Surgical conditions and requested procedures for ruminants and small animals handled at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture clinic, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia: A retrospective study 1999-2007

Abstract

The surgical conditions and requested procedures encountered in ruminants and small animals were surveyed using the available clinical records of the veterinary clinic of the college and personal record book from December 1999 to December 2007 in order to document and compare their prevalence’s. Of the total 689 surgical conditions and requested procedures cattle, sheep, goat, dog and cat, accounted for 368 (53.48%), 148 (21.51%), 16 (2.32%), 133 (19.33%), and 23 (3.34%), respectively. The distribution of the surgical cases based on sex indicated that male cases predominate in cattle 278 (75.54%) and sheep 86 (58.10%). On the other hand, in dogs, cats and goats female cases predominate with 78 (58.64%), 16 (69.56%) and 10 (62.5%), respectively. The frequent surgical condition of male cattle according to their frequency of occurrence were abscess 64 (23.02%), wound 53 (19.06%), urethral obstruction 45 (16.18%), horn fracture 40 (14.38%) and penile and/preputial injuries 34 (12.23%). In female cattle, the common surgical conditions were wound 25 (27.77%), local abscess 17 (18.88 %), horn fracture 12 (13.33%) and hoof overgrowth 12 (13.33%). In male sheep urethral obstruction accounted for 28 (32.55%) of the cases followed by penile and or preputial injuries 15 (17.4430), wound 13 (15.11%) and traumatic hernia 10 (10.41%). Cases of dystocia were recorded in 33 (20.12%) and 5 (50%) of the female sheep and goats, respectively. The common reasons for male dog to be brought to the clinic were for sterilization 12 (21.81%), wound treatment 10 (18.18%) and aural hematoma 8 (14.54%). On the other hand, request for sterilization 45 (57.69%) and difficulty of parturition 16 (20.51%) were common reason for bitch to be brought to the clinic. The two main reasons for female cats to be presented to the clinic were difficulty of parturition 10 (62.5%) and request for sterilization 5 (31.25%). A concise description of intervention procedures is provided on the two common surgical problems of cattle (wound, urethral obstruction) and sheep (urethral obstruction).

Keywords: Abscess, dystocia, surgical conditions, urethral obstruction, Veterinary Teaching Clinic