Petplan, in association with the Vet Times and the VN Times, host the most prestigious annual veterinary awards to recognise dedication and commitment in the veterinary world. If you would like to nominate Hamish, one of the nurses or 387 Veterinary Centre we would be delighted!

Nominations can be made at www.petplan.co.uk/vetawards

The deadline for entries is Friday 10th February.

Everybody who nominates will be entered into a free draw to win tickets to the awards ceremony with an overnight stay at The Malmaison Hotel in Birmingham, or 2 nights’ luxury stay at the pet friendly Lords of the Manor Hotel in the Cotswolds. Best of luck!

For all fans of Bill Murray’s ‘Groundhog Day’, yesterday, 2nd February, it came round again! Find out the origins and history of this American tradition and what Puxatawny Phil predicted this year!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095410/Groundhog-Day-2012-Puxatawny-Phil-predicts-6-weeks-winter.html

Welcome to Becky who joined us as a trainee nurse on 1st February. She has previously worked at two other practices locally, and is looking forward to getting to know you and supporting the care of your pets.

Follow the link to submit your testimonial (minimum 75 characters):www.thebestof.co.uk/local/walsall/recommend

And you’ll be entered into a draw to win great daily prizes from 1st to 14th February.

You can follow our progress via the Best of Walsall’s love-o-meter under the ‘Vets’ category. And you can vote for your favourite businesses from the love-o-meter too. Thanks so much to all who have voted so far!

Normally lively and full of beans, a very subdued Max came in to 387 Vets because he was showing obvious signs of abdominal pain. He had also vomited several times and was refusing to eat. When he didn’t respond to initial treatment and we couldn’t find any abnormalities on x- rays or in blood tests, we performed exploratory surgery to investigate the source of the pain.

We already knew that Max had a retained testicle (he only had one testicle in his scrotum) but during surgery, we were very surprised to find that it had twisted round on itself (torsed), thus causing Max’s condition.  Testicular torsion is so uncommon, it was the first time Hamish had seen a case in over 14 years of practice.

Can a twisted testis be left in situ?

Unfortunately the answer is no. As well as being 14 times more likely to become cancerous, retained testicles are also much more likely to suffer from torsion – the twisting of the testicle around on its venous vasculature (or blood supply cord) and as in Max’s case, this causes immense physical distress. Twisting of the venous vessels prevents blood from leaving the testicle, though blood can still enter because of high arterial pressure. As a result, the testis becomes heavily engorged, bruised and very painful. In fact, the pain can be so intense it can elicit a state of shock or collapse.  It was important for Hamish to remove Max’s irreparably damaged testis to avoid any further discomfort.

The photographs above show the swollen, blood-filled testicle during surgery, and afterwards, alongside a normal testicle.

After gentle recuperation, we’re delighted to report Max is now fully recovered and back to his bouncy self!

We are delighted to see Lily fit and well at her post op check having undergone surgery on her gut last week. Lily was at the vets in November with stomach trouble having chewed on a child’s dummy and she sneakily found another dummy to chew again!

Welcome to Lola and Billy who are here today to be spayed. Their mum Pippa was a stray cat, and just a week after she was taken in by her new owners, she gave birth! The owners have decided to keep these two beautiful kittens from the litter for themselves!

Thank you so much to Mrs Wakefield who brought us a delicious homemade lemon curd sponge this morning as a thank you for looking after her poodle Lucy when she came to be spayed. Mrs Wakefield only got Lucy in January from a family who were looking to re-home her. Lucy has never been off the lead and is looking forward to lots of running about and exploring on her dog walks across the fields!