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April 2007 edition IN THIS ISSUE 1. We’re celebrating NEW BEGINNINGS this Easter time 2. Puppy Preschool … ……A great start to life and the beginning of a beautiful relationship 3. Amazing Anzac Animals 4. Worm your way out of this one 5. AquaDog is a great safe, fun place for Swimming …....Puppies and All 6. WHAT A GREAT TEAM !! 7. Easter chocolate - the poisoned chalice 8. Grey Matters 9. It's all about Wellness...Inside & Out 10. A bloomin' nuisance 11. Zoom in for a Groom 12. Your Favourite Famous Cat announced! |
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1. We’re celebrating NEW BEGINNINGS this Easter time April is Easter holiday time, a great time for pets and families! As we humans celebrate new life at Easter with bunnies, eggs and yummy chocolate, (NO! not for your pets!) we decided to also celebrate new life and NEW BEGINNINGS with a special Easter celebration for our pets. So to celebrate our commitment to your pets, the young ones and the young at heart, we have some special offers available this month. For the best start to new life for puppies and kittens …… The food you choose to feed your puppy and kittens during the first year is critical to their adult development, health and growth. Hill's Science Diet is specially designed to provide all the nutrition your puppy or kitten needs. It is complete nutrition, without excesses or deficiencies to help avoid health problems. Hill's offers a complete range of Science diet puppy and kitten foods including treats to meet all your little ones unique nutritional needs and enrich your pet's life. Receive a FREE fun and informative Book about Puppies or Kittens this month……… New beginnings make Happy endings when you Microchip your pet Young or young at heart, it's never too late to ensure your best friend can find their way home. Simply and Easy - It only takes a few minutes for us to insert a tiny identification chip under your pet's skin. Collars can be lost but with a microchip if ever you are separated from your pet a veterinarian or animal officer can scan the microchip and access your contact details from a national pet registry. Celebrate new beginnings and especially happy endings... Microchip your pet NOW for only $40 (with desexing) Normally $55 Wishing you all the very best for your pets and a wonderfully abundant Easter celebration of new beginnings!! Back to top |
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2. Puppy Preschool … ……A great start to life and the beginning of a beautiful relationship Live, Love, Listen, Laugh and Learn…………… Our puppy pre-school is a fun way for puppies and families to learn all the skills required for a rewarding life together. Under the expert guidance of our qualified nurses, families can enjoy being involved in developing their new puppy's social skills to ensure they become polite and well behaved canine citizens. Congratulations to our most recent graduates: Nerang Bailey Miller Eagle Molloy Missy Moo Blanch Bonnie Café Duke Mack Helensvale Angel Taylor Jasper White Petro Lappas Boss Gauaslofa Fudge Keegan Rocco Petersen Miss Arundel Boss Crawford Dollar Gray Rocket Harrison Shadow Luciani Buster Mooney Ruby Cowlam Lani Foster Barnaby Wood Toby Tomasevic Baxter Garchow Classes are held once a week for 4 weeks 6.30 - 7.30pm. A puppy swim class in our hydrotherapy pool at AquaDog is included. To join our next class, please call the location that suits your family and ask our friendly staff for more details. Back to top |
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3. Amazing Anzac Animals On Anzac day we remember the sacrifices made by our troops. It's a good time to also remember the remarkable acts of bravery performed by animals in war. The Dickin Medal is awarded for these remarkable acts. Dogs, cats and horses have all received this medal, but the most medals have been given to pigeons. Here are a couple of great stories: Pigeon 139 [only his codename was made public] was on board a naval vessel in 1945 when a tropical storm struck. The boat was threatened with being dashed on the rocks. The radios where broken and there was no way to call for help. Lives were at risk as was the valuable cargo. As a last resort, an SOS message was attached to 139's little body and he was released into the pitch black. Fighting howling winds and sheet like rain, he flew 40 miles and finally reached the home base. Thanks to his efforts, the sailors and cargo were rescued. Another Dickin medal winner was Rob, the Collie. In 1945, he took part in landings during the North African Campaign with an Infantry unit and later served with the SAS in Italy as patrol and guard on small detachments behind enemy lines. His presence with these parties saved many of them from discovery and subsequent capture or destruction. Rob made over 20 parachute descents. The Dickin Medal has been awarded to 54 animals [in different countries] and 32 were pigeons. For more stories of courage click here Back to top |
