History

Kodak is a two year old, neutered male Dalmation. Kodak lived in California until August. He was transported to Alabama by commercial airline.

Presented

A few days after his arrival in Alabama, Kodak started vomiting and stopped eating. The owners brought him in for an examination. Kodak presented with the following signs: depressed, elevated third eyelids, normal heart, normal lungs, abdomen - bloated and painful to the touch.

Workup

At first we thought that he might have a stomach GDV or gastrointestinal foreign body. We did the following:

1. Xray - fluid density abdomen
2. Comprehensive blood chemistries
   • HCT - 59.5%, high due to dehydration
   • WBC - 21.55m/mm3, high due to infection/stress
   • BUN - 125, high
   • Creatinine - 7.4, high
   • K+ - 8.3, high
   • Amylase - 1547, high

Kodak was started on a shock-rate dose of IV fluids and immediately taken to surgery. Once we were in the abdomen, there was unexpected fluid in the abdomen. The intestines were bright red, a sign of shock; this meant that Kodak was dying on the table. We put another catheter in and gave him 2 doses of fluids, again at the shock rate. This improved his gastrointestinal color.

Looking further to discover the root cause, we found that Kodak had a ruptured bladder. We removed the dead tissue and sutured the bladder back together.

Kodak was kept on fluids for 4 days to bring enzyme levels back to normal range. A urinary catheter was placed to prevent the bladder from becoming over-extended. When urinary catheter was removed, we determined he had stones in his urethra. Kodak was taken to surgery again to remove the stones

Follow-up

We are happy to report that Kodak is doing wonderful. He is on a special diet to prevent the recurrence of stones, and he will be on medication for a while to help prevent stones also.