Who are the best vets in Bunbury, Eaton, Australind and Gelorup?

So who are the best vets in the Bunbury, Eaton, Australind and Gelorup area? The truth is, it depends on who you ask.

As with doctors and many other professions, people want and expect different things from their vets. The variations can be in personality, experience, gender, opening hours, practice policies, cost,   consult length, and many other factors.

·         Personality – this is a big one. It’s important to find a vet that suits you. For example, we have a vet called Gabby. She is wonderful at bonding with clients and their pets. She is an incredibly caring person, and many people who have experienced her style love her. We get some clients come from over 100km away to see her. Another of our vets, Andrew, is a bit more clinical and a “straight shooter”. He is very straight forward, and while that may not be for everyone, he also has a very dedicated following of clients. This is why we employ vets with different personalities. It’s so we have a vet for everyone

·         Experience – How much experience is ideal? After 5-10 years you have seen most things, but you are ALWAYS learning. Once you have more than a few years experience you need to be working hard to keep up to date with your knowledge. We make sure our vets work hard to continue learning. Experience is a great thing, but a lot of experience without ongoing learning is not ideal

·         Gender – I occasionally hear people say “my dog doesn’t like men”. We’re not offended if that is the case. We’ll happily book your pet to see a female vet if requested

·         Opening hours – obviously a vet needs to be open when you need them. You also need to be able to access them if you have an emergency outside of their normal opening hours. If you phone your vet clinics number at any time, you should be able to talk to a vet

·         Practice policies – some practice policies help guide the clinics standards and ensure clients walk away happy. For example, our policies include everyone getting a written estimate, all clients being treated equally, etc

·         Cost – the cost between clinics is going to vary, and it does so for many reasons. These reasons include location, experience and qualifications of vets, level of care (such as anaesthetic monitoring equipment, heat blankets, infusion pumps, etc), equipment levels, consult length, etc. In fact, there are dozens of reasons

·         Consult length – consult length can vary quite a bit. I have worked in clinics with 5 minute consults and I found it impossible to do a good job every time. By doing short consults we could do more per hour, which kept the cost a bit lower but gave very poor value. We do 20 minute consults, which means we can spend the time we need to with your animal and don’t have to rush

The list goes on. It is always worth talking to your friends with pets to see who they recommend. You can also check out clinics websites and Facebook pages to see if you like the way the clinic projects itself.

Finding a vet that you really like can take a bit of work, but it is worth it in the end.

Snake Season is Here.

We are already hearing reports of snakes being seen in the South West, and with Summer just around the corner it is important everyone knows what to do if their pet is bitten or found with a snake.

If you find your pet with a snake, take it straight to the vets (phone first to let them know you are on your way). Even if your pet looks fine, it may still have been bitten. Many dogs and cats will appear normal for even a few hours after envenomation, but may then collapse and die rapidly. You will rarely be able to find puncture wounds from a snake bite, so don’t waste time looking for them.

A common sign of snake bite, particularly in dogs is sudden collapse followed by an apparent recovery. If your dog does this, especially after being in bush or an area where snakes may be, treat it as an early warning sign that your dog has been bitten and seek emergency treatment.

Cats may have an acute collapse similar t dogs, or may appear weak and limp.

“Home remedies” such as Vitamin C do not work. Please don’t waste valuable time trying any treatments at home as you may lose the chance to save your pet.

Rapid treatment not only increases the chance of survival, but also tends to lead to a faster recovery and less antivenom being used as it deactivates the venom before it has a chance to bind to the sites in the body where it causes damage.

Most pets will survive snake bites with rapid treatment. If you are concerned your pet may have been bitten, please phone your vet immediately and seek their advice.

