Posts Tagged ‘dogs’

10 Pet Peeves That Dogs Hate About Humans

Monday, February 14th, 2011

#1 – Blaming your farts on me….. not funny… not funny at all!

#2 – Yelling at me for barking. I’M A DAMN DOG.

#3 – Taking me for a walk, then not letting me check stuff out. Exactly whose walk is this anyway?

#4 – Any trick that involves balancing food on my nose. Stop it!

#5 – Any haircut that involves bows or ribbons. Now you know why we chew your stuff up when you’re not home.

#6 – The sleight of hand, fake fetch throw. You fooled a dog! Whoooo Hoooooooo what a proud moment for the top of the food chain.

#7 – Taking me to the vet for ‘the big snip’, then acting surprised when I freak out every time we go back!

#8 – Getting upset when I sniff the crotches of your guests. Sorry, but I haven’t quite mastered that handshake thing yet.

#9 – Dog sweaters. Hello? Haven’t you noticed the fur?

#10 – How you act disgusted when I lick myself. Look, we both know the truth. You’re just jealous.

Now lay off me on some of these things. We both know who’s boss here! You don’t see me picking up your poop do you?

- An extract taken from an anonymous email that tickled us. It was sent in by our good friend Rosemary from WA. If anyone knows the original source then please let us know and we’ll credit it accordingly.

Now, are there any cat owners who’ve seen a funny cat version, or want to write one then chime in and your effort could be our next blog!

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Shortage of Lifesaving Antiserum Places Dogs Lives At Risk

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

An alarming rumour has been circulating the vet community this week that an explosion in dogs affected by deadly paralysis ticks has led to stock levels of the lifesaving antiserum treatment reaching rock bottom. A call round of local vets, producers and wholesalers confirms that this is the case with things unlikely to improve for some weeks.

This lack of antiserum means that dogs here in Sydney, New South Wales and the wider east coast of Australia face the real possibility of dying should they receive a significant paralysis tick bite.

The take home message couldn’t be clearer. Use effective preventatives now more than ever to make sure your dog is protected, or you may be in for a painful lesson.

Tick Paralysis – The Problem

there are already dogs in the state that are dyingTick paralysis is a deadly disease found in coastal areas of Eastern Australia. The ticks bite the affected animal and spit venom into it. The venom causes a progressive paralysis of the muscles, including the heart and chest muscles. Affected animals usually die because they cannot breath or pump blood effectively round their body. The treatment is an antiserum produced here in Australia and is highly effective if given in time.

A dry year up until now has meant the producers of the tick antiserum have had fewer ticks to use in the production process, leading to smaller volume and slower production than usual. So stock levels were naturally low and unfortunately the product doesn’t have a long shelf life so “good harvest years” don’t help keep stock levels high.

Couple this to the fact that we have had a very wet and humid “summer” which has triggered an explosion in cases locally and you have a supply and demand nightmare. Lots of cases, not enough medicine.

When asked if this was likely to cause serious problems for dogs in NSW soon, Australian Veterinary Serum Laboratories director Dr Nick Jones said “It is likely that there are already dogs in the state who are dying because their vets can’t get hold of the antiserum.”

Following on from this startling comment, Dr Jones also said that a large emergency centre was reported to be running low on stock as well. Though our out of hours provider SASH have assured us that their supplies are not critical at this stage.

Dr Lisa Chimes, star of TV show Bondi Vet, who works at SASH made the following comment on twitter “We are seeing more severe cases this year with many animals requiring ventilation. Fortunately we have antiserum because we ordered extra!”

The issue was further highlighted to us in the clinic this week as we have seen an upturn in the number of cases treated. Not usually a high tick area, we have dealt with four new tick cases in Double Bay Vet Clinic in the last seven days. In each case the dog contracted the tick locally. Happily we can report that following treatment with the anti-venom they have all made an excellent recovery and are doing well.

Tick Antiserum is in Stock – For Now

At the beginning of the week we were lucky to receive a fresh shipment of the antiserum. So both the clinic here in Double Bay and our new sister clinic in Pyrmont are well supplied. But that is no reason for complacency as we could soon get through this stock and run into difficulties on the other side.

