Have you heard our pets talking about it over the fence?

In this months newsletter it is all about togetherness and enjoying the festive season with giving, caring and sharing. We have great summer safety tips for you and your pets to enjoy some fun in the sun together. We also have a few sensible warnings about the dangers of sharing too much of your festive indulgences with your pets. We share splashes and a ball of fun with our champion Aquadog tag teams both young and young at heart. We can read Rosie's story, the tale of small puppy's survival against one nasty tick!

CLEAN UP For Christmas and prepare for some SUMMER FUN in the Sun

Buy a 6 month supply of Flea or Tick protection for your pet and receive a FREE Slicker or Zoom Pet Groomer

That exciting, busy, special time of the year is nearly here again! Our team at the vets believe Christmas is togetherness and for giving, caring and sharing with family and friends. All our team would like to thank you for your support and trust in caring for your pets. Pets are our passion and we would like to wish you and all our special furry friends lots of togetherness, caring and sharing of Christmas cuddles with special friends and family.

If you need us over the Christmas and New Year period please call the clinic. Our clinic opening hours during Christmas are:

Wed 24^th December 8am - 5pm
Thurs 25^th December CLOSED
Fri 26^th December CLOSED
Sat 27^th December 8pm - 12 noon AQUADOG CLOSED

For all out of hours emergencies call the clinic number for contact details for emergency veterinary care. We wish you and your pets a safe and happy holiday period.

Merry Christmas from your pet care team!

While you and your pet are having fun in the sun this summer, remember to watch out for:

• Heat Exhaustion
  
  Never leave your pet in a car, even if it is for just a short time and the window is down. It only takes a few minutes for the temperature to reach deadly levels. Be careful also leaving your pet locked outside on extreme days; make sure there is shade and plenty of water available.
  
  
• Thunderstorm and Fireworks Noise
  
  Dogs are very sensitive to fireworks and thunderstorm noise. It commonly leads to pets who escape their own backyard due to fright. Keep watch of your pet at times of thunderstorm or fireworks activity. Speak to us about ways to help your pet cope.
  
  
• Snakes
  
  Take care around bushy creeks, dams and even overgrown backyards. Look out for snake-bite symptoms such as muscle weakness, dilated pupils or blood in the urine. If you suspect a snake bite seek veterinary attention immediately.
  
  

• Ticks
  
  Paralysis ticks are found all year round in most areas of the Gold Coast especially the hinterland area. Beware in bushy areas, long grass especially near creeks, dams or even overgrown parks or reserves in suburban coastal areas. Mostly prevalent in spring and summer, once a paralysis tick attaches to a pet it injects a potent toxin that causes muscle paralysis and requires immediate veterinary attention. Read Rosie's story below about the serious effects of tick paralysis on our pets. Prevention is better than cure. Check your pet daily and speak to us about the best preventative options available.  

Exciting new beginnings, some bad luck and an extremely happy ending, sounds like a regular fairy tale but for Rosie's family, the reality of this tick tale was quite an ordeal.

Rosie, an 8 week old Cocker Spaniel puppy was bought by Samantha and John from a property at Beechmont on Saturday morning. Rosie enjoyed an exciting and happy weekend settling into her new home and getting to know her new family.

On Monday morning her new owners awoke to find her unwell. She had vomited and was unable to stand. Dr Tony saw her first appointment that morning and found a paralysis tick in the corner of her mouth. He felt sure the tick would have been there 2-3 days, at least since Saturday.

Rosie was now having great trouble breathing. She was immediately placed on oxygen but her condition deteriorated rapidly. She was intubated (breathing tube placed into her windpipe) and stabilised before being transported to an emergency centre for 24hr intensive care. Rosie spent the next 18 hours on a human ventilator before she began to be able to breathe on her own. She was discharged 3 days later and returned home to a very relieved new family.

Rosie has since returned, happy and healthy, for her second vaccination. Congratulations to Rosie on her fighting recovery and to the commitment of our team and the emergency centre. Special CONGRATULATIONS to Samantha and John for their amazing commitment to a dog they had owned for less than 2 days.

Summer brings the warm weather, days at the beach and barbeques in the backyard. What about fun for your pet?

Here are some useful ideas to help make summer enjoyable for your pet.

Frozen Treats

• Leave a frozen ice block in the back yard on hot days to help cool down your pet
• Make a "kong" ice treat, using frozen beef or chicken stock. For information go to www.kongcompany.com

 Cooling off Tricks

• Provide your dog with a shallow wading pool, this is a cheap and easy way to help keep your pet cool
• Take your dog swimming at a dog beach and purchase a lifejacket to make swimming safer (excellent life jackets and outdoor gear are available from www.waggle.com.au)

Holidaying

• Why leave your pet at home...visit www.holidayingwithdogs.com.au

Be sun smart!