Teething Puppies

 

Teething Puppies

Although owning a puppy is an absolute joy most of the time, it can come with a few headaches. We are often asked how to stop puppies from chewing everything in sight. My top tips for minimising puppy destruction are:

·         Give the puppy toys it can chew. It may sound obvious, but owners often fail to provide toys for puppies. Chewing is a natural behaviour designed to strengthen jaws and help teething, so you need to provide something to chew. If you don’t provide anything, your puppy will find something itself

·         Remove things you don’t want chewed. Puppies aren’t born with a sense of what they can and can’t chew. If it is valuable, keep it out of the puppies reach

·         Avoid mixed messages. Don’t provide old shoes to chew or other such objects as the puppy can’t tell the difference between an old shoe it can chew and a new one it can’t

·         Training is essential. Puppies can be intelligent creatures, and if you don’t provide adequate mental and physical stimulation they can get bored, which can lead to destructive behaviour

·         Ensure they have food to chew. Make sure the food you feed your puppy needs chewing. Tinned or “wet” food can be more palatable than biscuits, but it is often higher in fat and bad for their teeth. Biscuits and raw chicken wings and necks can provide good chewing opportunities.

·         Only tell them off if you catch them chewing inappropriately. It’s a golden rule of dog training that you can only tell them off when you catch them performing the bad behaviour, including chewing the wrong thing, toileting in the wrong place, barking inappropriately, etc. You can’t tell them off if you get home and find things destroyed, as this can create anxiety problems and may make the destructive behaviour worse

For all puppies, we recommend Puppy Preschool. We run Puppy Preschool on Monday evenings, with the course lasting 4 weeks. It is a great chance to pick up handy tips on training and behaviour, as well as a chance to socialise your puppy in a safe and controlled environment. By attending Puppy Preschool at a vet clinic, it has the added advantage of teaching your dog that the vets is a fun place to come, so vet visits aren’t a scary and unpleasant experience for your pet.

August is Pet Dental Month

August is Pet Dental Month

The Bunbury and Eaton Vet Clinics will be running a Pet Dental Month promotion throughout August to raise awareness of pet dental problems, prevention and treatment.

An initiative of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), the aim of the campaign is to educate pet owners about the benefits of annual dental health checks and regular tooth brushing.

It is known that four out of five dogs and cats over the age of three years have some sort of dental disease which may go unnoticed by their owners.

Pets often won’t show pain. Even pets with sore gums, infected mouths and broken teeth will continue to eat so owners may not see any problems.

So how can you tell if your dog or cat has a toothache?

Your pet’s breath should not smell bad. Bad breath is a sign of infection. Gums may be red and inflamed, the teeth caked with tartar, or they may start dropping food.

Annual dental health checks are an ideal opportunity for owners to find out if their pet has existing problems which have gone unnoticed. Dental health checks also help ensure bacteria and poisons from dental infections do not break into the blood-stream and spread to distant organs like the heart, liver and kidneys.

We also recommend regular tooth brushing and many cats and dogs can be trained to enjoy having their teeth brushed, especially if you start at an early age.

About 80 per cent of adult animals have some degree of dental disease which normally becomes more severe with age, so make sure you take advantage of the Pet Dental Month. Prevention or early intervention is the best option for your pet’s ongoing health.

During August, the Bunbury and Eaton Vet Clinics will be offering a $20 discount on dental checks. It is also an opportunity for your pet to have a full health check and discuss any other issues you may have.

 

Allergy Season is Coming

With many plants starting to flower, we are starting to see the first cases of pollen allergies coming into the clinics.

The most common signs of pollen allergies in dogs is itchiness and inflammation affecting the paws, ears, groin and armpit, though any area can be affected. In cats, we tend to see scabs forming over large parts of the body.

Our treatment of allergic skin disease has changed quite a bit over the last couple of years. We used to believe that the pollen affected the dog by them breathing in the pollens, which would then get absorbed and affect the dog systemically. We now believe the allergies are actually coming from the pollens directly contacting the skin.

For cats with allergic skin disease, we find it is often associated with episodes of stress. We focus our attention for cats on minimising stress, controlling other things that may irritate the skin such as fleas, and use medication where required to settle things down.

For dogs, we often find they have secondary infections with bacteria or yeast if not brought in to us early. Owners may notice a bad smell, little lumps covering the skin and reddening and roughening of the inner surface of the ear. If an infection is present, they need veterinary attention.

