2 days ago
Happy pets, happy vets
PUNJAB : Has it ever occurred to you that our four-legged friends also deserve top-tier health treatment? Thanks to advancements in veterinary medicine, over 24,000 to 25,000 canines undergo treatment under one roof at the Multi-speciality Veterinary Hospital of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) in Ludhiana every year. From rare heart surgeries, dialyses and eye operations to dental treatment, skin care and general check-ups, this vet facility has got our furry buddies covered. They even maintain a blood bank for dogs.
However, the care is not limited to dogs. As many as 30,000 to 32,000 animals, including canines, get treated at the hospital annually. Many of them report cases of tick fever, dehydration, hairfall, skin problems and parvovirus enteritis, besides other infectious and non-infectious conditions.
Talking to this newspaper, Dr Jitender Mohindroo, Director of Clinics, said that around 80 dogs are treated at the facility for various disorders and fractured or dislocated bones every day. 'It is common for canines to sustain injuries in road mishaps or get hurt after falling from a great height,' he says.
But it's not like misfortune only chases behind dogs. Dr Mohindroo has observed a new trend emerge in the post-Covid years. 'An average of four exotic cats are brought here for treatment daily, he says, noting that many of the felines land up here after being attacked by dogs.
Dr Gurpreet Singh Preet of the Medicine Department says, 'Around 70 to 80 dogs are brought to the medicine OPD daily.' He adds, 'In summers, dogs tend to suffer from skin and tick-borne diseases as well as kidney and liver infections. In winters, they mostly contract viral diseases.''
Dwelling on the care diseased and wounded animals receive here, Dr Arun Anand, HoD of Veterinary Surgery, shared, 'We performed a rare heart surgery on a two-year-old beagle a couple of weeks back as the dog was suffering from patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) — a heart condition in which a blood vessel fails to close shortly after birth.
The dog was examined in the medicine department, where it underwent routine as well as advanced tests, such as echocardiography.' He added, 'It was a one-hour-long surgery, after which it was kept under observation for four days at the critical care unit.'