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4. Worm your way out of this one The facts: Studies show that most pets are receiving only half the worming doses needed to provide complete protection against these parasites. This exposes the pet to infection by worms. Worms cause illness in pets and in turn can be transferred to people. This can have severe consequences – for while the risk is low, worm infections can lead to blindness in children. What we recommend: We recommend strongly that you worm your pets regularly and can advise on the best way to do this. There are a range of preparations that can be used to suit different circumstances. Having trouble worming your cat? For years, the only way to worm a cat was to give a tablet. Those who've tried this will testify how hard it is - some cats will just not swallow a tablet. That has all changed recently with the release of a new wormer that can be applied to the back of the neck and is absorbed through the skin. This is a lot easier and gives peace of mind that the job has been done. Household safety tips: • Cover the sand pit when it's not being used • Clean litter trays and remove dog faeces from the garden every day • Wash hands after playing with pets and before eating • Prevent pets, as much as possible, from licking children's faces • Keep your pet flea free – fleas can also carry certain intestinal worms If you'd like help worming your pets, please call us today. Back to top |
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5. AquaDog is a great safe, fun place for Swimming …....Puppies and All Ready, Setty, Go……..Puppy Swim Classes. We believe puppy swim classes are important steps in a puppy's learning, so much so that all our puppy pre-school graduates are offered the opportunity to complete a specialised puppy swim class at AquaDog as a part of our preschool program. The puppies have such a delightful time learning that swimming is safe and loads of fun! It is ideal to start your dogs swimming at a young age to help build their confidence in water. All puppies are born with an automatic reaction to “doggy paddle” when placed in or above water. There are many benefits to swimming your dog, especially if they learn to love water from an early age. These include: • Desensitisation to swimming and to prevent your puppy from growing up with a fear of being in water. • To allow your puppy to build swimming confidence in a safe environment with people they know and trust, and are praised and rewarded for their bravery. • To encourage water safety and prevent your dog from panicking in a situation where he or she needs to swim to safety. • Swimming is excellent for fitness! It strengthens the heart and lungs and builds and strengthens your puppies muscles and joints • For fun! Swimming provides excellent enrichment for your puppy, and different stimulation to encourage a happier, healthier dog! Some dog breeds, like Golden Retrievers and Labradors, were specifically bred for swimming and water retrieval and these breeds normally have a natural swimming ability and love for water. However other breeds, like bull terriers, boxers, dobermans and rottweilers, may not be as competent in the water because of their shape, size and muscle mass. These breeds often need help when learning to swim and may need to wear a buoyancy vest. Remember that like learning any new thing, puppies may be anxious and hesitant to enter the water at first. This is completely normal as swimming is an unknown skill to them. Confidence in the water probably won't come from one swimming session. Build your puppy's confidence and swimming skills……… Half price 2nd Swim for puppies ONLY $6 Aquadog is right next to The Vets at Nerang. Call our friendly team at Aquadog on 5502-2444 to arrange a Fun introductory swim and receive a FREE super absorbent Hills pet drying towel. Back to top |
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6. WHAT A GREAT TEAM !! It is also an exciting time of growth and new beginnings for our professional pet care team. As our practices have grown over the past year so has our team to better meet your pet care needs. In thanking you for trusting us to care for your pets, we would like to welcome some wonderful new members to our pet care team. We look forward to personally introducing you to our new vets Meredith, Sonja and Katie and our new veterinary assistants Jodi and Kaia over the coming months! They are already off to a great start getting to know you and your pets, so look out for some friendly new faces when you next visit our clinics ! Introducing ...Jodi Duncan, Veterinary Technican Originally from Cairns, Jodi joined The Vets in January 2007 following 4 years of nursing in Jimboomba. Jodi has both a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology and Wildlife Biology, both completed in 2005. Jodi is pictured here with her very special little friend. Phoenix, a Staffordshire Terrier, was born with a cleft palate. Jodi hand raised this special little puppy from birth and recently, with some tears of joy, found her a wonderful new home with loving owners. Jodi lives at home with her daughter, Kendrah, 2 cats named 'Sarabi' and 'Puddy Cent' and her 2 Axolotls (Mexican Walking fish)'Don Juan' and 'Pablo'. Back to top |
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7. Easter chocolate - the poisoned chalice Easter wouldn't be the same without chocolate - that unique creamy flavour is a favourite for many people. But did you know it's poisonous for pets? Dogs especially love to eat it so watch out! Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine which act as extreme stimulants to the dog's central nervous system. Dogs that eat chocolate often do the following: 1. They're restless. 2. Have vomiting and diarrhoea. 3. Pant and have a racing pulse. In extreme cases this can lead to coma and death - but they need to eat a large amount and it depends on the type of chocolate too. For instance, it would take approximately 450g of milk chocolate but only 120g of cooking chocolate to be life threatening to a 7kg dog. So what to do: 1. Obviously, don't feed it to dogs. Think of a safe alternative such as an "Easter bone". 2. If your dog has eaten chocolate, seek our help immediately. The quicker we are able to treat the pet, the more likely we will be able to prevent chocolate from being absorbed and so limit the toxic effects. Back to top |