• Use a pet approved sunscreen especially if your cat or dog likes to lie out in the sun. Pet approved sunscreen is free of zinc, a potential toxin if ingested. Apply to white or pale skin especially around the face or the ears.

Christmas day brings a Christmas ham. Even though it's Christmas, don't be tempted to give the leftovers to your pet!  Pepi the Labrador visited us just after Christmas last year and was vomiting and had a fever. He had become lethargic and dehydrated.

Pepi was hunched and was reluctant to let us feel his stomach. We immediately admitted Pepi to the hospital and ran blood tests. 

These revealed Pepi had a life threatening condition called pancreatitis. The pancreas produces enzymes to help digest food in the intestine. A rich, fatty meal can lead to the enzymes damaging the pancreas itself causing inflammation, also known as pancreatitis.

It turned out that Pepi had in fact been given a treat from the Christmas lunch including the fatty crackling from the ham!

He was hospitalised for 4 days on a drip to help replace fluid lost by vomiting. He was also given pain relief and antibiotics.

Thankfully Pepi recovered but his owners are now much more careful as pancreatitis often reoccurs. This Christmas Pepi will be having a low fat lunch!

Other Christmas Indulgences? During the festive season it is easy to be tempted to share our festive cheer with our pets. Christmas ham is not the only indulgent festive food that is dangerous to share with our pets. BEWARE chocolate, macadamia nuts, and even the popular summer fruit - grapes, can be toxic if a substantial quantity is eaten by our pets.

Did you know that your precious pet can contract Feline Aids just like human HIV AIDS? It is a viral infection in cats that causes a deficiency in the immune system. The virus belongs to the same family of viruses as the HIV virus (human AIDS) but humans cannot be infected with the cat virus.

The virus lives in the blood of infected cats and is passed onto other cats usually via a cat bite. Infected cats may appear healthy for many years (the "silent phase") but as the immune system becomes weaker they may develop chronic infections in the mouth, skin disease, eye disease, respiratory disease and even cancer. Eventually the cat will die from one of these complications. There is no treatment or cure for FIV once contracted.

Keeping your cat indoors will go a long way to safeguarding against infection because most cats are infected during a cat fight. Cats who spend a lot of time outdoors, especially at night, are most at risk. The best prevention is vaccination before infection. A course of 3 injections 2 to 4 weeks apart followed by annual boosters is required and can be given as a part of routine annual vaccination. Adult cats require a blood test prior to vaccination to check if they have already been infected. As recently infected cats will have a negative result, we need to wait for 2 months to perform the test on a cat known to have been in a fight to ensure we only vaccinate non-infected cats. Vaccination of infected cats will not alter the course of the disease. As vaccinated cats will test positive to the disease we recommend microchipping to avoid euthanasia if they stray.

Ask us about protecting your cat from Feline AIDS with a simple vaccination program. PREVENTION IS BEST...THERE IS NO CURE!

The Christmas spirit of caring, sharing and giving has certainly been alive recently with all our teams involved in some wonderful charity fundraising.

CANTEEN National Bandana Day
On 31^st of October all our teams at Nerang and Helensvale participated in National Bandanna Day and supported CanTeen and kids aged 12 to 24 years old living with cancer. Our team realised that most of us knew someone who had been affected by cancer and wanted to show young people living with cancer they are not alone. Throughout the month, as we sold the Bandannas and pens we gave all our pet customers their very own The Vets bandanna to wear home. On the day all our pets that came into our clinic went home looking stylish in a new pet bandana and all the team including our resident pets got in the spirit and found some very creative ways to wear their bandanna. Well done everyone! As well as having fun we raised some great funds for a very worthy charity.

Dr Matt is Mr MOvember...He Does it for Mens Health!
Its official Matt's a MO Bro. If you haven't already noticed our Dr Matt, known by his friends at our Arundel and Helensvale clinics, has grown a moustache during the month of November!  And whether we think it improves his looks or not, it doesn't matter to him because he has done it to raise funds and awareness for mens health issues. Matt has always been the sort of person that thrives on challenges so he decided to unite with other like minded men and embrace a new challenge - grow a mo - and help change the face of men's health. When this newsletter went to print Matt's mo was looking great and he was well on the way with donations coming in at both clinics.

