{"id":77,"date":"2019-03-10T10:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northampton-vets.co.uk\/news\/?p=77"},"modified":"2020-09-16T14:16:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T13:16:38","slug":"spinney-team-works-magic-to-save-tv-stars-beloved-pet-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northampton-vets.co.uk\/news\/spinney-team-works-magic-to-save-tv-stars-beloved-pet-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinney team works magic to save TV star’s beloved pet dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

TV magician David Penn with Blammo and, left, Spinney Vets clinical director Iain Fletcher<\/em><\/p>\n

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The team of experts here at Spinney Vets performed their very own death-defying act by saving the life of a leading magician\u2019s pedigree dog.<\/p>\n

Top TV entertainer David Penn was in Las Vegas for a show when he received a transatlantic call from his dog-sitter Michelle Wilson saying she had rushed his beloved Samoyed pet, Blammo, to our Kettering Road hospital’s emergency service.<\/p>\n

Our surgical team later confirmed eight-year-old Blammo had suffered a life-threatening, double rupture of the bladder and was in dire danger.<\/p>\n

David, who is from Brixworth in Northampton, recalled the drama, saying: \u201cIt was a truly traumatic time and there were lots of transatlantic phone calls and staying up at night just sitting by the phone waiting for news.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vets at Spinney were fantastic. They gave me so much information and kept me fully informed throughout; what they were doing and how Blammo was coping, what the plan was and what was happening next.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy overriding concern was that I did not want him to suffer and we did actually have a conversation about whether it was better to put him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vets said they\u2019d never seen such damage to a bladder. They said they could operate and try to repair the damage, although they made it clear the operation was a big risk in itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yes, absolutely I knew the danger was very real, but I wanted to give Blammo every chance to survive and recover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the brilliance of the Spinney Vets team he has pulled through and I can\u2019t thank them enough. They were magic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our clinical director Iain Fletcher confirmed just how serious an emergency Blammo\u2019s case was.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cOur X-rays showed numerous urinary stones in his urethra which were preventing Blammo from urinating and leading to massive pressure in his bladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis caused his\u00a0bladder to effectively burst\u00a0inside, which must have been very painful for Blammo.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cWe couldn\u2019t operate to remove the stones from the urethra, so we positioned a catheter there to flush the wedged stones back into his bladder.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe then began surgery and found two tears in his bladder with all the surrounding tissue very sore and inflamed because of the leaking urine.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found and removed a total of 54 stones before stitching all the holes in his bladder very carefully to reconstruct a water tight seal and\u00a0tested it to ensure no leaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, to minimise contamination to the rest of his abdomen from the escaped urine, we flushed through lots of sterile fluid (saline).\u201d<\/p>\n

Happily, Blammo made a rapid recovery from the operation and was soon eating and drinking normally, although regaining full control of his bladder understandably took a little while longer.<\/p>\n

Iain said: \u201cBlammo is a real fighter and with the help of the rapid intervention of his dog-sitter, he\u00a0recovered incredibly well considering what had happened to his bladder.\u201d<\/p>\n

David said: \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that Michelle at Teddy\u2019s Dog Care in Overstone saved Blammo\u2019s life by taking him to Spinney Vets, so our whole family is indebted to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why not search for \u2018Spinney Vets\u2019 on Facebook to keep right up to date with the comings and goings at our two sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TV magician David Penn with Blammo and, left, Spinney Vets clinical director Iain Fletcher   The team of experts here at Spinney Vets performed their very own death-defying act by… <\/p>\n

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