Canine patient gets unusual medical treatment
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/...0339/1002/NEWS
Canine patient gets unusual medical treatment
Hard-luck canine gets 'human' treatment after mauling
November 11, 2004
Lori Warren's dog Max may be only a mutt, but Warren would do just about anything for the stray she rescued 10 years ago.
That includes finding a way to heal his severely injured leg with a treatment typically only used on humans.
Wednesday afternoon, licensed occupational therapist Tim Jones used a Vacuum Assisted Closure on Max in an attempt to speed healing and possibly prevent the dog from undergoing a skin graft.
Jones, who also is a certified wound specialist at Christus Schumpert Wound Center on Sand Beach Boulevard in Shreveport, is optimistic the treatment will help Max, who was mauled by other dogs recently and has had one leg amputated.
"I haven't treated a dog, but a wound is a wound," Jones said Wednesday. "He should respond. I look for this dog to do well."
The 20-minute treatment took place in the wound center parking lot since animals aren't allowed inside.
Jones will check Max each week to see how he's healing.
Warren is hopeful.
"Everybody thinks I'm crazy doing this, but he's a great dog," the Stonewall resident said. "He's part of our family. I would do anything. We love him."
The Australian shepherd mix was found by Warren wandering in the middle of the road in her subdivision a decade ago.
She thinks Max had been abused. A bullet was found when the leg was amputated recently, Warren said.
A few weeks ago, Max was in the fenced back yard of Warren's parents' home in Stonewall, where he stays, when four dogs broke through the fence and attacked Max. Warren said a cousin came home early, heard the commotion and chased the other dogs off. But Max was bleeding heavily by then.
"He was in shock," Warren said.
She rushed the dog to veterinarian Keith Ratcliff's office. "They were trying to save his life," Warren said.
But the right rear leg had to be amputated, and the other rear leg was so badly chewed that bone was exposed. Warren said it didn't look like Max would lose the other leg, but there was talk of doing a skin graft.
And she wasn't keen on the idea of putting Max through yet another lengthy surgery.
Dr. Charles Black Jr., for whom Warren works, and friend Sherri English knew of Jones' reputation in wound treatment and recommended him to Warren.
Jones took on the challenge. And the maker of the equipment, Kinetic Concepts Inc. of San Antonio, agreed to allow it to be used and donated supplies, Jones said.
The equipment, called VAC for short, helps promote wound healing. Jones described it as a portable pump device that applies suction to the wound base and "makes the active components in a wound multiply at a faster rate. It makes tissues needed for healing develop faster."
For now, everyone is pulling for the hard-luck mutt.
"My mom," said Warren, "put him on the prayer list at church."
Another case
This isn't the first time Vacuum Assisted Closure therapy has been used on animals. The August issue of Medical Technology reports that the treatment was used on a 50-year-old, 160-pound tortoise from the San Antonio Zoo. The tortoise had an infection from a crack on its upper shell. The shell eventually healed after undergoing VAC therapy in November 2003.