To help minimise the risk of infection and to reduce itchiness, we recommend bathing dogs with allergies once weekly with and oatmeal based shampoo such as Episoothe. This is left on for around 10-15 minutes then rinsed off. This is then followed with a leave-in conditioner such as PAW Nutriderm. We also find that zinc and fatty acid supplements such as Nutricoat applied to the food once daily can dramatically reduce itching in some cases. These products are all available without a consult from both our clinics. For the more severe cases, we may use antihistamines and other medications such as steroids, but we try to minimise the use of these products.

If your pet becomes itchy over spring (many people notice it coincides with their hay fever flaring up), it may have an allergic skin disease. As usual, early intervention and treatment is the most successful, and we can help you build a maintenance program suited to your pet.

Breeding Your Dog

Breeding Your Dog.

I frequently have clients say to me that they want to breed from their bitch, which is often for reasons such as “everyone loves her and lots of people have said they would love one of her puppies”, or they are hoping to make some money from selling the puppies.

For anyone who wants to breed their bitch, I always ask them to consider these points:

·         The pound, SAFE, SWAR and rescue organisations are already full of puppies that need rehoming. Many of these have been bred because “everyone wants her puppies”, but the reality is many people struggle to find good homes for all the puppies they breed. Also, for every puppy that is born and gets a home, that’s one more rescue dog that doesn’t get a new home

·         Things can go wrong. She may need a caesarean, develop eclampsia or have other complications. When things go wrong it can occasionally be fatal. You may also end up needing to hand rear the puppies for up to 4 weeks, which is very time consuming and tiring

·         You have to be prepared for it to be expensive. If she needs a caesarean in the middle of the night, it will cost over $1000. Then you have the cost of feeding the bitch and puppies, vaccinations, worming, flea treatments, etc. You will probably not make money and you could  lose a lot

·         Early desexing prevents mammary tumours (breast cancer). We recommend not breeding a bitch until her third season to allow her to fully mature, but the risk of mammary tumours increases with each season. By the time they have had their third season, they have a 22% chance of developing mammary tumours

·         There is no benefit to the bitch’s behaviour. Having puppies doesn’t settle a bitch down. It may have the opposite effect as I have known children to be bitten by bitches protecting their puppies

If you would like more information on breeding, desexing or if you have any other questions, please phone us at the Bunbury and Eaton Vet Clinics and talk to one of our qualified staff.

Landlords: Please Consider People with Pets

Landlords: Please Consider People with Pets

Every Week we receive calls from people seeking assistance to rehome their pets because they can’t find a rental property that will let them have animals.

The Australian Companion Animal Council is working to encourage more landlords to consider pet owners as tenants, and have released their list of ten good reasons for landlords and managing agents to consider renting to a pet owner:

1.Pet owning tenants are generally willing to pay more rent.

2.Pet-friendly properties rent faster.

3.Responsible pet owners can make excellent tenants.

4.Tenants with pets want to hold longer leases.

5.Reduce your advertising spend as pet-friendly properties rent much faster.

6.No more problems with hidden pets.

7.Most Australians feel their pet is part of the family and care for them as such.

8.Reduce animal euthanasia; animal welfare agencies indicate that as many as 30% of dogs and cats are surrendered by owners who are unable to locate adequate accommodation.

9.Even considering pets will not necessarily lock you into a pet-particular outcome.

10.Pet application and agreement forms are available to help landlords and managing agents implement a successful pet management policy and help tenants understand how to responsibly manage pets. Forms are available from www.acac.org.au.

Raising Funds for South West Animal Rescue

Raising Funds for South West Animal Rescue

This July, we will be raising funds for South West Animal Rescue (SWAR) at the Eaton Vet Clinic.

We are looking to focus on responsible pet ownership this month, and one of the big things we are looking to promote is desexing pets. Charities such as SWAR and SAFE are inundated with animals that desperately need homes at the moment, and the best way to deal with this problem is by sterilising pets.

For every animal desexed at the Eaton Vet Clinic in June, we will donate 10% of the desexing fee to SWAR. There is no limit on how much we will donate so the more desexing we do during July, the bigger the donation will be.