The take home message from all of this is that prevention is better than cure. If everyone took tick control seriously and gave the medicines as they were intended, most cases would be preventable. So here, once again for the sake of clarity, are our updated recommendations.

Effective Tick Control

In Sydney we are usually happy to recommend a suitable top spot applied every 2 weeks and regular tick checks, but given the current crisis we are increasing our recommendation as follows:

1. Apply Advantix or Frontline every 2 WEEKS to your dog from now until April.
2. Use a Preventic tick collar and replace it every 2 months.

the australian paralysis tickIf you are going to Northern or Southern Coastal areas then in addition to the above recommendations:

3. Give a dose of Proban every other day.
4. Perform a daily tick check up and remove any ticks you find with tick twister.
5. Consider shaving your dog’s coat short – this helps keep them cool and makes effective tick checking possible.

No single therapy is entirely effective but by using combinations, keeping your dog’s coat short and doing daily tick checks you will be keeping your dog out of harms way. Indeed there is no harm in doing all five things together.

With vigilance and use of the appropriate medicines then no pets should die from tick paralysis. If you have a dog owning friend then please send this article to them or retweet to your fans or followers on twitter or facebook.

If you are a vet and wish to reprint this article then please do so, just post a link back to the blog as acknowledgment.

All products are available from the clinic and we also do coat clipping, so call reception to discuss your needs. 0293634045.

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It’s All in the Hips

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
Severe arthirits caused by hip dysplasia

A dog hip with severe arthritis

For large breed dog owners (like Labradors and German Shepherd Dogs), diseases like Hip Dysplasia are always a concern.  Despite a Kennel Club hip-scoring scheme designed to remove this problem from the gene pool, things don’t seem to have gotten any better over my professional career (12 years).

In fact, I’d just about go as far as to say that the majority of  Labradors and GSDs seem to have the disease to one degree or another.

A new x-ray technique could change all of that, but it will pit animal welfare against commercial outcomes in the battle to eradicate Hip Dysplasia.

The Problem

Hip Dysplasia is a condition that causes a malformation of the ball and socket joint between the leg and the pelvis. In affected animals, the socket is usually too shallow, and the ‘ball’ at the top of the femur is flattened. An added complication is a slackness of the ligaments that normally hold everything tightly in place.

The effect is that instead of a rock steady, well-oiled joint gliding smoothly in place, the joint is loose and the bones can move in and out of the socket when exercising. This causes inflammation (swelling and pain) for affected pets in the short term. In the long term permanent arthritis develops.

The problem is genetic in origin, but feeding the wrong diet or exercising your dog too hard at a young age are known to make things much worse.


Why Aren’t Current Efforts Working?

Current efforts to breed out the disease are falling hopelessly short of what’s required. A new x-ray technique we’ve just begun to use shows why the Kennel Club’s current hip x-rays are hopelessly inadequate. (And allows us to give clients better advice more specifically tailored to their dog.

a regular hip x-ray

Looks OK right?

Look at these hips x-rays(click to enlarge). They are both X-rays of the same hip. The one on the left is a traditional ‘kennel club style’ x-ray with the hips extended (called an OFA view). It’s not perfect but it might pass a grading.

hip dysplasia on a distracted view

Look again, the ball joint is way out of the socket

Now look at the x-ray on the right. In this view we’ve used a new technique to gently distract the joint. Can you spot the difference? It’s pretty striking right? The ball is clearly floating way outside the socket. That shouldn’t happen in a normal hip and is clear evidence of hip dysplasia.

This is a dog with a pretty severe problem and is likely to go on to develop potentially serious arthritis in this joint.

If we based his suitability for breeding on the x-ray on the left (the OFA view), he might well be deemed fit for breeding. But we can see that this would be a mistake based on the x-ray on the right.

The problem is the Kennel Club and breeding fraternity aren’t yet using x-rays like the one taken on the right as standard. As a result, many dogs with bad hips are still breeding and so the disease keeps cropping up.

A Solution?

The hip scheme needs a revamp if things are likely to get better. Widespread adoption of a standard distraction view, however, amounts to financial suicide for a great many breeders, as their stock is likely to be devalued significantly by the results.  A good score on the OFA x-ray is quite possibly going to get a poor score on a distracted view and that will be followed up with a recommendation to de-sex the dog or remove them from the kennel club registered lineage.

