Asiahomes Internet educational stories for pet lovers, sponsored by  AsiaHomes Internet  


The vet certified the puppy fit for purchase

"The vet was incompetent in doing a veterinary examination on my new puppy 2 months ago," said Mrs Chan. "She certified the puppy healthy. Now, he is biting the serpentine scars on his penis. Some operations must have been done according to another."


It was hard to diagnose over the phone as to what the scars were. So Mrs Chan emailed a picture. 

The scar on the right side of the penis looked like a cotton bud - long raised channel with two knobs. The left-sided one was curved with two knobs of skin at one end and one knob at the other.

I emailed:  "Looks like some injuries which cut across abdomen into penile area.  Or a defect in the skin development. Or the breeder has implanted something as an  experiment?  Hard to tell from picture. Will ask Mr Formicelli if he is willing to let me examine the puppy."

Mrs Chan was deeply concerned in her email reply regarding the implant: 
"Poor Puppy - how can people be so cruel?!"  This reply showed the risk of differential diagnosis via the internet.  I needed to see the real dog as pictures could be misleading.  Mr Formicelli took the trouble to send the dog over the next day as requested by Mrs Chan.

I emailed to her: "Sorry for belated reply. Images can't show much as regards implant. Examination of real puppy at surgery showed some stitching had been done. Some parts not healed well - gets lumps formed. Will remove them during castration as Mr Formicelli had agreed to pay for the surgery."



Any surgery onto the penis would be worrisome as the dog might grow up with difficulty in passing urine or in its ability to breed. Mrs Chan would not want a dog which would have difficulty in passing urine. This would be her main concern. She was worried that the dog would not bond with the family if he was away from home for a long period of time.

Mr Formicelli who sold her the Cocker Spaniel phoned me and was more worried about the dog's ability to be a father as he does dog breeding as well as importing puppies from Australia. He had phoned the Australian breeder as to what caused the scars but could not get a reply. Therefore he could not tell Mrs Chan's second vet as to what operation had been performed before the puppy was exported to Singapore. 

He replaced the dog with another sibling and asked Mrs Chan to come to me for a vaccination which would be paid by him. The sibling had diarrhoea and a bit of lameness. Mr Formicelli would pay for the treatment.  That was how I came to know about this intriguing case.

Mr Formicelli did not need to give a replacement as the 24-hour return guarantee had expired after the first vet had certified the puppy healthy and two months had passed. 

He could argue that the "scars" were not present at the time of sale and the first vet had passed the puppy as fit for sale.  Singaporeans in general are not litigious otherwise the first vet would be in deep trouble. 

His transport man brought the dog to the surgery. The cocker spaniel was full of life and barked a lot unlike his sibling, a female. He had that spark of life while his sister was more sedentary. I inserted a thermometer into his rectum. His rectal temperature was normal. Now, what contributed to the formation of the  scars?

Was there an operation to implant some hormones under the skin? To make him grow faster and bigger?  I felt the whole length of the scars. There were nothing under the scars. If there was  a hormonal implant, it would have been absorbed by now.

The general appearance of the curved scars suggested a stitching up of a traumatic injury when the puppy jumped onto a fenced barrier. Some stitches had been infected and formed a larger knobby piece of skin.

The cotton-bud scar with two knobby ends were hard to figure out. I could hazard a guess.  There was stitching done, probably by the breeder as most breeders would rather save on veterinary fees which could eat up 30% of the sales price.
 

The breeder had used a horizontal mattress pattern suture which everted the skin edges upwards and outwards. He could have placed the sutures far away from the edge of the wound. Therefore, the skin edges were elevated forming a ridge.

As for the two buds at the end, they were infected stitch wounds. The puppy could have licked continuously the wounds. In addition the urine and stools of the breeder's kennels would prevent a clean healing.

"No problem for the dog to become a sire," I said to Mr Formicelli. "His penis is normal." 

Mrs Chan phoned a few times to enquire about the findings of the first puppy. Her small daughter missed this rascal. 

"The scars with raised ends were the result of stitch infections," I said. "They can be removed under general anaesthesia. It will cost Mr Formicelli around $150 if he were to authorise removal of them. Why don't you retain the puppy you know rather than take the replacement which you suspect lameness?"

Would Mrs Chan take back the old boy? Would Mr Formicelli pay for the operation and the 5-day stay at the surgery? Why should he do so since his replacement had been accepted?

Mrs Chan phoned him. He agreed to pay fully which was extremely generous of him.

Mrs Chan's daughter, a small girl probably six years old, now would have the dog she had grown fond of over the last two months.

Mrs Chan took the dog home as she wanted the cocker spaniel to get only one anaesthesia and surgery so as to reduce his suffering from the pain of surgery. The scars would be removed when the dog is neutered.

She emailed: "I would like the castration done at 6 months of age. When is the best age for castration?"  

I replied: "6-8 months of age generally when the dog matures. Let the dog mature so that his urethra where urine passes through is fully developed. I recommend 8 months.  Do check out my article: asiahomes.com/singaporetpvet/rabbit/0708dog_castration.htm"

Mr Formicelli handled the customer complaints extremely well. He generated a lot of good will. It is hard for his competitors to catch up with him.


 
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