Apart from the obvious prevention of unwanted pregnancy, some of the other benefits of desexing include:

·         Reduced risk of various tumours such as mammary (breast cancer), uterine and testicular cancers

·         Eliminates the risk of uterine infections in dogs and cats

·         Less wandering and aggression in males

·         Male cats less likely to fight and pick up diseases such as cat AIDS and Feline Leukaemia or develop abscesses from fight wounds

·         Reduces prostate problems in older male dogs

Please take this opportunity to help reduce the stray animal problem while at the same time raising funds for this important animal charity.

7 Questions You Must Ask Your Vet Before They Sterilise Your Pet

7 Questions You Must Ask Your Vet Before They Sterilise Your Pet

1. Do you give pain killers to every animal as standard? We believe every animal undergoing desexing surgery needs good quality pain relief, se we include it in the price we give you.

 2. Does every animal receive intravenous fluids during the surgery? With 85% of animals experiencing low blood pressure during surgery, intravenous fluids are important to help maintain blood pressure, making the surgery safer and the recovery faster.

 3. Will a fully qualified vet nurse be monitoring the anaesthetic?

4. Do you monitor blood pressure, oxygen levels, breath carbon dioxide levels and temperature constantly? This is critical to make the anaesthetic as safe as possible.

 5. Do you use a warm air machine while the animal is under anaesthetic and use heat pads when the animal is recovering as standard? Hypothermia is one of the biggest killers of animals under anaesthetic, as well as delaying wound healing and recovery.

6. Do you provide a collar to stop the pet being able to lick its wound?

 7. Does the price you have been given include all this as standard?

 At the Bunbury and Eaton Vet Clinics, the answer to all these questions is yes.

Cushing's Disease

Senior Pet Problem: Cushing’s Disease.

Does your elderly dog drink more than usual? Is it losing hair or getting pot-bellied? It may have Cushing’s Disease.

Cushing’s Disease, or Hyperadrenocorticism, is caused by the body producing excessive amounts of steroids. We see this dog most commonly in older, small breed dogs such as maltese and poodles, but it can affect many breeds.

It can be a bit of a tricky disease to diagnose. The most common signs owners notice are increased drinking and urination, a pot-bellied appearance and hair loss. This hair loss can show certain patterns such as losing hair along the length of the tail (producing what looks like a “rats tail”), and along both sides of the body.

Cushing’s Disease is most commonly caused by a small, benign tumour on the pituitary gland. This tumour produces a hormone that stimulates the adrenal gland to produce excessive amounts of steroids. A small amount of steroids is normal for the body to produce, but this increased production becomes problematic. There is a less common form of Cushing’s Disease caused by a tumour on the adrenal gland, which produces similar signs.

Diagnosis is by a specific blood test, and in some cases by ultrasound. It can be quite challenging to diagnose in some cases, but with the right tests and experienced vets most cases are diagnosed quite quickly.

There are a couple of treatment options available. The older treatment used to be a tablet that destroyed the adrenal glands. The problem with this treatment is it could potentially destroy too much of the glands, which is very dangerous. The newest treatment works by blocking the steroid production pathways. It is much safer and easier to use, and gives excellent control in most cases.

If your dog is showing any signs of hair loss, increased drinking or looking pot-bellied it should be checked out by a vet. Now is a good time to have it examined with our Senior Pet Month giving a $15 discount on all Senior Pet Consultations throughout June.

Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats

Senior Pet Problem: Chronic Kidney Disease in Cats

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in cats is a relatively common but underdiagnosed problem affecting cats kidneys. It affects a large number of cats, but often goes undiagnosed as many owners don’t realise what signs to look out for.

The earliest signs we see of CKD is increased drinking and urination. Cats have the ability to concentrate their urine more than almost any other animal. When the kidneys start to fail, the ability to concentrate the urine is reduced, so the volume of urine produced is much larger. This leads to increased drinking to make up for the water lost in the urine.

