This month we’d like to make you all aware that there has been a recent influx of dogs having ingested puffer fish at the beach. These fish are toxic when the neurotoxin is absorbed into their body from their digestive tract. The Tetrodotoxin can cause gastrointestinal (vomiting / diarrhoea) and neurological symptoms (weakness to profound collapse and respiratory distress) within 1 hour of ingestion. Therefore it’s important that your dog is brought in to the clinic as soon as possible to induce vomiting & reduce the risk of toxin absorption.

This month, we welcome Mickey Nielsen, who joins us as our newest Registered Veterinary Nurse.  As with the rest of us, she has a menagerie at home.  Make sure you introduce yourself to her the next time you are in!

This month’s newsletter is being published extra-early so you can be kept up to date with our holiday hours:

As we are nearing Christmas itself, we’d like to remind you that we have received a wide range of toys and treats just in time to buy that something special for your furkids this festive season.

This month, we also say goodbye to Jo Bannister, a long-standing staff member who has just graduated as a Veterinary Surgeon from Murdoch University.   She has been working as a veterinary nurse with us on weekends since entering vet school, and now she is off to follow her dream of becoming a fish veterinarian! Best of luck Jo, we will miss you.

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter!

This month we’re excited to announce that we have received a wide range of toys and treats just in time to buy that something special for your furkids this festive season.  Checkout our revamped display – we’re sure you’ll  find something that suits your pet(s)!

Here’s one of our good news stories of the month for you: earlier this month, a good Samaritan on Napoleon Street found a wild juvenile galah with a swollen eye and brought him in for us to treat. Sadly, his eye was so severely affected, that the only option for treatment was enucleation (surgical removal of the eye).  This meant that he would not be able to be released into the wild and survive.  However, Megan (one of our nurses) offered to hand raise him, so the surgery was conducted straight away, and he recovered quickly.  He has been going from strength to strength and has become quite tame.  We are excited to say that he will soon be moving to a permanent loving home where no doubt, he will be the centre of attention!

We’d like to remind you that Fleas have become especially troublesome this year.  In the last couple of months we have seen an increasing number of dogs and cats with fleas, despite receiving regular monthly flea treatments. It seems that the fleas are becoming resistant to the drugs we are using.  Given that 95% of fleas are found in the environment and that the fleas you might see on your pet only represent 5% of the total active population, that’s a lot of work for any drug treatment to get on top of.  Therefore we strongly recommend that everyone gets back to treating all the pets in their household with MONTHLY flea treatments to prevent such a burden from developing.  There are a variety of options available; and our team members are always happy to design a treatment protocol that best suits your pets.

Currently Frontline is running a promotion, wherein when you buy any packet of Frontline at our clinic, you are entitled to a Free Frontline Grooming Pack (until stock runs out).

And finally, from all of us here at Cottesloe Animal Hospital, we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter!  Please add us to your RSS feed / list of favourites, so you can keep up to date with the latest clinic news!

This month, we are looking forward to rolling out the second part of our new canine vaccination protocol that was started last October.  At that time we started using the new 3 yearly Protech Duramune vaccinations. This formulation only protects against 3 of the 7 vaccine preventable diseases in dogs (Canine Parvo, Adeno (hepatitis) and Distemper viruses) for 3 years.  Therefore your dog still requires annual boosters of the remaining 4 components:  infectious canine cough, corona virus, and leptospira.

Note:  Heartworm prophylaxis continues to be monthly (if using Revolution or Heartguard etc), or annually (if your dog receives the Proheart injection).

We enjoyed yet another successful Ferret Vaccination Day on the 25^th of September – with 73 ferrets vaccinated in 45 minutes!  If you would like more information, please contact the WA Ferrets & Ferreting Society (www.waffs.org.au) who organise 2 vaccination days a year with us.

We are proud to announce the arrival of our new anaesthetic machine “Fabius” a Draeger anaesthetic machine. “Fabius” is so fabulous, that in addition to the multiple parameters it can monitor while administering gaseous anaesthetics, it can also be used as a mechanical ventilator for animals undergoing thoracotomies or who have respiratory paralysis. 

And finally, in keeping with our commitment to remaining up to date with the latest trends in veterinary therapies, both Drs David Neck & Yoko Clinch attended the WA AVA Conference held at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle.  This year’s theme was “Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Geriatrics for all species”. They were inspired by Drs David Church and Jill Maddison, and have gained new insight into management of common medical problems faced by our aging patients. 

