A RESCUE dog in Ellesmere has found his smile again after recovering from an abscess caused by multiple shotgun pellets.

Brian, a three-year-old Brittany breed and rescued from overseas, was treated by Northwest Veterinary Specialists (NWVS) in Runcorn, Cheshire, for an unrelated injury to his leg.

It was only on treating Brian that surgery resident Samar Riziq realised that Brian had a total of 19 shotgun pellets in various parts of his body, much to owner Alison Slinn’s horror.

Alison said: “To think what poor Brian must have gone through in the past and up to this point – that he had probably been in pain for so long.

“My second response was relief that he was in safe hands and could be treated.

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“I understood that surgery came with a risk but also witnessed just how quickly he had deteriorated, so realised these were risks which had to be taken.

“I was also confident he was with the very best veterinary specialists.”

Brian’s recovery required the skills of the surgery, anaesthesia, imaging and nursing care teams at NWVS.

Panagiotis Kokkinos, resident in small animal surgery at NWVS, said Brian’s abscess was across his ribs and close to his liver.

They said: “A CT scan was performed and showed multiple gunshot pellets all over Brian’s body, with a large suspected abscess extending across the 10-12th ribs and extensively adhered to the liver.

“We then undertook abdominal surgery and exploration of the abscess, which involved removing the abscess caused by one of the pellets.

“Brian was then hospitalised for four days before being allowed home.

“I’m happy to say he’s now a very different dog and is bright, very active and playful.”

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Alison said she now has a much happier dog.

She said: “Brian is so very, very different now.

“His face looks more relaxed and he even seems to ‘smile’.

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“He has gained a new love of life and so many people who know him have noticed just how much he has changed.”

NWVS is one of the UK’s leading specialist-led animal hospitals. It offers care in anaesthesia and analgesia, diagnostic imaging, internal medicine, neurology and neurosurgery, oncology, orthopaedics and soft tissue surgery.

For more information on Northwest Veterinary Specialists, visit www.nwspecialists.com or search for Northwest Veterinary Specialists on social media.