As the CKD progresses, the kidneys can no longer remove the “toxic” body products as they normally would. This creates a build-up of toxins in the body which makes the cat feel unwell. This is where cats can get very sick very quickly. As the toxins build-up, the cat feels unwell so is less likely to drink. This makes the cat dehydrated, which in turn reduces blood flow to the kidneys, leading to the problem getting worse.

CKD is normally diagnosed with a combination of a blood and urine test. It is quick and simple to test for, and early diagnosis can make a big difference.

Treatment can be with medicine, diet, or a combination of these. Specially designed diets help prevent the build-up of toxins, and medications can help improve blood flow to the kidneys.

If your cat is over 10 years of age, now is a great time to have it checked out. With a $15 discount on Senior Pet consults this month, and a discounted Senior Wellness Blood Test available throughout June, we can make sure your cat is in great shape.

Urinary Incontinence

Senior Pet Problem: Urinary Incontinence.

Urinary incontinence is a common problem in older dogs, especially desexed females. It can affect up to 10% of dogs as they age, but is often left undiagnosed.

Many people only seek help for incontinence when the dog is leaving puddles when it sits or sleeps. By the time the dog is doing this, it is quite severe and often they have secondary problems such as a urinary tract infection.

One of the earliest signs we get of urinary incontinence is a bad smell. Often the owners can’t pinpoint where the smell is coming from, but it is most often a slightly fishy smell. This can be a sign of a very mild incontinence, with the smell being produced by bacteria that grow in the damp fur and folds around the vulva.

Left untreated, urinary incontinence can significantly affect quality of life. The effect I find most distressing for the dog is the way owners will shut the dog outside or not allow it into areas where it previously had access because of it’s bad smell. This isolation can be very difficult for an old dog to adapt to.

Urinary tract infections are also quite common in incontinent dogs, which can be very uncomfortable and contribute further to the incontinence. In rare cases I have also seen dogs become fly-struck because of the damp fur and smell attracting flies.

Fortunately in most cases urinary incontinence is very easy to treat. It normally responds to medication within days, though the earlier it is detected and treated the faster the response.

In rare cases, particularly when the dog is relatively young or when they don’t respond to the medication, there is a surgical treatment available.

If you are concerned your dog may be suffering from incontinence, please take advantage of our Senior Pet Month and book them in for a check-up. With a $15 Senior Pet Discount there will never be a better time.

Barking Mad

Barking Mad!

The number one reason why otherwise healthy dogs get put to sleep is barking. To can cause a lot of stress to owners, create problems with neighbours and generally make owning a dog a bad experience.

It is normal for dogs to bark. It is part of the way they communicate and is an important part of how they “evolved” to be useful to people, fulfilling a security role. Barking when there is a noise at the edge of the dogs territory or when someone comes to the front door can be considered normal, but should still be managed and not excessive.

Problems come when the barking is persistent, if the dog barks at every noise every time, or if the dog is barking at antisocial hours.

Inappropriate barking is something that needs a diagnosis and treatment. Just the same as vomiting or diarrhea are symptoms of an underlying disease, barking can be a sign of an underlying problem.

Inappropriate barking can be caused by stress, boredom, anxiety, senility, overstimulation, pain, or because the owner has “trained” the dog to bark by coming out to see the dog every time it barks (for some dogs the owner coming out to tell them off is better than the owner not coming out at all).

To treat problem barking, a diagnosis needs to be reached. Working with your vet to reach a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan is an important step. We tend to approach barking in the following way:

1.       Making sure there are no medical or behavioural abnormalities contributing to the barking.

2.       Ensuring the dog’s physical and mental needs are being fully met, for example a nutritional diet and plenty of exercise.

3.       Determining why the dog believes that barking is worthwhile.

4.       Removing the reason why the dog believes barking is worthwhile.

5.       Working with a professional dog trainer to teach the dog to be quiet when requested.

6.       Learning how to use distraction techniques to give the dog something better to do.

7.       Teaching the dog how to relax using reward-based training techniques.

The importance of a diagnosis can’t be stressed enough. Some people just buy an electric shock collar to stop barking, but if the dog is barking because of anxiety or pain, a collar can make the problem worse and make the dog suffer.

