| December 2022 | | | Somehow, we have again arrived at Christmas time! We send festive regards to all of our clients and their fur families- 2022 has been a big year with some big challenges, and we are all happy to see the end of it!
There's another face back in reception that many of you will recognise- the lovely Hayley is back! Please make her feel welcome.
Over the Christmas holiday period, we will have less staff on for normal days, and an after hours veterinarian available for emergencies. Please be patient. | | | Contact Us |
|
|
 | | Puppies as gifts? Think again | | | Christopher Tan from Prime7 recently came by to do a story about puppies and gifting this Christmas. Have a look at the link below to see Georgia and some of the wonderful folk from the RSPCA talking about Christmas puppies. |
|
|
| Do you need a medication top up? | | | Christmas is a wonderful time of giving, gifts, good food- and public holidays. This means you need to be organised in advance! Remember that compounded medications need to be ordered before Australia Post says you need to have your gifts posted, and before the last order of the festive period (15th December) to give your pets the best chance at staying well for Christmas. | | | Order Medications Online |
|
|
 | | Jingle bells | | |
Vaccine bells,
Are you going away?
If pets are off to kennels or beach,
Get them sorted before the sleigh!
Don’t wait until the day your pet is due to go into boarding- the vaccines will not be as effective. We also cannot guarantee we will have availability if you leave it until the last minute. |
|
|
Travelling with pets?
Remember that leaving Orange with your pets means you must consider all of the local problems in the area you are heading to and travelling through. Some things to consider:
- Chronic medications- do you need a top up?
- Boarding your pet somewhere? Need an up to date vaccination certificate?
- Driving? Car sickness? Do you need medications for that?
- Stressed pets? Do you need a top up of Feliway or Adpatil?
- Heading to the coast? On or east of the Blue Mountains? Is your pet up to date with paralysis tick prevention?
- Heartworm- is your pet on annual injections or needing a tablet when they return?
- Far away to NT or WA? Ensure double protection for ticks where Ehrlichia is known. A chewable and a Seresto collar is the way to go.
|
|
|
 | | Christmas foods that could upset your dog | | | When you think about Christmas foods that might upset you, you’re probably thinking about being left with all the “dodgy” leftovers in a box of Cadbury Favourites (although some of us maintain that Turkish Delight is a valid and enjoyable flavour!).
However, when we talk about Christmas foods that could upset your dog, we’re talking about festive fare which could be dangerous and even toxic to them. Here’s a list of foods to avoid giving your pet this holiday season:
Cooked bones
When cooked, bones become brittle and are more likely to splinter into sharp shards which can cause injuries to your pet’s mouth, oesophagus or gut. In the worst-case scenario, sharp bone pieces may perforate intestines, necessitating emergency surgery.
Grapes and raisins
Grapes and raisins are a tricky toxin, in that some pets appear to be able to eat them with no apparent issues, whereas other pets can develop potentially fatal kidney damage after eating just a few. We strongly recommend avoiding the risk, and never feeding your pet these foods. This includes Christmas cake!
Fatty foods
In some dogs, feeding highly fatty foods such as crackling, ham, or turkey skin, can trigger painful inflammation of the pancreas, referred to as pancreatitis, leading to vomiting, diarrhoea, dehydration, and one very miserable pet. Some dogs and cats seem more or less prone to this as an issue. Burmese cats and Schnauzer dogs spring to mind as more sensitive breeds.
Chocolate, coffee beans or cocoa
Unlike us, dogs cannot tolerate the theobromine or caffeine components in these foods and can develop gut upset, heart rate abnormalities or seizures after consuming relatively small amounts. There are chocolate calculators online, and the Australian Pet Poison Hotline can talk you through the risks.
Onions and garlic
Pets who consume significant amounts of onion or garlic (e.g. in turkey stuffing) can initially develop signs of gut upset, and then several days later, may show symptoms of anaemia (such as weakness and pale gums).
Xylitol sweetener
Xylitol sweetener can be present in some “sugar-free” gums or lollies, and can cause life-threatening liver damage and low blood sugar levels in pets.
If you have any concerns about any potential toxicities in your pet, chat with our knowledgeable team. |
|
|
| Caution with the Christmas spirit! | | | While chocolate makes a great gift for humans, it can be really damaging for our doggy friends. Think about what gifts you might be putting into paw’s reach- fruit cake, chocolates, and sugar-free treats are common and potentially fatal components.
For cats- the decorations can be most troublesome. Google images for 'cat tinsel obstruction' and you'll realise the mess tinsel can make is often less than festive for our feline friends!
