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PDA treatment for Onyx the 5 month old Belgian Shepherd - Malinois Onyx was a lovely 5 month old Belgian Shepherd - Malinois when we met her in May. She had been with her owners since 4 weeks of age when an initial heart murmur was diagnosed, but they were told she would grow out of it. She had been a very bright and happy puppy as far as they could see. Bouncy and happy to play, running around the house. The only thing they had noticed was that she had not grown as much as her siblings and was…

The completion of Bridge Referrals Veterinary Referral Centre brings a new approach to advanced animal care in the North East   Bridge Referrals have completed the final stage of the development work at their state of the art veterinary referral centre at Boldon Colliery. This brings the total level of investment from the Bridge Referrals team to £3.6 million over the last 24 months. The completion of this ultra modern referral centre greatly increases the availability of high quality care for pets in the North East of England. The Bridge Referrals team have now created over 60 new jobs, attracted…

Following on from the last Cardiology blog, I thought it would be good to tell the story about Frank and his very loud murmur.    Frank is a 2 ½ year old Olde English Bulldog. A grade 1-2/6 murmur on the right side was heard when he was about 1 year old but he had no obvious clinical issues and apart from some orthopaedic problems he was a happy dog. This had increased to a grade 3 last month and was referred to us for an assessment.  Happy Frank When I saw Frank he was a bright and happy dog.…

I've detected a murmur - What should be my next step?   One of the most common inquiries I receive pertains to when an animal with a murmur should be referred. Consequently, I've compiled a concise blog post on the subject. Let's start by understanding what a murmur actually signifies. Under normal circumstances, blood flow through the heart is smooth (laminar). However, any disruption to this flow causes it to become turbulent (non-laminar), resulting in vibrations that manifest as sounds—these are the murmurs we detect on the surface of our patients. Therefore, it's crucial to identify what could cause such…

Cataracts, what are they? Our Ophthalmic team at Bridge Referrals have created a Cataracts blog providing valuable information and support to give to pet owners facing this issue. What is a cataract?  A cataract is an abnormal opacity or clouding of the lens or lens capsule which can give the eye a white appearance. They are caused by a change in the structure of the lens material. Normally the lens is a transparent structure which enables light to pass to the back of the eye to form an image on the retina. When a cataract develops light can no longer…