As with any other problem, early intervention tends to give the most rapid resolution of barking related issues. Please talk to your vet if your dog’s barking is causing problems. It may save your dogs life.

HEARTWORM AND MOZZIES

Heartworm is another one of those diseases mozzies spread, and is quite an important disease for all dog owners to be aware of.

Heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) is a parasite that lives in the main blood vessel between the heart and the lungs. The adult worm produces infectious stages called microfilaria, which are discharged into the blood stream. These are then picked up by mosquitoes when they bite, develop a bit more in the mosquito then are injected into another dog when the mosquito bites. For heartworm to spread in a population of dogs you need two things – mosquitoes and infected dogs.

Fortunately in Bunbury we are in a lower risk area, although we do see the occasional case. We obviously have a LOT of mozzies, but few infected dogs (though those numbers can increase over summer when holiday makers from Perth bring their dogs with them). Perth, north of Perth and inland are much higher risk areas. In one study, 18% of unprotected dogs in Perth were found to have Heartworm.

The first sign of heartworm disease is normally the dog coughing. This is caused by the worms creating blood clots which lodge in the lungs. The cough can be quite severe, and in some cases fatal. Infection is normally confirmed with a blood test.

We recommend all dogs in this region have Heartworm protection. Although we are a relatively low risk area, the disease is very difficult to treat. We use a product similar to arsenic to kill the worms, and dead worms can break away to lodge in the lungs, causing potentially fatal respiratory problems.

We normally start using Heartworm preventing medications from around 12 weeks of age. For puppies less than 6 months we recommend monthly products such as Advocate which also protects against fleas and other parasites. We recommend the use of Proheart injections for adult dogs, which are given annually and provides year-round protection.

Please ask your vet about Heartworm, or give us a call on 97215999 if you have any questions. Once again, this is a disease where prevention is much better than cure.

Cost Versus Value

Why does the cost of having your pet desexed vary so much between clinics? After all, isn’t it the same no matter where it gets done? There are actually a lot of reasons why the prices vary from clinic to clinic.

The first thing to check when asking for a price is what’s included. We believe that when you get a price, it should include everything your pet needs. The price we give people includes everything including the surgery, a collar to stop them licking the wound, and pain killers to go home with. Some clinics will give you a lower price when you phone for a quote, but don’t include things like pain killers. We don’t see pain relief as an “optional extra”, so it’s included in the price we give.

A recent study from Murdoch University has shown that 85%of dogs undergoing routine desexing will experience low blood pressure (hypotension). This hypotension increases the risk of major organ damage, as well as leading to a slower recovery, delayed wound healing and an increased risk of post-operative infections. Based on these results, we have decided that all dogs and cats undergoing anaesthesia at the Bunbury Vet Clinic will have intravenous fluids administered to help prevent this hypotension.

The level of anaesthetic monitoring and intraoperative care also varies considerably. All animals undergoing anaesthesia at the Bunbury Vet Clinic are placed on a heating mat or warm air blanket for the surgery and recovery, and undergo continuous monitoring of blood oxygen levels. For animals undergoing major surgery we will also use our state of the art Surgivet monitoring machine. This allows us to run a continuous ECG of the heart, monitor core body temperature and even measure the amount of CO2 in the animal’s breath so we can gauge the animal’s respiration and metabolism. This level of monitoring allows us to recognise very early signs of problems with the animal and take corrective actions, massively increasing the safety of our anaesthetics.

The skill and experience of the staff also varies between clinics. All our vets have over 12 years experience, and our vet nurses are all fully qualified and experienced. Many vet clinics have less experienced staff, and many of their “nurses” may not actually be qualified.

When you compare prices for a procedure, ensure you are comparing apples with apples. What might seem more expensive may actually be better value.

Cruciate Ligament Rupture

On of the more common causes of lameness we see in dogs is a ruptured cruciate ligament.

Many people would be familiar with cruciate ligament rupture after watching a bit of footy. It is quite a common injury in football players when they land awkwardly or have a bad knock to the legs.

