Rosie is a very special 3 year old female American Staffy cross breed.
Rosie presented recently to see Dr Jaime as she had been more fussy with her food. When examined a very large (soccer ball sized!) mass in her abdomen was found. Following x-rays and an ultrasound with a specialist, it was determined that the source of the mass was her right kidney!
Rosie was otherwise young and healthy. She went to surgery to remove the diseased kidney.
After a high risk and delicate surgery, we are very happy to report that Rosie is doing extremely well and her remaining kidney is functioning normally.
The diseased right kidney weighed in at a whopping 3kg when removed, which is more than 20x the size of a normal kidney!
It was found that the ureter (the tube draining the urine from the kidney) had become blocked. This caused a condition called hydronephrosis, where the backpressure causes the kidney to stretch and essentially blow up like a water balloon full of urine.
However, this is the most extreme case of this disease our vets and several specialist vets had ever seen! Rosie is our MHVC Christmas miracle this month, well done Rosie!!!