An unusual case unfolded for vets at Willows Veterinary Group’s Beech House surgery in Warrington when a four-year-old daschund called Trevor was rushed into the practice by his worried owners after swelling to three times his normal size.
After careful examination, vets found a hole in Trevor’s windpipe, which had to be stitched up before he could be “deflated.”
Diagnosis
Trevor was diagnosed with subcutaneous emphysema – an abnormal collection of air under the skin in the lowest level of the skin’s tissues and muscles known as the subcutis or hyperdermis.
Vet Michelle Coward, who helped treat the hound, said she’d never seen anything like it.
Worsening
Dr Coward said: “Trevor was presented to us with signs of severe air ingress under the skin.
“There were no external injuries that would explain how air had got under the skin, so we suspected an internal injury to the airway or oesophagus could have been allowing the air to leak into the body.”
Success
She added: “Every time he took a breath, some of the inhaled air escaped through a hole in his windpipe around the muscles and fatty tissue under the skin, and x-rays showed the emphysema was worsening.
“Surgery was the only way to repair the injury, but due to its location, there was a significant risk of complications.”
The surgery, however, was a success and Trevor, once again restored to his normal size, was able to go home.
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