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We evaluated bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) immunohistochemistry of paraffin-, methyl methacrylate (MMA)-, and epon-araldite (epon)-embedded canine bone specimens to establish an optimal technique for studying cell kinetics of fracture healing in a canine tibial gap model. Dogs were sacrificed 4 months after tibial ostectomy and 1 hr after i.v. injection of BrdU (100 mg/kg). BrdU immunohistochemical staining with a peroxidase-labeled streptavidin-biotin (LAB-SA) method was performed on thin sections of tibia fixed in 70% ethanol and embedded in paraffin, MMA, or epon. Thin section of small intestines fixed in 70% ethanol and 10% neutral buffered formalin and embedded in paraffin, MMA, or epon were BrdU-stained and served as a model for proliferating tissue. Good and consistent BrdU immunostaining without detachment of bone sections was obtained for epon-embedded undecalcified bone sections. BrdU-positive cells were easily identifiable, in contrast to negligible background staining. BrdU-labeled osteoprogenitor cells and osteoblasts were observed around and on the surface of woven bone in external and internal callus of the ostectomy gap. Nuclei of osteocytes were not labeled. In contrast to the epon-embedded specimens, BrdU immunostaining of paraffin-embedded decalcified and MMA-embedded undecalcified bone specimens was unsatisfactory. The results of this study suggest that BrdU immunohistochemistry of ethanol-fixed, epon-embedded, undecalcified canine bone sections is a technique suitable for study of fracture healing with the described methodology.

A 24-hour-old cria was admitted for evaluation of stranguria evident shortly after birth. On physical examination, the prepuce appeared to be normally formed and small drops of fluid dripped from it as the cria strained to urinate. Testes could not be palpated. Ultrasonographic examination revealed that the bladder was distended. The only abnormality detected on serum biochemical analysis was high creatinine concentration. Tube cystostomy was performed, and the cria was treated with saline (0.9% NaCl) solution administered intravenously and antibiotics. Four days after admission, the cria could not urinate normally when the cystostomy tube was occluded. Five days after admission, normograde cystography and retrograde urethrography were performed. Radiographic findings indicated the cria was an intersex llama with urethral duplication. The llama was euthanatized at the owner's request. Necropsy revealed bilateral ovotestes with a phenotypically female reproductive tract and urethral duplication. Urethral duplication should be considered as a cause of stranguria in male neonatal crias, and hermaphroditism should be included as a cause of urethropathies in llamas.

To summarize the radiographic and clinical findings, treatment, and outcome in cattle with osteochondrosis diagnosed radiographically.Retrospective case series.29 cattle with radiographic evidence of osteochondrosis.Medical records were reviewed, and owners or referring veterinarians were contacted for outcome assessment. Data were analyzed for potential interactions between osteochondrosis classification (osteochondritis dessicans vs subchondral cyst-like lesions), clinical and radiographic findings, treatment, and outcome, using Fisher's exact test and descriptive statistics.Osteochondrosis was associated with young, male, purebred cattle, clinical evidence of lameness, and radiographic evidence of concurrent degenerative joint disease. Osteochondritis dissecans and subchondral cyst-like lesions had similar clinical findings and outcomes but varied significantly in their radiographic distribution among joints. Osteochondrosis often manifests clinically as a unilateral condition, but bilateral lesions were often found (88%) when limbs were radiographically examined. Cattle managed conservatively tended to be culled (within 6 months of diagnosis because of lameness) more often than those managed surgically, despite the lack of treatment bias.Osteochondrosis in cattle is often associated with lameness or degenerative joint disease. Conservative management does not result in a favorable clinical prognosis for long-term, lameness-free survival, and more studies need to be completed to evaluate the efficacy of surgical treatment of osteochondrosis in cattle.

Urethral obstruction is common in castrated male small ruminants. Perineal urethrostomy is the recommended treatment in animals not intended for breeding; however, stricture formation is a common complication, and few surgical options are available once a stricture has formed. Prepubic urethrostomy has been used successfully in dogs and cats to treat urethral trauma or stricture formation, and in this report, use of prepubic urethrostomy in 2 small ruminants to treat urethral strictures that developed alter perineal urethrostomy is described. Both animals maintained urinary continence and were able to void urine normally. Complications after prepubic urethrostomy included recurrent cystitis in sheep and urethral stricture in goats. Prepubic urethrostomy may be considered in as an alternative for treatment of urethral disorders in small ruminants.

A 5-year-old Quarter Horse mare was examined because of a 6-month history of quidding and nasal discharge that contained feed material. Physical examination revealed weight loss and dorsal displacement of the soft palate, caused by a soft tissue mass located at the dorsal aspect of the base of the tongue. Surgical resection of the mass was successfully performed through an oral approach. The histopathologic diagnosis was rhabdomyosarcoma.

A modification of the Roux-en-Y anastomosis procedure was used to bypass a pyloroduodenal mass in a 12-year-old Arabian stallion. Clinical signs had consisted of a 4-week progression of ventral and hind limb edema, hypoproteinemia, fecal occult blood, intermittent abdominal pain, weight loss, and gastric reflux. On exploratory celiotomy, an obstructive mass was found in the pylorus and proximal portion of the duodenum. Gastrojejunostomy and duodenojejunostomy were performed by use of stapled side-to-side anastomosis techniques. Inaccessibility of the obstructed pyloric region prevented resection of the affected area.

Incarceration of the large colon through a rent in the gastrosplenic ligament of a horse was surgically corrected via ventral midline celiotomy. Clinical signs were similar to those in other horses with nonstrangulating large colon disorders. Diagnosis of large colon incarceration in the gastrosplenic ligament was determined by surgical abdominal exploration. The findings of medial deviation of the spleen, location of the large colon lateral to the stomach and caudolateral to the spleen, and caudocraniad passage of the large colon through the gastrosplenic ligament are similar to findings in horses with small intestinal incarcerations in the gastrosplenic ligament. Correction was facilitated by performing a pelvic flexure colotomy and evacuating colonic contents prior to returning the large colon through the rent to its normal anatomic position.

A 7-year-old castrated male llama was admitted for evaluation of mild colic. Exploratory celiotomy revealed a diaphragmatic hernia that was entrapping the proximal portion of the ascending colon. The hernia was reduced, and the devitalized ileum, cecum, and 45 cm of the proximal portion of the ascending colon were resected. Surgical repair of the defect in the diaphragm could not be accomplished from the ventral celiotomy, and the owners declined definitive repair via left thoracotomy. The llama recovered and did well until 9 months after surgery, when the hernia recurred. Necropsy revealed a defect, with characteristics consistent with a congenital origin, in the dorsal part of the left hemidiaphragm. On the basis of the findings in this llama, repair of such defects is strongly advocated.