This case report describes an eight-year-old intact female White Shepherd Dog, which was presented with cough symptoms, after, according to the owner, an about fist-sized, soft, subcutaneous mass on the right chest wall was no longer palpable. X-ray and computed tomographic examination confirmed the presence of a fat-attenuating mass which was invading the thoracic cavity from extra- to intrathoracic, displacing parts of the lung, liver, and partially infiltrating the intercostal muscles. After marginal resection with partial resection of a rib and subsequent pathohistological examination the mass was identified as an infiltrative lipoma with benign adipose tissue necrosis and reparative panniculitis of the thoracic wall. It can be assumed, that the lipoma progressed with an intrathoracic growth after infiltration of the intercostal muscles, while the extrathoracic, subcutaneous part was subject of necrosis.

An echocardiographic examination was carried out in 71 European tortoises (Testudo spp.) via the cervical-brachial acoustic windows. Simultaneously an electrocardiographic examination was performed. The inflow- and outflow tract of the heart were presented in frontal and sagittal longitudinal sections in B-mode. Within B-mode the size (diameter and area) of the atria and the ventricle (Cavum dorsale), the ventricular wall thickness and the diameter of the origin of the right aorta and of the right Arteria pulmonalis were measured. Also, the fractional shortening (FS%) and a fractional area shortening (FAS%) were calculated for the Cavum dorsale. Standard values for these cardiac parameters were determined for four different tortoise groups (depending on their carapace lengths). The direction of blood flow within the heart could be assessed via colour flow Doppler. By using pulsed-wave Doppler examinations of the inflow- and outflow tract the velocities, pressure gradients, velocity-time-integrals and acceleration- and deceleration times could be determined from the recorded inflow and outflow patterns and standard values were established for these parameters as well.

25 formalin-fixed hearts of different tortoise species (Testudinidae) underwent gross anatomical examination. The aim of the study was to illustrate the specific anatomy of the heart of these species in comparison to the data available in the literature. The examined tortoises showed the well-known basic structure of a reptile heart with two atria and a ventricle composed of three interconnected chambers. The right atrium was consistently slightly larger than the left atrium. The atrioventricular (AV-) valves emerged as double-flap valves, whereby the lateral leaflets were only present in a rudimentary form. Neither papillary muscles nor chordae tendineae could be detected macroscopically. A vertical septum in order to subdivide the dorsal chambers was missing. However, the muscular ridge between Cavum venosum and Cavum pulmonale was well developed. The Cavum pulmonale represented itself as the smallest chamber respectively rather as a small passageway to the Truncus pulmonalis. Apart from two-parted aortic valves also multicuspidated valves of the Truncus pulmonalis could be visualized.

An approximately six-month-old, 44-g Red-eared slider turtle was presented at the Clinic for Pets, Reptiles, Pet and Feral Birds of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hannover with a four-week history of swelling of the head region. On physical examination, a moderate protrusion of the left tympanic membrane was diagnosed. In addition to the soft tissue swelling in the area of the left tympanic region, radiographs showed a hyperdense approximately bean-sized structure in the cranial coelomic cavity (in the stomach area), and severe compression of the lung tissues. During hospitalisation with systemic antibiotic and inhalation therapy, the animal did not eat at all. Subsequently, the extraction of a foreign body via the oral cavity using biopsy forceps was conducted under endoscopic control. An approximately 6-g pebble was removed out of its stomach via the oesophagus. Already two days after surgery, the animal restarted eating on its own. Subsequent radiological control showed a significantly better ventilation of the lung area.