Bella suffered severe muscle and kidney damage after eating cattle bolus and received specialist treatment at Paragon Veterinary Referrals, in Wakefield.
Puppy Recovers From Debilitating Illness After Eating Cattle Bolus
10 months ago 
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Intensive care treatment at a Wakefield animal hospital has seen a puppy recover from severe muscle and kidney damage after eating slow-release cattle bolus.
Eight-month-old Bella, a springer spaniel, was presented with ataxia and ptyalism to Linnaeus-owned Paragon Veterinary Referrals emergency service following ingestion of monensin, causing presumptive rhabdomyolysis and acute kidney injury.
Symptoms included urinary tract signs, weak ambulation , muscle pain, panting, and anxiety.
Initial treatment at the referring vet included fluid therapy, charcoal and intralipid. A few days later her signs worsened and so she was referred to Paragon’s intensive care unit (ICU), where she received 24 hour monitoring and supportive treatment with careful monitoring of her kidney function and gentle physiotherapy. She showed progressive improvement and was discharged a week later.
Jennie Good, Emergency and Critical Care Specialist at Paragon, who led Bella’s treatment together with Adam Bell, internal medic and cardiologist, and Sophie Adamantos, clinical director and Specialist in Emergency and Critical Care, said: “The degree of signs seen was extremely severe and usually it is fatal when it is so bad. We have never seen such severe evidence of muscle damage.
“Increases in muscle enzyme indicate muscle damage. Usually, it is under 350 but Bella’s was more than 1,000,000, which is extraordinary.”
Jennie added: “Bella received 24-hour care in our ICU and, as she started to recover, gentle physiotherapy was introduced to help repair the muscle damage she had suffered. She made an incredible recovery and, once home, the owner struggled to keep her rested.”
Owner Robert Stephenson from Kirkby Lonsdale said: “Bella’s an inquisitive puppy and she found what I thought was an empty, regurgitated Kexxtone bolus, when I fact it still had slight traces of the product left in it, which she chewed on.
“I was in complete shock as to how poorly she was. She was very close to losing her life, but was expertly diagnosed by our local vets and then subsequently had exceptional treatment by the team at Paragon.”
Paragon provides expert care in anaesthesia and analgesia, cardiology, dermatology, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, neurology, oncology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics and soft tissue surgery.
For more information on Paragon Veterinary Referrals, visit www.paragonreferrals.co.uk or search for Paragon Veterinary Referrals on social media.
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