South Bosque's Pet Spotlight
14000 Woodway Dr. Waco, TX 76712
Phone: (254) 776-7738 Fax: (254) 776-4113
|
South Bosque Veterinary Clinic




Sidney is a seven-year-old, chocolate Labrador that has been a
patient here at South Bosque since she was a puppy. Sidney received
all her puppy vaccines, microchip and was spayed at South Bosque.
Sidney is a very energetic dog and is always wagging her tail. Over the
years we have seen Sidney here for numerous appointments ranging
from yearlies, allergy issues and the occasional cut or scrape.
Most recently, in August, Sidney came in for a sore on her right
rear ankle. Dr. Hudspeth was the first to look at the spot and was given
permission to collect a sample of the growth to look at under the
microscope, also known as cytology. The cytologic evaluation showed
that the growth was possibly a mesenchymal cell mass. Mesenchymal
cells form the meshwork of connective tissue in several areas of the
body. Dr. Hudspeth was very concerned with how rapidly the mass was
growing and recommended surgical removal as soon as possible. After
going over all of their options, the Guesses agreed and scheduled Sidney
for surgery. Dr. Hudspeth performed a debulking of the growth and sent
the mass to be tested at Texas A&M. The diagnosis came back as
Furunculosis, an overactive response of the body to a deep seeded
infection. Although difficult to heal, Furnuculosis can be fixed and the
prognosis was significantly better than mesenchymal cancer.
Several days after surgery Sidney came in for a recheck to make
sure the incision site was healing well. At that time the Guesses
informed us that Sidney had been licking at her incision. Sidney was
sent home with an Elizabethan collar after surgery to prevent licking but
she had figured out how to get around it. Dr. Williams was concerned
about infection associated with her incision and performed cytology. Dr.
Williams didn't find any bacteria under the microscope and the site
seemed to be healing well as long as we could keep Sidney from licking.
The location of the wound made it difficult to keep Sidney from licking
as she could still reach it around her e-collar. We tried to keep it covered
with socks and Sidney would tear them up to get through just to lick the
granulation bed. After days and weeks of trying to stop Sidney from
licking, Dr. Williams considered surgery again to try and re-close the
area. There were risks of failure with the second surgery so the Guesses
elected to continue with conservative treatment and are doing their best
to keep Sidney from licking. We are currently using a wound dressing
with the mixture of insulin and silver sulfadiazine cream hoping to speed
up the process.
We at SBVC have gotten to know Sidney quite well through all of
the boarding she did while she was healing and have come to love her as
one of our own. We are so happy she is doing great and can’t wait for
her full recovery.