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8. Grey Matters Many of our clients with older pets report that their animals have “senior moments”. These moments include having a long sleep in or taking a slow, ponderous look at the front gate and deciding against galloping down to harass a passer by. There is a serious side to these incidents – these pets may be covering up painful or disorientating illness. Some common “senior moments” and what they might mean: The Long Sleep In: Sore joints caused by arthritis can mean pets don't want to get up in the morning, have trouble using stairs and won't jump into the car as they used to. Because pets tend to not show pain, any of the above signs need to be investigated as arthritis may be the cause. Treatment for arthritis is effective and produces a new lease on life. Puffing at the park: Puffing after only a short walk may indicate your pet is overweight. More than 50% of pets are overweight and as they get older, the problem gets worse as they tend to exercise less and become more overweight. Weight loss programmes that we run are fun and effective. Helping your pet to become the “Biggest Loser” is a wonderful gift and many clients report that their pet is behaving like a puppy or kitten again; for the first time in years. Howling at night: Similar to dementia in people, dogs can have the same deterioration of the mind – often seen as howling at night. Other signs include going to the toilet in the wrong place and sleeping heavily during the day. Special foods and medications can do wonders to lift these pets out of their lost state. If your pet is having “senior moments” let us know. There is much we can do to help. Back to top |
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9. It's all about Wellness...Inside & Out A simple blood test can make sure your pet's inside looks as healthy as their outside Even though we'd like to think they can, our pets can't always tell us where it hurts and we can't always see what's happening on the inside. We are often asked how we can tell whether a pet is healthy on the inside. A pet that appears healthy on the outside may be hiding internal signs of disease. A simple blood test is one way of helping detect early signs of disease. Wellness testing includes a complete blood count, tests for liver and kidney function, diabetes and a urine concentration test. If you would like to find out more about your pet's internal health just make an appointment for a Wellness Test for your pet and if possible bring along a urine sample. It's simple & easy. If you require any help just call and talk to our friendly pet care team. Back to top |
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10. A bloomin' nuisance Having fresh flowers around the house is a wonderful way to add colour and sweet smell to a room - and they make a great gift for many occasions. Next time you choose flowers, keep in mind that lilies, a popular choice, are toxic to cats. Cats love to play with flower arrangements and if they bite even small pieces from a lily, can develop kidney failure. We don't know what the toxic agent is in these flowers, but it doesn't affect other animals in the same way. Here's what to look out for: · Vomiting, depression and loss of appetite – seen within 2 hours of ingesting the plant · Increased drinking – may indicate kidney failure has begun If you're concerned your cat has been chewing lilies or you see any of the above signs, call us immediately. The quicker treatment is begun, the more likely we can save a life. Untreated, cats can die of lily toxicity in 3-7 days. Here's a list of toxic lilies: • Tiger lily [Lilium tigrinum] • Easter lily [Lilium longiflorum] • Rubrum [Lilium speciosum] • Day lily [Hemerocallis species] • Glory lily [gloriosa superba] • Stargazer lily [Lilium orientalis] • Japanese show lily [Lilium lancifolium] • Asian lilies [lily asiatic delicious and montreux] There are many other beautiful flowers that are not toxic to cats - ask your florist for suggestions. Back to top |
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11. Zoom in for a Groom The Vets at Nerang and Helensvale is a great place for your pet to cool off and get a stylish new look for summer. Our professional pet stylist, Lisa is available now to help your pets shed that unnecessary coat for some great carefree summer days of play. Just call us for an appointment. Wishing, your pets no more bad hair days, just carefree summer days of play. Back to top |
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12. Your Favourite Famous Cat announced! Last month we invited you to vote for your favourite famous cat and go into the draw to win a Village Cinema Double Pass. "Thufferin Thuccotash!" As you've probably guessed Sylvester has good reason to be smug beating all his rivals convincingly. How did your favourite rate? 1 Sylvester 18.18% 2 Felix the cat 10.42% 3 Salem (Sabrina) 9.43% 4 The Cheshire Cat 8.08% 5 Puss-in-boots 8.08% 6 Cat in the Hat 7.07% 7 Garfield 7.07% 8 Tom (Tom & Jerry) 5.72% 9 Pink Panther 5.05% 10 Crookshanks (Harry Potter) 4.7% 11 Azreal (The Smurfs) 3.4% 12 Mr Bigglesworth (Austin Powers) 3.03% 13 Orion (Men In Black) 3.03% 14 Snowball (The Simpsons) 2.69% 15 Eric the cat (Monty Python) 2.36% 16 Madcat (Inspector Gadget) 1.69% A big congratulations to our winner 'Josh' the one year old moggie from Parkwood. Thanks for all your votes and best of luck to everyone next time! 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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