Spring has certainly arrived. Spring brings with it warmer weather, fresh plant life and baby animals. It also unfortunately brings along more paralysis ticks. Hunter the cat, one of our gorgeous patients came into hospital last month with tick paralysis. He is doing very well. Hunter’s story continues below.
Spring is also the beginning of our new opening hours, which start from this Sunday 6th October and last until the 5th April 2020.
These new hours are:
Monday to Friday: 7:30am-8pm.
Saturdays: 8am-3pm.
Sundays: 10am-12pm.
This weekend is the October long weekend. We are open as above Saturday and Sunday, but closed on the public holiday Monday. We wish everyone a wonderful long weekend.
Ticks are about!
We are now in the peak of paralysis tick season. While we see pets affected with paralysis from ticks all 12 months of the year, September to February is the worst of it.
Ticks love the warmer, but humid weather that spring and early summer provides.To reduce the chances of your pet needing treatment for tick paralysis:
Use a tick preventative registered for Paralysis Ticks such as Bravecto (for dogs and cats) or Simparica (for dogs). Bravecto is now available in a 6 monthly spot-on for dogs as well as the 3 monthly chew.
If your dog or cat goes outside frequently, use a Seresto tick collar as well (which lasts 4 months).
Check through your pet’s coat every single day down to the skin (especially around the ears, nose, lips, under the collar and between the toes).
Clip your pet’s coat short.
Familiarise yourself with the symptoms of tick paralysis in your pet
Hill’s Pet of the Month, Hunter
Hunter was rushed in by his owners after they found a large paralysis tick on his shoulder and he had become very weak and was having difficulty swallowing and breathing.
Hunter was immediately placed on oxygen and given some sedation to help him relax (cats with tick paralysis become very stressed due to not being able to move and breathe properly). Hunter was treated with Tick Anti-Serum to neutralise the toxin in his bloodstream – this does not reverse his symptoms unfortunately, but helps to prevent him becoming even more affected.
Hunter also received a fancy new buzzcut to make sure there were no more ticks hiding on him (in total we found 4 more small ticks!).
Hunter is home now and is back to his usual self, apparently jumping around and eating well! Hunter has been treated with Bravecto spot-on which provides protection from fleas and ticks for 3 months in cats. Remember no preventative is 100% effective, so Hunter’s owners will be checking him for ticks every day!
Hunter will be receiving a free bag of delicious Hill’s Science Diet Adult Dry Food.
RSPCA Cupcake Day
Thank you to everyone who donated to our RSPCA cupcake day fundraising event. We hope you enjoyed your delicious treats baked by our very own staff! In total, with your help, we were able to raise a total of $460 for the benefit of animals in need all over the country. Thank you!
How Safe is your Dog’s Park?
One of the greatest enjoyments of dog ownership can be visiting the local dog park with your dog and watching your dog run and play with other dogs and get some much needed exercise.
However, dog parks can be potentially dangerous if a few precautions are not followed.
When watching dogs interact, look for:
Both dogs initiating play (play bows, chase and tag).
Role reversal (not always 50/50, but both dogs must take turns chasing etc.).
Giving the other dog the opportunity and space to move away or approach if they wish.
Relaxed body language (loose body movements, postures and expressions and circular greetings rather than head on).
Frequent interruptions (either dog or owner initiated). Many social dogs will naturally interrupt play by sniffing, wandering off, looking away briefly, having a drink, checking in with you or shaking off. If your dog is not interrupting play themselves, you need to be able to call your dog away from play reliably and regularly.
If you don’t see all of the above, interrupt play and either give the dogs a break or move away. While growling is normal during play, it is a sign that the dog is getting too worked up and the dogs should be given a break from play before it escalates to something other than play.
It is equally important to have control over your dog for the safety of people using the park. Some people while they own and love dogs, don’t like dogs jumping up on them, barking at them or risking knocking them over.
Spring has certainly arrived. Spring brings with it warmer weather, fresh plant life and baby animals. It also unfortunately brings along more paralysis ticks. Hunter the cat, one of our gorgeous patients came into hospital last month with tick paralysis. He is doing very well. Hunter’s story continues below.
Spring is also the beginning of our new opening hours, which start from this Sunday 6th October and last until the 5th April 2020.
These new hours are:
Monday to Friday: 7:30am-8pm.
Saturdays: 8am-3pm.
Sundays: 10am-12pm.
This weekend is the October long weekend. We are open as above Saturday and Sunday, but closed on the public holiday Monday. We wish everyone a wonderful long weekend.
We are now in the peak of paralysis tick season. While we see pets affected with paralysis from ticks all 12 months of the year, September to February is the worst of it.
Ticks love the warmer, but humid weather that spring and early summer provides.To reduce the chances of your pet needing treatment for tick paralysis:
Thank you to everyone who donated to our RSPCA cupcake day fundraising event. We hope you enjoyed your delicious treats baked by our very own staff! In total, with your help, we were able to raise a total of $460 for the benefit of animals in need all over the country. Thank you!
One of the greatest enjoyments of dog ownership can be visiting the local dog park with your dog and watching your dog run and play with other dogs and get some much needed exercise.
However, dog parks can be potentially dangerous if a few precautions are not followed.
When watching dogs interact, look for:
