Posts Tagged ‘double bay vet clinic’

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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Dr. Dave’s Legendary Doggie Burgers

Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
delicious dog burger recipe

100% satisfaction guaranteed!

In response to client requests for the recipe for Dr. Dave’s now legendary dog burgers, (not one was declined by the Dogs of Double Bay at our Winter Warmer BBQ) here it is. Just in time for Spring and BBQ season! We’ve also posted the preparation video on the youtube page. Masterchef eat your heart out!

Ingredients

1. Fresh beef mince
2. Pumpkin or butternut squash
3. Chopped dates
4. Eggs
5. Flaxseed Oil
6. Garlic
7. Salt
8. Pepper
9. Herbs

Preparation and Cooking Instructions

Finely chop a few dates and mix them into the fresh mince.

Next remove the skin of the pumpkin and chop into large cubes. Place the cubes in a medium pan and fry in small amount of oil. Add in 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed.

Once the pumpkin and garlic has had a few minutes to sweat, top the pot up with boiling water and simmer until the pumpkin is soft, then drain.

Mash the pumpkin and garlic until a creamy consistency is achieved. This should then be left to cool.

Whisk the eggs until mixed well, then season with pepper and a small pinch of salt. Add in two pinches of fresh herbs (your choice which).  Then add mixture to the mince.

Slowly add pumpkin and a good ‘glug’ of flaxseed oil into the mix also. Do this a small amount at a time until you have achieved a moist but not sloppy consistency. You should be able to mould a burger in your hand without it falling apart because it is either too dry or too wet.

Finally, fire up the BBQ and cook evenly on both sides. Allow the burger to cool before serving to avoid burning your pooch’s mouth!

Please note, for me the joy of cooking is in the experimentation. Or put another way, I somewhat guessed at the exact amounts I needed and I was cooking for a pack of hungry dogs! How much of each ingredient you use is entirely down to you.

But please note that garlic should only be used sparingly to flavour as the onion family of vegetables can cause problems for dogs if consumed in large quantities.

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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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Pets and Parasites – Part One: Protecting Your Pet

Monday, April 12th, 2010

There are a bewildering number of products on the market that claim to treat parasites. We often find clients completely confused, or using products that aren’t effective. So to make life simpler (we like simple) here’s our recommendation for dogs and cats.

Protecting Your Dog

Protocol One – A once yearly injection called Proheart is given at the same time as your pet’s booster. You then must give an intestinal worm tablet called Drontal Plus every 3 months. Then either Advantix or Frontline applied to your dog’s neck. From April until October you can do this monthly, but from October until April (Tick season) we recommend every 2 weeks to kill ticks.

Protocol  Two – Sentinel (an oral medication given monthly) to protect against heartworm and intestinal parasites plus some environmental protection against fleas. Then either Advantix or Frontline applied to your dog’s neck. From April until October you can do this monthly, but from October until April (Tick season) we recommend every two weeks to kill ticks.

Regardless of which protocol you use we recommend you vacuum thoroughly (every room and under beds, sofas) and spray (again every room, regardless of the type of flooring) against fleas every 3-6 months. Ask us for advice on the best sprays to use to protect your home.  Make sure no pets are in your house when you spray.

Protecting Your Cat

Hunting/outdoor cat protocol – Apply Advocate to your cat’s neck monthly to protect against heart worm, round worms and fleas. To control tapeworms we advise giving a Milbemax tablet every 3 months.

House cat protocol – Apply Advocate to your cat’s neck monthly to protect against round worms, fleas and heart worm.

Regardless of which protocol you use we recommend you vacuum thoroughly (every room and under beds, sofas) and spray (again every room, regardless of the type of flooring) against fleas every 3-6 months. Ask us for advice on the best sprays to use to protect your home.  Make sure no pets are in your house when you spray.

Warning – please take care when dosing cats with flea preparations. Some over the counter products available from supermarkets and pet shops can be extremely toxic to cats if used incorrectly. (If in any doubt call us for advice.)

Kids with dog - safe from worms!Treating your pet against these common parasites will keep both them and your family safe together. If you have any questions we are delighted to give you any advice you need over the phone and we stock all the products mentioned. If you are in a pickle over parasites just give us a call (02)93634045.

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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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