The biggest news for us this year is that we have maintained our “ASAVA Accredited Hospital of Excellence” status following our recent hospital and records inspections. This is a big achievement as it means that since 1981, we have consistently maintained and upgraded our skills and facilities to ensure the “…highest levels of quality health care and practice management procedures in innovative and/or ‘state-of-the-art’ hospital facilities.” This is very important to us as “ ASAVA Accredited Hospitals set a benchmark to which other small animal practitioners may turn for inspiration when assessing their own facilities and standards.” (source: www.asava.com.au/ASAVA/AccreditedHospitals/tabid/1512/Default.aspx)

In other exciting news, Dr David Neck became President of the Australian Small Animal Veterinary Association in August. Congratulations David on yet another important and exciting role in your veterinary career!

We also wish to congratulate Megan Huckstep on completing the Bayer Care Parasitology Program. If you have any questions regarding pets, their parasites and how to manage them, Megan is the one to ask at the front desk!

This month is Senior Pet Month at our clinic!  If your pet is over 7 years of age, it should have an annual Senior Pet Health Check to screen for common diseases seen in older patients including: cognitive dysfunction, arthritis, diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.  As with any problem, early diagnosis improves treatment outcome and reduces the amount a pet may suffer.

Blood and urine tests will be discounted, and consult times extended for senior pets during August – so book in early!

We are proud to announce our newest in-house consultant:

 Dr Carolyn Deuchar of Perth Vet Rehab will have regular clinic hours with us on Thursdays.  She is a veterinarian who has qualified in veterinary rehabilitation & has many exercises and tools to help promote healthy mobility in your pets!  She has recently launched her website outlining her services and the many benefits of physiotherapy to our pets.  http://perthvetrehab.com/perth_services.html 

Please speak with any member of our team if you’d like to arrange a consult for your pet.

In other news, to our knowledge, we have become the first veterinary clinic in Australia to confirm a diagnosis of “Disseminated Idiopathic Myofasciitis” in two ferrets.  This syndrome has only been recognised since 2003. Ferrets present extremely unwell, with a fever and a variety of other symptoms that do not respond to treatment with standard medical therapy.  They can die rapidly, or become so severely debilitated in a relatively short time, that they are euthanized on humane grounds.  Diagnosis requires surgical biopsies, and only a handful of ferrets have recently been successfully treated. Therefore the key to survival is early diagnosis and treatment.  If you are worried that your ferret may have this disease, please book a consult with one of our veterinarians.

This month:

Congratulations to Drs David Neck & Yoko Clinch for being awarded the post-nominal of “CMAVA” or Chartered Member of the AVA (Australian Veterinary Association) for 2011. This recognition is conferred upon AVA members who have completed at least 120 hours of continuing education in the previous triennial period. This status signifies that they are committed to upholding the highest quality of veterinary continuing education standards in Australia.

We are proud to announce that we have just launched a Dental Scale and Polish Bundle! It’s a significantly discounted bundle for all those pets who have a low level of plaque / tartar buildup & just need their teeth scaled to prevent more severe dental disease from developing. Please speak to one of our vets to see if your pet is eligible!

And…. August is Senior Pet Month at our clinic! If your pet is over 7 years of age, it should have an annual Senior Pet Health Check to screen for common diseases seen in older patients including: cognitive dysfunction, arthritis, diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and cancer. As with any problem, early diagnosis improves treatment outcome and reduces the amount a pet may suffer. Blood and urine tests will be discounted, and consult times extended for senior pets during August – so book in early!

This month:

We congratulate Dr David Neck on being awarded an Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Meritorious Service Award in recognition for his dedicated service to the AVA.  He received this award when he attended the Annual AVA Veterinary Conference in Adelaide.  He also updated his knowledge on cutting edge concepts in small animal medicine, dentistry and surgery; and is sharing these tips with us all to ensure our team is up to date with the latest procedures and protocols available.

Dr Don Nickels  spent another week on Christmas Island in May, working in conjunction with the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) to surgically sterilise, microchip and DNA sample all pet cats on the island (at no cost to their owners).  This, in conjunction with his previous visit in September 2010 has resulted in a grand total of 175 cats being identified and desexed.  The goal of this DEC project is to eventually eradicate all feral cats from Christmas Island.

Dr Yoko Clinch joined the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) K9 team at their planned annual State Exercise mid May. The dogs undergo extensive training in order to reliably search through all sorts of rubble and debris etc to find unconscious people.  (Recently teams from the eastern states were deployed to New Zealand and Japan to help find survivors).  Our WA team currently consists of 7 dogs, and we are really excited to announce that 3 of them are ready to attain National USAR K9 accreditation.  Congratulations to the dogs and their handlers – it’s an incredible achievement!

This month’s news:

Congratulations to Megan Huckstep for becoming the WA Ferrets and Ferreting Society’s Liaison Officer.  This position will enable us to streamline booking ferrets in for procedures at Cottesloe Animal Hospital.

In May, we sadly said goodbye to Dr Rand Spongberg as he and his wife started their travels abroad.