by the blood test.”
14 wirrallife.com
The tumour was removed at Willows Veterinary Group’s specialist
referral treatment centre Oakwood Veterinary Referrals, based at
Willows Veterinary Hospital in Hartford, near Northwich, and Patch
has since made a full recovery.
Cheryl said she couldn’t thank vet Mel and her team enough for saving
her canine friend’s life. She said: “From my perspective those tests are
what saved my dog’s life. We still can’t get our heads around it all. There
was no loss of weight, he wasn’t lethargic, he was just his normal self.”
It was the entirely unrelated health issue with Patch’s eye cyst which
prompted Cheryl to take him to see Mel as she explained; “Patch has had
a cyst on his left eyelid from birth but Mel said it wasn’t harming him
so it was best to only remove it if it got bigger or was annoying him. He
got an ulcer in his right eye so we were going back and forth for regular
checks and on one occasion I said the other eye was gooey. It turned out
he had one in his left eye too but it wouldn’t heal because of the cyst so
she said it was time it was removed. It was at this point that we agreed
to the pre-op blood test and how glad I am that we did it. Mel said we
couldn’t operate on him as his kidney function has come back high.
So we were back and forward for tests. She investigated every disease
possible. He was producing too much calcium which was affecting his
kidneys but every test that came back showed no actual problem with
the kidneys. It got to the stage where she wondered if it was something to
do with his thyroid so he underwent scans which is when we discovered
the tumour. It was a huge shock. He’s my baby boy on four legs. He lives
with me and my mum and is company for her when I’m at work. But the
Willows team are brilliant and he received wonderful care. If someone
said to me which vets should I use I’d say them every time. I wouldn’t
go anywhere else. Nothing is ever a problem for them and you can call
whenever. Mel’s excellent detective work saved Patch’s life.”
For more information about Acorn Veterinary Surgery, visit:
www.willowsvetgroup.co.uk