So will breeders grasp the nettle in the name of animal welfare and for the longer term good? I certainly hope so. GSDs and Labradors are wonderful dogs and make great companions. By embracing this new x-ray technique we will be taking a significant step closer to reducing an all too common debilitating problem in the future.

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Double Bay Vet Clinic Sweep the Business Achiever Awards

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

double bay vet clinic celebrate after winning the wentworth courier business awardsStunned. That’s really the only word we can use. We’re absolutely in a state of shock that we’ve won not one, not two, but THREE gongs at last night’s Business Achiever Awards.

The night was held at the Centennial Park Restaurant to celebrate the finalists and announce the winners in the Wentworth Courier’s annual competition to find the Eastern Suburb’s best businesses.

The competition was tough with record numbers of businesses entering, including another vet practice. So we submitted our application in hope rather than expectation that enough of our clients would vote for us to make it into the finals. We finished the night with a clutch of awards, including the overall award for the Local Business of The Year!

Doctor Sally Pegrum, the practice principal, was clearly thrilled with the achievement. Speaking at the event she said “I’m shocked, I really am, but I want to burst with pride at how good my team are and how much they deserve this for all the hard work they put in.”

The categories we won the awards in are as follows:

  1. Professional Services – Winner
  2. Employee Excellence – Winner
  3. Local Business of the Year 2010 –Winner

We’d also like to congratulate Sam Lintott who was narrowly pipped to the post in the apprentice of the year award. Well done Sam, we reckon you deserved it.

I don’t think we can all quite take it in just yet, but we’d all like to take the opportunity to thank all of you, the wonderful pet owners of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, for allowing us the privilege and honour of caring for your pets for the past thirty years.

We know lots of you well enough to be friends. Others we’re just getting to know with new puppies, kittens or rabbits. Whoever you are we offer a heartfelt thank you from Double Bay Vet Clinic and look forward to serving you for the next thirty years.

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Sun Shines on Winter Warmer BBQ

Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Double Bay Vet BBQ

Busy BBQ

The weather couldn’t have been better for the Double Bay Vet Practice BBQ on Saturday with clients flocking to the practice. Bathed in sunshine were a playful bunch of dogs, clients and face painted kids in fancy dress.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always a little nervous before an event like this, especially as we’d put a lot of effort into the build up. It can feel like a great opportunity to embarrass yourself if no one shows up. So at five past three, when we had cooked a lot of sausages in preparation for the rush, but no-one was there yet, I’ll admit to a little pang of concern.

I needn’t have worried, because five minutes later we were overwhelmed by a seemingly endless surge of clients and dogs hungry for a good feed! And a good feed they got. Hungry bellies were soon swollen with dog burgers cooked by Dave and regular human fodder cooked by Shane.

Michelle from Fairy Wishes was having her work cut out to keep up with demand for her excellent face painting services as a throng of youngsters in fancy dress were soon transformed into cats, dogs and butterflies.

Meanwhile nurses Sam and Olivia were keeping everyone happy with a regular clutch of goodies from the raffle, with lucky winners scooping prizes that included $50 Myer vouchers and hampers stuffed with goodies for cats and dogs.

The point of the occasion was to highlight our Facebook and Twitter pages plus the new website. But it was also just an opportunity to say thanks to all of our fabulous clients and their pets.

You can check out the photos on our Facebook fan page here.  Plus in response to popular demand we’ve published Dr. Dave’s doggie burger recipe here. Enjoy!

A huge thank you to all of you who joined the fun and to our generous sponsors Virbac, Hill’s, Bayer, Provet and Boehringer Ingelheim. Each of which made a generous contribution of prizes, equipment or time (or all of the above) to the event.

We look forward to the next BBQ in summer. Next up is our Tick Talk Countdown to Tick Season client information evening to be held on Tuesday 24th August at the Golden Sheaf Hotel.

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Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Bad Bones….

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

dogs and bonesAfter yet another Dog Vs Bone – resulting in sick dog – incident in the practice this morning, I feel obliged to write a few words about the feeding of bones. Now, before I start, it’s worth acknowledging that there are a lot of dogs being fed bones and relatively speaking, few of them get sick.

