VET’S CORNER Some days at work can turn out to be such a mammoth challenge ...

IFE as a vet may be challenging as well as very rewarding. It might be stressful and sometimes emotionally draining as well as hugely gratifying.

It might involve problem solving and coming up with solutions. It might involve early mornings and late nights.

It might involve difficult cases as well as cases with a happy outcome. It is certainly a great way to build a relationship with both pets and owners alike over the years.

What life as a vet is NOT … is lacking in variety.

Yet even I was surprised by the site that greeted me in the waiting room on this day.

Elsa is a cross breed dog and was booked it to be admitted to remove three skin masses.

On the face of it, this looked like a fairly standard addition to the day’s surgery list ... and yet Elsa is not a standard cross breed dog.

Elsa is, in fact, one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen.

Weighing in at 97.7kg Elsa is around four times the size of a medium build Labrador and nearly 20 times the size of the average Yorkshire Terrier.

Elsa’s back is slightly above my waistline and standing next to the cupboards in the consulting room, her head is level with the worktop. Although her owner warned us that she is sometimes wary of other dogs, thankfully for us, Elsa is extremely placid when it comes to human handling.

Where the surgery is equipped to deal with pets of all shapes and sizes, Elsa has presented us with a few challenges. We do have one super-sized kennel although even that was a little bit of a tight squeeze. We usually administer a “pre-med” prior to anaesthesia with a painkiller and a mild sedative – it makes the anaesthetic induction more smooth. Usually we use a one millilitre or a three millilitre syringe – Elsa had hers in a 10 millilitre syringe.

Then for the anaesthetic induction. This is given by injection into the vein. Being a practice who also treat farm animals and horses, we have a range of large needles and syringes so the farm animal stores were raided for a 50millilitre syringe and a cow-sized needle.

After induction, the anaesthetic is maintained using gas which is delivered through a tube in the throat. Our largest tube was a bit loose so some packing around the tube creates a seal.

In theatre, we use a height adjustable table to position the patient for surgery but Elsa was just too large for our tables so the floor in the theatre was prepared and the procedure was performed with me kneeling beside her on the floor.

Thankfully, the procedure was completed within about 20 minutes before my knees started protesting too much.

Then, with plenty vet nurse muscle, it was back to recovery to wake up from the anaesthetic.

Life as a vet is always interesting and having the privilege to treat “all creatures great and small” means that even a routine procedure can turn into something out-of-the-ordinary.