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PO Box 88 |
e-News |
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Welcome to the latest issue of BVS e-News. In this Issue
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We wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas and New Year and best wishes for 2010. Please take note of variations to our opening hours over the holiday period. For emergencies over this time please call the clinic on 6238 1133 and a message will give you the mobile number of the vet on call. If for some reason you cannot contact the vet on call straight away, the Animal Emergency Centre in Fyshwick will be open during all the public holidays, and at night, for small animal emergencies (see article below with contact phone number and address). Christmas Day - Closed Boxing Day - Closed Sunday 27th December - Closed Monday 28th December - Closed Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st December - 9am - 5pm Friday 1st January - Closed Saturday 2nd January 9am - 1pm Sunday 2nd January - Closed Monday 3rd January - resume normal hours Emergency Centre Change of Location The Animal Emergency Centre Canberra (AECC) has changed locations, so they are no longer situated in Torrens Street in Braddon. The new address is: Unit 15, 2 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick Phone: 6280 6344. If you cannot reach our vet on call after-hours it will be because they are currently already on an emergency call and cannot answer the phone, or they may be on an emergency call in an area with poor mobile phone reception. If you have a small animal emergency and cannot wait for our vet to return your call, you can go straight to the AECC. It is always a good idea to give them a call first to let them know you are on your way in. 
As many of you may have already noticed, the construction of our new clinic has finally started. At this stage we are hoping to have it up and running by about May next year, weather and the gods permitting! Dr Heather Breckenridge has given birth to a brother for Brianna, Lachlan Alec, on Thursday 26th November, Mum and bub are doing well. There are no plans for returning to work in the foreseable future, having 2 children under 16 months of age will keep Heather busy enough at home! Perin will be returning to the surgery from February next year for just two days a week for starters - her twins are now 8 months old and are into everything! We are looking forward to her return very much, and we are sure many of our clients and patients are too. Sonna has worked her last shift for a while as her baby is due early January. We wish her and her husband Steve all the best for the birth of their first child. There has been a baby boom at the clinic recently, there must be something in the water! In June this year we were very lucky to welcome veterinary nurse Kay Dodds to our clinic. Kay comes with a wealth of experience having worked at a busy vet clinic in Lithgow for 11 years. Kay and her husband moved to our area in January this year and have a property near Tarago where they breed Andulusian and Cleveland Bay horses. Michael and his partner recently went over to the United States for a well earned holiday and spent most of their time in New York. One of the highlights of their trip was having a personal guided tour around The Bronx Zoo by the resident veterinary pathologist, Liz Dobson, who was also a vet here at Bungendore many years ago. Jaimee has started doing volunteer work at The National Zoo and Aquarium one day a week and she is loving it. The marmosets, elands and the red pandas are her favourites! Jaimee has applied for University next year to study Veterinary Science so we will all keep our fingers crossed for her. 
A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale ' He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard. The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there. 'You talk?' he asks. 'Yep,' the Lab replies. After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?' The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.' The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog. 'Ten dollars,' the guy says. 'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?' 'Because he's a liar. He never did any of that stuff. Funny Pet Photo Competition Winner! 
Meet Larry - he is a 5 year old persian cat owned by Chris Fowler. At first it is hard to work out what part of Larry is showing in the photo! We all had a chuckle at this one when Chris emailed it through - certainly a derserving winner! We would like to thank everyone who submitted photos for our competition, we had so many fantastic snaps to choose from, it was a tough choice. Due to the popularity of the competition, we will definately run another one next year, so start taking some snaps!
Grass Seeds - thanks to our great spring rain it seems that grass seeds are going to be a major problem this year, particularly for dogs (and even some cats) with thick coats. Grass seeds can embed themselves into pretty much any part of your pet's anatomy, causing discomfort and often quite nasty local inflammation and infection. Clipping your pet early in the season is best, but even clipping now can help reduce problems for the rest of summer. Keep fur short on the feet and around the front of the ears in particular. Try to check over your pet every couple of days, especially in between the toes, in the "armpit" area and around the ears, as the longer a grass seed is left the more chance there is that it will embed deep into the skin or ear canal, requiring an anaesthetic for safe removal. Vaccinations - Is your dog or cat is due for a booster vaccination prior to boarding over the holidays? Try not to leave it to the last minute to get that check-up and booster vaccination, as appointments do start to book out as we approach Christmas and everyone tries to squeeze in all those last minute jobs. A reminder that we are open later on Mondays and Wednesdays which may be an alternative to Saturday morning for those who work in town and have trouble getting in during the day. Ticks - we are now in the peak season for paralysis tick so if you are heading down the coast with your dog there a a few precautions to take to reduce the chances of your pet being affected. Use a tick preventative for approximately one week before heading down the coast , continue whilst at the beach and for one more week on your return. There are a number of preparations available from spot-ons, to collars or tablets. Read instructions carefully for any product used - some spot-ons require that your dog not get wet for at least 48 hours after application. No preventative is a 100% guarantee against your dog picking up a paralysis tick so we recommend you still check them daily, all over, but especially around the head, ears, neck and chest area. Snakes (of course) - its that time of year and after an early rush we are seeing an average number of dogs and cats bitten. If you suspect your animal has been bitten, initial first aid is just to keep them as quiet as possible and in a cool spot. It is very rare to see where the snake has actually bitten. The first sign of envenomation may just be vomiting and your pet may seem normal for 20-30 minutes after being bitten. As the effects progress you may see drooling, staggering, anxiousness, trembling, dilated pupils and collapse. If you suspect your pet has been bitten and notice any of these signs contact the surgery immediately. 
Many animals have repeat scripts for prescription medications and often these can be dispensed without having to bring your animal in to be seen by the vet again. We aim to always take great care when dispensing medication to ensure the best possible care of your animal. At certain times, particularly at either end of the day and on Saturday mornings we can get very busy with phone calls and people and animals coming in to the clinic. Dispensing medication we feel is best done at a quieter time of the day when we can give the task the full attention it requires. Consequently we would like to request that if you need to pick up repeat prescription medication for your animal please try to phone ahead the day before and we can have the medication ready for you when you call through. This will not only save you time but will allow us to give our full and undivided attention to this important task. Thank you for your co-operation. |
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