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Rare heart surgery saves cat
Vanilla Bean
Vanilla Bean was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect.

Vets and human cardiologists unite to perform surgery

Human cardiologists and vets have joined forces to perform extremely rare heart surgery on a cat.

Led by UC Davis vet Dr Josh Stern, a team of five human doctors carried out the surgery on a one-year-old female Burmese cat.

Vanilla Bean was suffering from a rare congenital heart defect that did not allow blood to flow properly through the chambers. This improper flow can cause too much blood to collect in one chamber, create pressure, enlarge it, and ultimately lead to congestive heart failure.

A procedure to correct the defect had only been reported once before by Dr Stern.

“I needed a human cardiology team to help guide me on this case, as well,” said Dr Stern. “It’s so uncommon in cats. It’s uncommon in children also, but they’ve certainly seen more cases of this than I have.”

Together, Dr Stern and the doctors opened Vanilla Bean's chest and positioned catheters and balloons within her heart.

The technique is extremely uncommon in veterinary medicine and even more rarely employed in cats due to their small size.

The surgery was a success, but not without complication -  Vanilla Bean suffered a lot of blood loss and needed several transfusions.  

Blood loss also caused Vanilla Bean to suffer an acute kidney injury, and the surgeons were concerned she would die of kidney failure. Luckily, this was not the case.  

Four months have now passed since the surgery and Vanilla Bean is no longer in congestive heart failure and has been taken off all medications. 
Dr Stern expects her to make a full recovery.

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Vets to run marathon for World Animal Protection

News Story 1
 Two recently graduated veterinary surgeons will be running the London Marathon in April to raise money for the charity World Animal Protection.

Alex Bartlett and Maeve O'Neill plan to run the race together if they are given the same start times.

Dr O'Neill said: "You're always limited in what you can do to help animals, so it is nice to raise money for a charity that helps animals around the world."

Dr Bartlett added: "I have never run a marathon before and am excited to run my first one for such a good cause!"

Both Dr Bartlett and Dr O'Neill have fundraising pages online. 

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News Shorts
BSAVA releases new Guide to Procedures

The British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) has published a new edition of its Guide to Procedures for Small Animal Practice.

It has added four new procedures; cystostomy tube placement, endotracheal intubation, point-of-care ultrasound and wet-to-dry dressings.

BSAVA says that it is an essential step-by-step guide to diagnostic and therapeutic procedures performed in practice. The textbook includes new images and illustrations, as well as high-definition videos for use prior to procedures.

Nick Bexfield and Julia Riggs, editors of the new edition, said: "We have built upon the success of the previous editions by responding to the feedback received from the BSAVA readership, and hope this new guide helps to further increase the confidence and accuracy with which these procedures are performed."

Print copies are available in the BSAVA store, with a digital version in the BSAVA library.