The Acute Abdomen an Overview

Acute abdominal conditions are not uncommon in veterinary medicine. The history may be very non-specific and can include signs of lethargy or depression, anorexia, retching, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal distention. These patients are usually painful on abdominal palpation, although pain may not be clinically evident if the patient is in severe shock or is severely depressed. Some of these patients can, and should be managed medically, and some require emergency surgery (within minutes to hours of presentation); therefore, it is important to be able to determine rapidly whether or not surgery is indicated. If there is any doubt it may be better to perform an exploratory laparotomy rather than wait and have the patient deteriorate. […]