Think too about what visitors might be bringing in to the household, especially medications that might be in dog’s reach on the floor. Seizure medications, heart medications and sleeping pills are big problems.
If concerned, know that we will have an after hours vet available for true emergencies. Remember, advice on what to feed your pet is not a midnight emergency for your vet that needs sleep too (and yes, that happens!). | | | Contact Us |
|
|
 | Got a Christmas puppy?
Four steps to a cool, calm and collected canine | | | Is your dog a gold star canine citizen? Check out these four tips for helping your dog to feel cool, calm and collected in and out of the house!
Early socialisation and regular training
You can set your dog up for success early on by ensuring they are well-socialised. This involves exposing them to a variety of new people, pets, places and handling techniques in a positive and gentle manner so that they learn that there is nothing to fear. Attending a well-run puppy school can be a great start. Bridget runs a puppy school here at Orange Vet Hospital, and Debi Coleman at Shadforth runs puppy school through her business, The Dog Lady.
As your dog grows, attending an obedience training course that utilises positive reinforcement techniques (rather than any type of punishment) can really build your dog’s confidence and teach them lovely manners! Puppies are usually segregated by age to ensure they can learn most appropriately- in the same way that kindergarten children and high school teenagers learn differently.
Calm control
When bringing your dog out in public, it’s your responsibility to ensure that they’re always under control. Even if your dog is friendly, not everyone will want to meet them, e.g. rescue dogs who are highly fearful or unpredictable with other dogs approaching them. Unless your pet is friendly and in a designated off-lead area, they should be kept on-lead.
Regular mental and physical exercise
A tired dog is generally a calm dog! Ensure that your dog receives daily physical exercise and mental stimulation appropriate to their breed. Otherwise, you may find that they “blow off steam” in less desirable ways, such as hyperactivity or problem barking.
Veterinary assessment
If your dog is showing undesirable behaviours such as anxiety or aggression, it’s best to book an appointment with one of our vets for further assessment. With the correct diagnosis, we can recommend an effective treatment plan to help your pet to feel their best! Usually a pre-visit behaviour questionnaire gets sent out before your appointment- this needs to be returned filled a few days before the appointment to make the most of your time with the veterinarian.
Ask our knowledgeable team if you have any further questions about encouraging the best behaviour in your canine family member! |
|
|
 | | So my dog bites.... | | | One of the common questions we get asked is ‘Will it stop my dog biting if he gets desexed?’
If there was an easy answer, we would tell it to you straight. However, it’s not so simple.
If your dog is aggressive because of fear, desexing is unlikely to help. It is relatively uncommon that dog’s bite because of their sex hormones. Sometimes we talk about a temporary medical implant called Suprelorin as a test to see if the behaviour is improved before em-barking on a non-reversible surgical desexing procedure.
Although aggression is not likely to be helped by desexing, any tendencies to go roaming looking for girl dogs is likely to be improved greatly. During roaming, dogs have a tendency to get themselves into all sorts of mischief, including accidents and dog bites.
Ask our knowledgeable team if you have any further questions about encouraging the best behaviour in your canine family member! |
|
|
 | | Animal welfare concerns | | | We all love animals- and sometimes you might come across someone that is not as wholesome in their provision of care. Talking to the individual involved is usually the best thing to do. If that is not possible for safety or logistical reasons, you can report concerns about animal welfare through the following organisations:
- RSPCA NSW has local inspectors. They can investigate neglect or abandonment. They can be called on 1300 278 3589, or submit a report online at https://www.rspcansw.org.au/report-a-cruelty-case/
- Animal Welfare Leagure NSW is not for profit and has an inspector servicing our local area. Call 02 8777 4444 or submit a report online at https://www.awlnsw.com.au/report-cruelty/
- For wildlife, call WIRES on 1300 094 737
- In an emergency, contact the Police on 000
You can make an anonymous complaint, and your complaint will be taken seriously.
Although Orange Vet Hospital cares deeply about animals, we are not in a position to be able to investigate nor prosecute animal cruelty problems. The people above are your best bet.
Ask our helpful team if you have any further questions about the role we play with animal welfare. |
|
|
 | | Our guide to poisonous plants | | | With many of us spending more time outdoors in the warmer weather, it’s sensible to ensure that your pet doesn’t have access to any poisonous plants, either in your garden or whilst out on walks. Here are a few common toxic plants to be aware of, and what to do if you think your pet may have eaten some.