But that doesn’t mean you should be feeding bones willy-nilly without thinking about the potential problems. Nor should you feed them in the belief that they have some magical health benefits that will keep your pet in tip top shape.

What Bones Probably Won’t Do

There are lots of reasons why people believe bones are good for their pet’s health. Here are the common ones.

  1. They keep teeth clean. This is by far the biggest ‘bone myth’ I’ve heard. I get tired of explaining that “Yes, it is perfectly possible for your pet’s teeth to be rotten because chewing bones doesn’t clean teeth.” In fact, many animals suffer fractured crowns when they chew bones that are way too hard for the enamel of the tooth to withstand.
  2. They reduce skin allergies. Fans of the raw, meaty bones diet suggest that you’ll see fewer allergies when you keep away from dry foods and feed bones instead. Given that most skin allergies are environmental (fleas, pollens or grasses) in origin this seems far fetched and certainly not borne out in my consult room. Personally I haven’t seen any difference in the numbers of allergy cases seen in pets fed dry, wet or raw foods.
  3. They help with digestion. Given the number of cases where dogs and cats fed cooked bones suffer sickness, diarrhoea and constipation, I’d say this certainly isn’t true. (I’ve performed more enemas in the past 10 months since arriving in Sydney than in practically the rest of my career.)

What Bones May Well Do

Feeding bones to your pet carrys the following risks:

  1. Raw bones are covered in bacteria and are frequently buried in the garden and left to rot for a few days – even weeks before being dug up and consumed. A sure way to pick up gastroenteritis.
  2. Many animal bones are harder than tooth enamel so cause fractures and exposure of the vital pulp of the teeth. This often results in an extremely painful tooth abscess.
  3. Bones (again these tend to be cooked bones) can get lodged in several places in an animal’s gut. I’ve had to remove them from the roof of the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small and large intestines. In short they have the potential to cause problems in every part of your pet’s gut. And although extremely rare, these can be life threatening problems that require surgery to correct.

There is one undeniable plus point to feeding bones, the relief of boredom. Chewing on a bone gives cats and dogs something to do. They can easily whittle away a few hours each week chewing on a bone which keeps them mentally stimulated and less likely to chew on other, less desireable objects in your home – like the sofa!

Bones – Some final thoughts

I’m not as paranoid or ‘anti-bone’ as I once would have been in the UK. The incidence of really serious problems like intestinal obstruction/perforation is clearly a lot lower than we collectively imagine in Britain. (That said, how many animals have to endure the suffering that goes with a perforated bowel before it’s not OK?)

Though personally I don’t recommend it, (and I do accept that there’s not even agreement on this point beween the vets in our practice) if you must feed your pet bones then at least stick to a few simple rules to reduce the chance of problems.

1. Feed fresh and raw bones. Don’t leave then lying around or buried for days rotting or your pet runs the risk of an upset tummy.

2. Make sure the bone isn’t too big or small for your pet.

3. Large knuckle bones should be avoided as dogs with powerful jaws often break teeth on these bones. (labradors, staffies).

4. Never feed cooked bones.

And a final thought, remember that feeding a bone is not a replacement for brushing your pet’s teeth.

That’s my opinion, what do you think? Leave a comment.

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Unvaccinated Dogs at Risk of Killer Disease

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

For the past week we’ve had a stark reminder of the risks to dogs that roam the streets unvaccinated. Lockey, a 16 week old puppy has been receiving intensive treatment for a Parvovirus infection at the clinic.

Lockey presented to the clinic dehydrated, lethargic and running a high temperature. He was suffering from the most spectacular diarrhoea which literally looked like fresh blood was pouring from his bottom. Untreated, Lockey would quickly have succumbed to the infection and died. Luckily he was brought in just in time.

Though he’s not out of the woods yet, his treatment is going well and he has started wagging his tail and eating again. We are hopeful he will make a full recovery.

Head vet Dr. Dave Nicol who is treating Lockey said, “Thankfully this type of infection is uncommon in the Eastern Suburbs, but if any owners of dogs which are not vaccinated could see what poor Lockey had been through in the past week I doubt they’d be too happy to have their own pets run the risk of infection.

Parvovirus is a deadly viral infection in dogs that kills approximately half of all animal infected. It costs thousands of dollars to treat a parvovirus infection with no guarantee of success. The disease is completely preventable by a simple vaccination which costs less than $100.

