Argyll Veterinary Clinic - Your vets in Barnstaple, Braunton and Ilfracombe

Physiotherapy

physio Lisa is a highly trained Veterinary Nurse who joined us recently. As well as regular nurse duties and training student nurses, she has also had further training in physiotherapy for pets, which she is using on some of our patients.

Here she is giving Millie some physio - Millie seems to be enjoying it I think!

In humans, physiotherapy is used for many different orthopaedic and muscular conditions and the same is true in the veterinary field, and although its use is far from routine at the moment, that situation is slowly changing. Lisa most frequently performs physio for arthritis, and following orthopaedic surgery eg cruciate ligament repair.

If you are wondering if your pet would benefit from physiotherapy, please give Lisa a call at Roundswell surgery.

Infection threat in Ilfracombe

We have seen an awful lot of gastroenteritis in the last couple of weeks in Ilfracombe. We think the cold wet weather has provided ideal conditions for infectious bacteria to flourish in the major dog-walking areas such as Hillsborough and the Torrs. Until the weather dries up a bit, it may be as well to exercise your dog on the beach or in less popular areas to avoid exposing him or her to infection.

The infection can be cleared up quite easily with treatment but obviously we would rather your pet didn't get ill in the first place.

An unusual case

This is Bella, and she has recently been diagnosed with Addison's disease. Addison's occurs in people as well as dogs, and it causes signs like lethargy, tummy ache and vomiting. Sometimes the dogs are so ill that they appear to have a bowel obstruction or kidney failure, so it can be a difficult one to narrow down. Bella had some blood tests, and after a team effort involving most of our vets, the diagnosis was made and the treatment started. Treatment involves tablets for life, and regular monitoring; with extra tablets sometimes required at times of stress. However, Bella should be able to lead a normal life, so we are all very pleased. Of the thousands of pets that we see each year, we only have 2 cases of Addison's under our care, so Bella's is a rare condition, which makes her even more special to us and her owners!

Argyll's new toy!

new_van Here are some photos of our new toy. We are very proud of our new van and you may see it performing its main role of transferring animals between our surgeries at some point. I hesitate to call it an ambulance, as it doesn't really perform the same function as a human ambulance, where paramedics give first aid treatment and then transfer patients to hospital. Although we do carry out occasional house visits, our patients tend to be brought to the surgery by their owners where we have all the facilities and equipment available to do the job properly.

For some reason, all our staff prefer it to the 17 year old Cavalier we used for the purpose before..... So if you see us out and about, give us a wave!

Pet diabetes month

DMbanner November is Pet Diabetes Month. People are often surprised to hear that pets can get diabetes just as people can, but it is not an uncommon disease in our domestic pets. Dogs get the Type 1 diabetes which can have a genetic basis, whereas cats are more likely to get the Type 2 disease which can be related to being overweight. However, unlike in people, treatment in pets always involves injecting insulin. People are often worried about this, but we have hardly ever known anyone who was unable to give the injections after a bit of coaching!

The makers of Caninsulin have set up an online Diabetes Risk Assessment on their website www.petdiabetesmonth.co.uk (from where I stole this lovely picture, hope they don't mind!) so have a look at that. We also have some information in our factsheets library on diabetes in pets which is worth a look. (It's under Articles on the right)

Emma the wonder-cat

Emma1 This is Emma. She looks like a kitten, doesn't she, giving that feather a hard time! What you can't quite see, is that she Emmafeather only has 3 legs - the left hind is missing, it had to be amputated 3 years ago due to cancer. Emma took this in her stride, but sadly was diagnosed with another cancer in March this year, this time in her bowel. She started chemotherapy in the spring and her owner reports that she is enjoying life to the full, as you can see from these recent photos!

Chemotherapy in pets is an emotive subject and people can have very strong views both for and against. We rarely get a cure with pet chemotherapy, because the levels of treatment, risk and monitoring would be too high. We aim to increase the length and quality of life significantly, and great strides have been made in our ability to do this, over the last 10 years. As you can imagine, it can be expensive as well; however, if finances and owner time and commitment allow, the results can be very rewarding for all concerned.

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