Poisonous plants
A few commonly encountered toxic plants for pets include:
- Sago palm and other cycads – can cause gut upset and severe liver damage
- Aloe vera – can cause gut upset and lethargy
- False Bamboo and Lucky Bamboo – can cause weakness, wobbliness or seizures
- Ferns – can cause skin irritation or gut upset
- Ivy – can cause mouth irritation and gut upset
- Lilies – can cause gut upset and severe kidney damage
- Jade plant – can cause gut upset and wobbliness
- Lantana – can cause gut upset, paralysis and possible liver failure
- Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow – can cause gut upset, tremors, wobbliness or seizures
For a more comprehensive list of toxic plants, check out this Australian list or search this (US-based) site.
What should I do if my pet has just mouthed/consumed a potentially toxic plant?
- Remove your pet from the plant and wipe/rinse out their mouth
- Do NOT give your pet anything to eat or drink and do NOT try to induce them to vomit except on veterinary advice, as with some toxins, vomiting can actually cause more harm
- Even if your pet seems OK, phone our team immediately for advice (or contact a service such as the Animal Poisons Helpline- link above). If your pet is showing any symptoms of unwellness, bring them in for urgent veterinary care.
In cases where a pet has ingested a serious toxin, rapid veterinary treatment will maximise their chance of a full recovery.
Ask our helpful team if you have any further questions about poisonous plants and pets |
|
|
 | | Endangered animal sanctuary hears the pitter-patter of tiny feet this Christmas... | | |
The Eastern Quoll, once a fixture of Australian fauna, became extinct on the mainland in the 1960’s and is now only found in the wild in Tasmania, where numbers are steadily declining. But new results are in: Aussie Ark’s endangered Eastern Quoll breeding program has set a record this year, with a stunning 63 baby joeys born this season, setting the record for the highest birth rate the program has seen so far.
Viewed by early settlers as a pest, we can credit the gradual disappearance of the Quolls to poisoning, trapping and land clearing, as well as the impact of feral foxes and cats.
Thankfully, the Animal Ark program established in 2017, in cooperation with Barrington Wildlife sanctuary on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, is committed to repopulating mainland Australia.
"[We’re] bringing a species back from the brink to reclaim the Australian bush,” said Aussie Ark operations manager Dean Reid.
Newborn Quolls are as small as a grain of rice, and like most marsupials, spend the beginning of their life in the safety of their mother’s pouch, before they emerge two months later, brown, spotted and entirely charming.
"Our goal is to maintain these Quolls inside our feral-proof sanctuary, and they are doing extremely well,” said Jake Meney, who also works with the Eastern Quolls.
Though vulnerable prey themselves, their razor-sharp claws make them excellent rabbit hunters, which means the reintroduced quolls could help to manage local feral rabbit populations.
We commend Aussie Ark and Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary for their ‘quoll-ity’ contribution to Australian wildlife preservation!
Click here to read ABC News' full article on Barrington Wildlife’s Quoll Joeys.
|
|
|
 | | Animal News In Brief | | |
From Russia with grub
Ah, the Christmas holiday season, a time for travel and adventure, where airport terminals across the world echo with garbled calls for final boarding, couples bicker, and children’s iPads ping and brrrrring!
But if the sound of that doesn't appeal to you, you might like to try Christmas travel the Sharp-tailed sandpiper way:
Every August, the tiny sandpiper journeys from Siberia, Russia, to wetlands and mudflats across Australia, to bask in the warm sunshine and feast on an all-you-can-eat grub buffet, all summer long.
Not a bad package, if you’re fit enough to make the journey! At roughly 9,700 kms, it might be a mammoth flight, but we bet it's one heck of a view along the way, plus, they don’t even have to queue up to use aeroplane toilets!
"We always see the sandpipers here in big numbers, and they are always the first to arrive and last to leave," said Rex Whitehead, a Mt Isa resident and local bird watcher.
According to a study conducted by the New South Wales Local Land Services, some birds have been tracked making journeys as far as 11,000 kms from Victoria, Australia, back home to Russia.
We just hope that this March, when the sandpipers return home to breed, at least one sandpiper-dad remembers to make the obligatory travel-related joke:
“I just flew in from Australia, and boy my arms are tired!”
Click here to read ABC News’ full article on the migration of Russian Sharp-tailed sandpipers.
Save the last dance for Rat
We’re all familiar with the famous Bob Fosse line, “Dance like nobody’s watching,” but at the University of Tokyo in Japan, a team of researchers are watching, and you won’t believe what they’ve discovered.
The researchers have recently published their new study, where they documented that rats, like humans, ‘bob’ their heads along to the beat of music.
