On Friday February 27, 2009 a lovable Weimaraner named Charlie was rushed into Clarkson Village Animal Hospital. About 30 minutes before arriving to the hospital Charlie had an accident resulting in two lacerations on his left ear. Although he had a very painful ear, he didn't let that slow him down!
Some wounds are able to heal on their own, but unfortunately for Charlie the lacerations on his ear would need surgical intervention to heal. Charlie required aenesthetic agents to sedate him for his surgery, as well as antibiotics post-operatively, to minimize the risk of infection.
At Clarkson Village Animal Hospital we take all precautions needed to minimize the risk of an adverse event for each pet. We perform pre-surgical blood screens to ensure their major organs are properly functioning and that the immune system is working well. We also tailor our sedatives and anesthetics to the requirements of each individual patient.
Charlie was no exception. Generally, we send our blood samples to an outside laboratory, but we needed the results as soon as possible, in order to begin Charlie's procedure, so we performed the blood tests here at our hospital.
Knowing that Charlie was an older patient and estimating the length of time sedation would be needed, we formulated a plan for his procedure. The ear is composed of thin layers, making it very difficult to bring tissues back to their original place. Dr. Mudrick's surgical experience spans decades and enabled him to do a great job repairing the lacerations.
After surgery, Charlie required a bandage from the top of his head, all the way down his neck. Since ears are very vascular, any trauma can cause blood vessels in the ear to bleed, resulting in a pooling of blood under the tissues (aural hematoma). A tight-fitting bandage was necessary to minimize the risk of an aural hematoma.
Charlie did amazing post-operatively and is now bandage-free! Even though an unfortunate series of events brought him to our hospital, there is a silver lining to this story. Charlie's mom had a pet insurance policy that covered 100% of the costs for his procedure, making a Friday morning incident a little more tolerable.
