Diabetes mellitus in dogs and cats and its associated complications

Diabetes mellitus impairs the body's ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine (Niaz...

Bypassing their way into your heart: considerations for the cardiothoracic patient

Therapeutic hypothermia is applied via cooling of the blood in the cardiopulmonary bypass machine (Kanemoto, 2014). This reduces the metabolic rate and oxygen demand from the tissues reducing risk of...

Surgical safety checklists from concept to implementation

Human error is not predictable, many factors affect our ability to perform at our best. The full integration of the surgical safety checklist to the usual working practice of the hospital would ensure...

Nursing the canine immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia patient part 2: supportive care and nursing

Patient monitoring in critically ill patients is essential, and RVNs are extensively involved in this aspect of patient care (Figure 1). Monitoring should be uniquely tailored to the patient, with...

An evaluation into the effectiveness of surgical safety checklists in veterinary procedures

The study ran over 8 weeks between January 13 and March 6, 2020. All owners with cats and dogs scheduled to undergo an elective surgical procedure during this time were invited to participate and...

Complications of diabetes mellitus in canine and feline patients

Traditionally, classification of diabetes mellitus has mirrored that of the human disorder and is categorised into type-1 like and type-2 like diabetes mellitus..

Hard to heal wounds: dealing with the problematic wound

When considering the closure of wounds, the timing of closure can be assigned to various categories. First either primary closure or first intention, whereby the wound is immediately sutured closed at...