Matt is pictured here, mid November, with one of his MO sisters. With matching hair styles, Sophie was one of Matt's strongest supporters. Well done Matt! We're proud of you.

There's just one BIG question now on everyone's lips...Will he Keep the MO ??...OH NO...Mo Bro forever?

Leanne's Wedding...Congratulations! Wedding Bells were ringing!!
Saturday 4^th October was a very special day for our Aquadog nurse and swim coach Leanne. At 3.30pm she walked down the aisle at the Radisson Palm Meadows Resort and tied the knot with her partner, Peter. 'It was an amazing day, the weather was perfect and everything went smoothly' Leanne boasted. Although it was a little windy in the afternoon the photos taken at the beach at North Burleigh were beautiful. About 75 guests joined the happy couple in the celebration and a great day was had by all. Our congratulations and best wishes to Leanne and Peter for a wonderful life together.

With the true Christmas spirit of caring, sharing and togetherness, our award this month goes to our champion canine swim teams who are very proud to get In the swim together.

Buckley 8y, Chilli 2y, Cooper 7y, Cruise 1y (all Australian Shepherds)...Roxy 14y, TJ 14y (both Cattle Dog cross) and Meg 1y (Dalmatian).

Sounds like a lot of splashing in one pool? It sure would be but fortunately not everyone comes at the same time!

Every Friday afternoon Meg and two of her young friends meet for their group swim. Their tag team consists of a combination of serious hydrotherapy swimming, splashes, bombdives and sharing the fun of taking turns fetching toys in the water.

Originally it was just Cooper, who started swimming at Aquadog after hip surgery way back in 2006. Having a sore hip didn't slow him down and Cooper's introductory swim was a breeze, swimming an amazing 21 laps!

Cooper's mum then started bringing Buckley and Chilli for fun swims and after seeing how much fun they were having, and how much Cooper was benefiting recommended Aquadog to her friends at agility training.

In March this year Meg joined us for fun swimming with her friends, also because her mum was a little concerned about her front foot turning in slightly.

Meg swims some therapy laps on lead while she watches the others doing off lead fun fetching. All the hard work has paid off as there is no sign of a turned foot these days!

Mid 2008 saw Cruise, Roxy and TJ join in the fun and while most weeks it's Cruise who joins Meg and Chilli, some weeks it's the old timers turn but there's certainly no slowing down!

All of the dogs swim well together and if one family can't make it then nobody comes. That's how much they love to swim as a group. The team means a lot to these champion canine swimmers and as for catching up later at agility training...with their fitness...the skys the limit!

AquaDog "Join a Friend"  Summer Fun offer.
Our Aquadog coaches are always on the look out for new talent to try out for the champion swim team and experience the health benefits and fun of swimming for fitness. The proven benefits to heart, muscles and joints are terrific for dogs of all ages. We'd like to thank our existing dedicated swim team and in the true spirit of Christmas experience the giving, sharing and togetherness of summer fun at the pool.

Make a splash together! Share some Summer Fun...Bring a friend for an introductory swim and receive $20 to spend at Aquadog.
Just tell your friends to say that you sent them or bring them along for a swim and you will receive a $20 credit each time one of your friends join the Aquadog summer fun experience. For more information click here

Call our friendly swim team at Aquadog on 5502-2444 to arrange an introductory swim NOW.

Puppy Preschool is where we "Love, Listen, Laugh and Learn". It's 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. Classes are held once a week for 4 weeks 6.30 - 7.30pm at our Nerang, Helensvale and Arundel Clinics. To join our next class, please call the location that suits your family and ask our friendly staff for more details.

Our 4 week program includes a puppy water safety class at our indoor swimming facility, Aquadog Health & Fitness Centre. For more information click here.

Congratulations to our recent graduates of our Puppy Preschool classes:

Nerang: Class commenced 22/10/08 pictured top left
Ruby Fanning, Jaffa Mathews, Jack Goodridge, Max Brown, Molly Larsen, Missy Manners, Pookie Pedersen, Pixie Jordan, Captain Jack (CJ) Munro.

Helensvale: Class commenced 7/10/08 pictured bottom left
Jessie Blatch, Harvey Cameron, Fluff Mulholland, Charlie Tully, Freddie Girl Luckman, Beasley East, Tyson Brush, Hope Mills.

Thank you to all the enthusiastic puppy preschoolers and their dedicated parents for sharing the experience with lots of learning, love and laughter. 

We hope you will enjoy the memories of your time together at Puppy Preschool by printing your class photo to display in the frame provided. To print your class photo or to email to friends and family go to our website www.thevets.com.au then go to E-cards to find your framed class photo.