In dogs, ruptured cruciate ligaments are often what we consider a degenerative condition. That is, rather than the ligament rupturing with significant trauma, there is a weakness in the ligament that leads to it rupturing with normal activity.

Because of the underlying weakness in the ligaments, if a dog ruptures the ligament in one knee, they have about a 70% chance of rupturing the ligament in the other knee.

The normal sign of a ruptured cruciate ligament is the dog becoming suddenly lame. This may be when chasing a ball, or even undertaking gentle activity such as walking around. We can confirm cruciate ligament rupture but checking for instability in the joint combined with xrays.

In people there is often no need for surgery as our legs are straight so the cruciate ligament doesn’t have much use in gentle, day to day life. Of course for athletes or very active people surgery is often indicated.

Because a dogs leg is bent the cruciate ligament is used in every step, so for most dogs surgery is required. This normally involves cleaning up the damage within the joint, then creating a prosthetic ligament to stabilise the joint. We use the Ligafibre Iso-toggle Technique. We prefer this technique as it gives consistently excellent results while still being affordable. We are lucky to have Dr Joc Bunny at the Bunbury Vet Clinic, who has her Memberships in Surgery, meaning she has undertaken extra training and examinations in surgery. With Dr Joc performing these procedures we find the dogs return to good function quite quickly.

Early surgical treatment of cruciate ruptures gives much better results as the damage to the knee joint is minimised, so any back leg lameness in a dog should be examined quickly to help minimise arthritis in the future.

www.bunburyvetclinic.com.au

Hot Dogs

With the hot weather arriving, we need to take extra precautions to protect our dogs from overheating.

The two most common causes of overheating we see are dogs being left in cars, and dogs exercising during the heat of the day.

Unfortunately we see several dogs each year that are left in cars on hot days. This is extremely dangerous. Just like children, you should never leave your dog unattended in a car. I have seen dogs suffer from heat stroke when left in a car on a day that was only around 20 degrees. The inside of a car can heat up to over 40 degrees on a 20 degree day and over 60 degrees on a hot day. These temperatures can be reached in as little as 10 minutes, so what might seem like a quick trip into a shop can be fatal for your dog.

Dogs exercising in the heat of the day can also be dangerous. A dog’s cooling process is not as efficient as ours, and dogs are also much more likely to overdo things when they get very excited, like when chasing a tennis ball. Dogs can also burn their paws on hot bitumen or sand, so remember to check how hot the ground is when you take your dog anywhere.

For a dog to cool itself, it pants. The panting process itself uses a lot of muscles, which in turn creates more heat within the dog. Once a dog is overheating, the panting it is doing to try to cool down can sometimes make things worse. For this reason it is important to recognise overheating early to prevent a potentially fatal situation.

Dogs with short noses such as bull dogs and pugs, and overweight dogs are especially prone to overheating, so they should never be exercised on hot days, and should be kept inside or in a cool place during the heat of the day.

If your dog is overheating, these are the steps you should take:

·         Bathe the dog in cool (not cold) water, ensuring you wet right down to the skin

·         Place the dog in front of a fan or air conditioner

·         Place cold packs in the dogs groin, armpits and on the base of the neck (wrap them in a tea towel first so the cold doesn’t damage the skin)

·         Call the vet for advice

Thunderstorms and Fireworks

With the recent thunderstorms, I thought it would be a good time to talk about noise phobias.

Many dogs have phobias of loud noises such as thunderstorms and fireworks. This can show up in behaviours such as shaking and nervousness for the more mild cases, through to destructive and escaping behaviours for the more severe cases. I have seen some animals end up with quite severe injuries after they panic with loud noises, so it is a problem that needs to be taken seriously.

During a thunderstorm, it is important to act normally. If you act nervous or try to comfort the dog, they will pick up on the changes in body language and this can increase their stress levels. Also try putting on a radio or television to help drown out the noise of the thunder or fireworks.

Desensitisation to loud noises can work well in many cases. CD’s of thunderstorm and fireworks noise can be purchased, which can be played at gradually increasing volumes to get the dog used to the sounds. This can eventually “cure” the phobia once the dog realises the noises are harmless.