"Rats displayed innate — that is, without any training or prior exposure to music — beat synchronisation," said researcher Dr Hirokuzu Takahashi.
The researchers made their discovery by fitting wireless accelerometers to the heads of ten rats before measuring their movement while exposed to a playlist that included minute-long excerpts of Mozart, Queen, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and Maroon 5. Twenty humans also participated in the research.
Surprisingly, the study found that both rats and humans jerk their heads to the beat in a similar pattern, and that music in the 120-140 beats per minute range provided the window for optimal beat synchronicity for both species. As cute as this discovery undoubtedly is, you might be wondering what purpose such a study serves.
"[I am] interested in how, why and what mechanisms of the brain create human cultural fields such as fine art, music, science, technology and religion," Dr Takahashi said.
"I believe that this question is the key to understanding how the brain works and developing the next-generation AI (artificial intelligence).”
Click here to read ABC News’ full article on the University of Tokyo’s recent study.
Vets providing comfort for terminal pets and their families
It’s a fact of life that one day we will have to say goodbye to our beloved pets. You’d be forgiven for feeling more than a little anxious about the prospect of caring for your furbabies throughout their final months. For most people, it's a faraway prospect; they'd rather not think about it until they have to.
But for veterinarian Courtney Prue, founder of Sydney’s mobile veterinary service, Rest Your Paws, palliative care for Sydney pets is her everyday focus.
“I’m originally from Canada, and in North America it’s a really well-established area of veterinary medicine. You can have a veterinarian come to your home and help you through your pet’s final weeks, days or months”, said Dr Prue.
While the area of veterinary palliative care is relatively new for Australia, demand for care options for animals near the end of their life has increased over the past 10 to 20 years, as the culture and nature of owner-pet relationships has changed.
“The relationships that people have with their pets now is so different to how it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. So many people feel that their dog or their cat is a family member," said Dr Prue.
12-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback, Vegas, who was diagnosed with spinal and hip tumours, attends hydrotherapy twice a week and uses a brace and a wheelchair to go on walks. Rather than surgery, Vegas’ owner, Georgia Morrison, opted for a range of alternative therapies to optimise wellbeing and comfort in Vegas’ final stage of life.
"We don't have any children, so this is our child, so I don't see why he should get any less care than a human," Ms Morrison said.
Click here to read the full article by ABC News.
|
|
|
 | | That's a tick for tick prevention | | |
You might have seen our story on Benson, the lucky little dog that suffered tick paralysis last month. Ticks can be a problem for dogs and cats year-round, but particularly during the warmer seasons when our pets are likely spending lots of time outdoors and ticks are more active. Fortunately, these are not local issues, but you can bring them home on pets that travel with you, or on camping gear/ gardening supplies you might move around.
What symptoms do ticks cause?
Pets can be affected by several different species of tick.
Paralysis ticks occur in bushy coastal areas along the eastern seaboard of Australia, from north Queensland to eastern Victoria, and cause progressive muscle paralysis in cats and dogs, which leads to symptoms such as:
- Leg weakness, which often starts in the back legs first and gradually becomes a generalised inability to walk or stand
- Laboured breathing, which may be rapid and shallow or heavy and grunting
- A change in bark or meow
- Occasional regurgitation or vomiting
- Lethargy
- Excessive drooling (in some pets)
Other types of ticks, found all across Australia, include the brown dog tick, the cattle tick, and the bush tick. These ticks do not cause paralysis, but rather localised skin irritation where they attach. However, in some regions of Australia, these ticks can also carry and transmit dangerous diseases such as ehrlichiosis.
How can I protect my pet from ticks?
We recommend year-round protection against ticks for all at-risk pets. Have a chat with our knowledgeable team for personalised advice on the safest and most effective tick prevention product options for your pet.
Whilst veterinary-strength tick prevention products are highly effective, they are not 100% guaranteed to prevent tick-related diseases. Therefore, it’s also important that owners of pets in known tick areas learn to tick-search their pet daily (particularly during the warmer months of the year) and how to remove ticks. Here is a video demonstrating a good tick search and removal technique, but please ask our team if you are still unsure.
Lastly, if you notice any suspicious signs of unwellness in your pet, it’s always best to have them checked promptly by one of our vets.
Give ticks the flick this summer!
|
|
|
This email contains comments of a general nature only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinary advice. It should not be relied on as the basis for whether you do or don't do anything.
All content © PetPack 2022 |
|
|
This email was sent to:
email@example.com
Orange Veterinary Hospital
57 Molong Rd
Orange, NSW 2800
|
|
|
|
