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| a great place for pets - www.thevets.com.au | |||
January 2006 edition - Happy New Year
1. Ambushed by fleas 2. Photo comp - we want your vote! 3. Go off lead to escape the everyday 4. How's your ticker? 5. Fun stuff |
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1. Ambushed by fleas The Bradleys, a typical Australian family, have just got back from holidays and are settling in on the couch with a cuppa. They've picked up the pets from boarding and are enjoying getting reacquainted when Mr Bradley notices a flea on his foot. Rapidly one flea becomes thousands and soon the whole family is being attacked by a swarm of jumping, biting fleas. What is this horrible phenomenon? It's called “flea re-emergence” and it occurs when flea control during the preceding months is ineffective or incomplete. Adult fleas, which live on the pets, produce eggs that fall immediately into the carpet or cracks between the floorboards. The number of eggs builds up and can reach huge numbers while they wait until the conditions are right for them to hatch. If they hatch while the house is empty, the newly emerged fleas [which can number in the thousands] lie in wait like an army preparing an ambush. As soon as people and pets walk back in the house, the fleas jump up to bite and get their first meal of blood. Fleas look for dogs or cats but will bite people in the process. How to prevent a flea swarm: You need to prevent fleas effectively in the first place with a program that's tailored to your needs – and this is where we excel. There are plenty of flea products available but determining what is the best way to use them in light of your particular circumstances is the key. Following a tailored program means that a flea swarm will only ever be something you read about – not something that happens in your home. Back to top |
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2. Photo comp - we want your vote! This is your chance to vote for the winner of the photo competition. The competition opened last month and we've received a ton of fantastic entries. We've got pics of pets in all guises and moods – happy, devilish, aloof and just plain cute. From the mountain of entries, our judges have selected the finalists. A massive thank you to all those that entered. There was a lot of effort put in and it's just fantastic to see how much people love their pets - we wanted to put everyone in the final! Click on the button below to see the finalists and vote for your favourite two [please note each newsletter subscriber can only vote once]. We'll let you know the winner in next month's edition. Prizes will be awarded to the winners based on voting results. Votes close on January 15th so get in quick. Click on the button below to vote now! Back to top |
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3. Go off lead to escape the everyday For families who lead busy lives, a common challenge in owning a dog is to prevent boredom. Hours spent alone in the back garden often lead to barking, chewing washing or digging. The size of the garden is of no significance – a big garden is not necessarily any less boring. One of the great things you can do to prevent boredom is to have regular off lead walks – ideally one to two a day. Off lead exercise allows a dog to satisfy a host of natural instincts. It's highly stimulating and is attributed with quietening dogs down. Dogs are social creatures and being off lead in the park is one of the few occasions where they can socialise normally. Off lead exercise must be free-running. Following the owner on a bike or who is running laps does not qualify. A dog must be able to follow her own path – sniffing, following scents that meander across the grass and socialising without the interruption of a lead. If your dog won't come when called, consider using a 30m light line [use twine available from hardware stores] and talk to us about training to help her come back when called. Here's a list of off lead parks – we've included a wide variety so you can explore new areas: Brisbane | Caboolture | Caloundra | Gold Coast | Hervey Bay (scroll down to "Dog Off Leash Areas" section and then click on the relevant area) | Ipswich | Maroochy [PDF] | Noosa [PDF] | Pine Rivers | Redland (new trial area) | Redcliffe | Toowoomba Back to top |
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4. How's your ticker? Fungus, a strapping young Newfoundland, has a rich ancestry. His breed is famous for its hard work, love of people and absolute mastery in the water. Newfoundlands have saved people from drowning, including it's claimed, Napoleon. There was even a Newfoundland in the First Fleet. Somewhere in this illustrious history there's an Achilles heel – inherited heart disease. While any dog can develop heart disease, for some breeds including Boxers, Great Danes and German Shepherds, it can be inherited. The exciting news is that in addition to the range of medications we have available, the disease can now be prevented, managed or in some cases actually reversed by feeding a special food. L-carnitine and taurine are two food ingredients that can prevent heart disease from developing. L-carnitine helps to convert fat into energy to support the heart muscle while taurine is involved in the regulation of potassium movement across heart muscle borders – essential for normal heart function. Both these nutrients can be synthesised by the dog's metabolic processes, but in dogs such as Fungus, adding it to the food may prevent heart disease occurring. Fungus' owners know that the chance of him developing heart disease is small. But they want to do as much as they can to keep him healthy so they feed him a special premium food that contains the correct levels of carnitine and taurine. He can go about his highly energised lifestyle and look forward to a healthy adult life. Hill's* Science Diet* premium brand pet food contains l-carnitine and taurine, nutrients important in the management of heart health for dogs and cats. For information click here. Back to top |
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5. Fun stuff Dogcatradio.com – Here's a novel idea, and as they say, only in California! Dogcatradio.com is a new online radio station for dogs and cats. With a song list picked specially for the audio tastes of pets, this new site is making a huge impact. Making front page news in the New York Times in early November, it's received coverage from most of the big US media. The good news is that we can tune in – go to: www.dogcatradio.com Send a kiss – There are not many creatures cuter than a baby Orangutan. Send your friends an Orangutan kiss by visiting WSPA [World Society for the Protection of Animals] Happy 175th birthday Harriet ! Harriet, a Giant Galapagos Land Tortoise and the only living link to Charles Darwin, turned 175 at Australia Zoo in November. We tend to think of Darwin as from another age but to see Harriet, a tortoise that Darwin picked up in the Galapagos, happily enjoying her birthday cake on the Sunshine Coast was quite bizarre. It made us realise that Darwin and his thoughts were, in some respects, only yesterday. To see a video of her birthday celebrations click here. Back to top |
The Vets Nerang Unit 5/90 Spencer Road Nerang 4211 ph 5596 2322 fx 5596 0549 Helensvale Unit 7/14 Sir John Overall Drive Helensvale 4212 ph 5529 8011 fx 5529 4133 www.thevets.com.au |
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