An Incidental Finding

Adam Eggleston
University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine

This case involves my own dog ‘Eimeria’.

She was my group’s second sophomore surgery canine which was performed in March of 2016. I was on anesthesia while two of my classmates who were in the role of surgeon and assistant performed the spay. After the routine spay, I decided to adopt the stray and named her Eimeria.

In December 2016 while getting ready for my Zoo medicine rotation, Eimeria began vomiting, urinating, defecating, and became laterally recumbent. I brought her into our ECC where she began to have hemorrhagic diarrhea. An AFAST was performed which showed a large, anechoic cystic structure in the right cranial abdomen with the right kidney not being visible. An ultrasound was performed indicating severe thickening of the gall bladder wall and a large fluid filled structure in the region of the right kidney, hydronephrosis was suspected.

One month later and I was able to watch a nephrectomy being performed on Eimeria. Her right kidney and a ureter with one of the best strangle knots I have ever seen, are currently sitting in a jar of formalin on my shelf. It turns out that Eimeria’s unknown anaphylactoid reaction was a blessing in disguise which allowed the incidental finding of severe hydronephrosis due to a ligated ureter.