The message? Why take the risk with your beloved family friend?  Vaccines are safe, effective and cheap. If you’ve not already got your pet vaccinated then do so today. Call us on (02) 93634045 if you are unsure about vaccines and what is best to do for your pet.

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Sydney’s Fleas (and how to control them)

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

We are seeing an explosion in the number of dogs and cats affected by fleas at double bay vet clinic right now. The humid Sydney weather coupled to the summer heat provides an almost perfect setting for an explosion in flea numbers.

The tell tale signs of fleas on your pet are itchiness. But a cheap and easy test is to simply wet a piece of paper on one side under a tap. Then, with your pet standing up normally, place the piece of paper under him and rub the coat vigorously. Any flea dirt will fall out of the coat and onto the paper. You can tell flea dirt from normal dirt because when it gets wet the flea dirt develops a red “halo” effect around it. (Because flea dirt is basically digested blood!) normal dirt doesn’t.

Solving the flea problem

OK so your pet has a problem, how do you fix it? Well in Sydney it’s difficult. But the best action is to treat your pet AND your home. Use a top-spot product (and definitely get advice from your vet on this one because not all top spots are suitable for all animals). The top spot will have to be applied at least monthly, without fail.

Environmental flea treatment is necessary

Next treat your home. This is hugely important because about 95% of the problem is in the pet’s environment, not in their pet’s coat as many people think.

You have to be really thorough about this. If you leave even one room untreated then re-infestation is likely. So vacuum every room in your house. Empty the vacuum. Next, using a crawling insect spray from the supermarket (please use one that has an effect against eggs as well), spray your entire home. Make good an sure to spray under furniture and skirting boards. And do this even if you don’t have any carpets. Fleas don’t care of you have floor boards or carpets. And don’t forget to spray in your vacuum as well so none of the little blighters can get back out from there!

It’s a pain, but we recommend you do this every 3-6 months. In fact if you don’t it is very unlikely that anything will work well to control the problem. Hygiene and regular vacuuming to reduce the problem is hugely important.

Severe cases where an animal has chewed itself raw, we might need to prescribe medication to settle the skin down.

So you’ve done all that and here’s the unfair part. You still might have a problem because in Australia, fleas can exist outside in all year round. The downside to having an amazing climate is that there is no cold winter to come along and kill off the problem.

So that’s it. Remember:

  1. Use a veterinary recommended top-spot at least monthly on all cats and dogs.
  2. Treat your home every 6 months with a flea spray.
  3. Vacuum weekly to reduce the build up of larvae, eggs and pupae.
  4. Seek veterinary advice if your pet develops any nasty rashes or itches uncontrollably.

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Viagra Boost for Double Bay Doggie

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Another first at Double Bay Veterinary Clinic this week when we prescribed Viagra to a dog. No, not for what you think! Viagra (or sildenafil as we call it) is used in dogs to treat certain kinds of heart disease.

Our patient, whose identity will remain a closely guarded secret in case he gets any undue press attention, has been treated for heart failure for some time.

Sadly, he was not coping well on his existing medications and following a heart scan with medicine specialist Richard Malik, we diagnosed pulmonary hypertension (a condition that causes reduced blood flow into the lungs and back to the heart). Naturally this is pretty serious stuff and needs a serious treatment. Enter man’s other best friend, Viagra!

Will It Work?

Well, not to get too technical but, if it works, sildenafil (the drug contained in Viagra) will reduce the difficulty this dog’s heart has getting blood into its lungs and off round the rest of the body. So technically it should have a really beneficial effect on the pooch’s ability to exercise and enjoy life. In practice however, dogs that need this treatment are often already struggling with advanced heart failure so results are varied.

Any Side Effects?

So the billion dollar question, does Viagra have the same effects on dogs as it famously does in humans? We must admit our experience in this area is limited – this being the first dog we’ve actually used the medication on. But it looks as if the answer is thankfully no! I mean what would the point in helping our patient to go for walkies if he was too embarrassed to actually go outside!

We all have our fingers cross that Viagra is a ‘rousing’ success (sorry couldn’t resist it) and our lovely little friend gets to go for his walkies for just a little bit longer as a result.

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