There is a new product available called a “Thundershirt”. This is a specially designed, tight fitting shirt that can make the dog feel much more secure. The shirt is applied at the first signs of a storm, and can work in around 80% of cases.

For the more severe cases, we often find that medication is required. The older style medications that used to be prescribed were heavy sedatives. These worked well to stop the dog escaping or injuring itself, but did little to stop the anxiety and fear. We now tend to use medications that combine a sedative and anti-anxiety effect, as this protects the dog as well as easing the dog’s distress.

If you need further advice about noise phobias or any other stress related problems, please contact us at the Bunbury Vet Clinic.

Painted Dogs Escape at the Zoo

When I was a student, I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks working with the vets at the Perth Zoo. When I arrived, I was told to sit down and read the Emergency Procedure Manual. “Don’t worry”, they said, “nothing ever happens, it’s just procedure”. Famous last words.

We went out to treat an elephant with conjunctivitis when we received a call that three of the Painted Dogs were down in their enclosure and not moving. We raced across and saw that one of them was already dead, two were still breathing, while another two seemed unaffected but very agitated. It turns out they had been fed meat from a horse that was heavily contaminated with a powerful anaesthetic.

The decision was made to chase the two unaffected dogs into their night enclosure. The keepers started making a loud noise, which caused the animals to panic and they jumped out of their enclosure. We all raced for cover in the cars and quickly planned how to dart the escaped dogs so they could be recaptured. Fortunately it was before opening time, so there was only zoo staff to be moved into the safe zones.

I was given a fire extinguisher and put on an exit from the savannah area, with instructions not to let the dogs past me while the vets and nurses set about darting the dogs. I don’t know what I would have done if the Painted Dogs came my way, as there was nowhere to hide if they did. After a few terrifying minutes, I received a radio call that the dogs had been darted and recaptured, so we set about working on the two dogs that were down in their enclosure.

Over the next week, the vets and nurses worked tirelessly to save these two dogs. The head vet didn’t leave the zoo for five days, and we all took turns trying to keep them alive. At one point we had to breathe for one of the dogs for over 24 hours.

After 5 days, one of them died. We all were devastated, but the other one was starting to recover so we kept going. We spent another 3 days medicating and feeding this dog with a stomach tube before it was strong enough to eat on its own.

The day we released it back into its enclosure with the other dogs was unforgettable. We were all tired and emotional, but it all felt worth while.

Sun and Skin Cancer

Skin cancer in dogs and cats is one of the few truly “preventable” cancers in our pets. We frequently see a type of skin cancer call “squamous cell carcinoma” (SCC) in white cats and dogs with unpigmented skin, such as Bull Terriers and Staffies. The ways to prevent this type of cancer are very similar in dogs and cats when compared to people.

1.       Slip – Slip on a sun suit. There are sun suits specifically designed for dogs. Many of these can be worn in the back yard, down the beach, in fact pretty much anywhere the dog goes.

2.       Slop – Slop on sunscreen. We recommend you use a sunscreen designed for use in animals to ensure there are no problems with toxicity. Using sunscreen is particularly important for white cats, as the nose and tips of the ears (which can’t be protected by sun suits) are the most commonly affected areas of cats. For dogs, sunscreen can be used on the head and any areas of unpigmented skin.

3.       Slap – While you can’t put a hat on a dog, you can make sure they are provided with plenty of shade. Some dogs love sunbaking. For these dogs it may be necessary to confine them to shady areas during the day to stop them from lying in the sun. Remember dogs don’t understand that sunbaking causes cancer, so it’s up to their owners to protect them from this.

The first signs we get with an animal developing SCC’s are little wounds or scabs that never quite seem to heal. As the cancer gets more advanced, the wounds may get bigger and be prone to bleeding. If caught early, we can often use cryotherapy (freezing) to treat the lesions. More advanced cases may require surgery to remove the affected skin.

These cancers are very invasive, so early detection and treatment is important. However, prevention is much better than cure so please make sure your pet is protected this summer.