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 We've seen a lot of ticks recently. The other day I removed 26 from a spaniel; here are some of them! Ticks have several stages of development that involve various 'hosts'. There are many different species of tick in this country but they are not choosy and most of them are quite happy to grab their meals from a passing dog, cat or human. Moorland areas may have heavy tick burdens, especially in spring/early summer, and autumn; however, we are also seeing a lot from coastal areas.
Most people are aware that they can carry several nasty and potentially fatal diseases. They also cause local skin infections and general malaise.
 The strange green implement is called an O'Tom tick remover, and it really is the best thing since sliced bread! Having spent half of my career trying to get rid of the hideous creatures with needles, forceps etc; and treating dogs whose owners had tried the old 'cigarette stub on the tick' technique, it is lovely to have this very simple device to hand. Just slide it between tick and skin, twist 360 degrees, and hey presto! tick removed, with no damage to host, and no danger of retained embedded mouthparts. They are available at all of our clinics for a very modest charge, and are one of those simple but extremely effective inventions that you wish you'd thought of yourself!
Obviously, avoiding ticks becoming attached in the first place is the ideal. There is only one product licenced to do this, and it is called Advantix. It can only be used on dogs and must be kept well away from cats as it is toxic to them. If your dog is likely to be in a tick-infected area then we recommend this product. It is also used on the Pet Travel Scheme to avoid nasty species of tick from other countries gaining entry to the UK. Frontline or Frontline Combo will kill ticks within a few days if used monthly (2-monthly for the spray), but they will still need removing.
The warm and humid weather has no doubt increased tick numbers recently, as it has fleas. If you're not using some form of parasite prevention on your pets (remember Advocate for fleas, mange and lungworm as well), now is definitely the time to start, to avoid that late summer flea infestation. |
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 Claire, one of our veterinary nurses based at Ilfracombe, has won a national title at the Petplan Equine Area Festival Championships. Held alongside the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships at Hartpury Arena, Gloucestershire, these championships showcase some of the best competitive dressage in the UK.
Her horse is Woodstock ll, otherwise known as Woody; he has been unwell with a tooth root abscess recently and had only been back in work for four weeks, so their victory is doubly impressive.
Claire puts a lot of hard work into training Woody as well as working the long and antisocial hours required of a career in veterinary practice, and it is clearly paying off.
Well done to both of them and good luck for the future!
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Well, the birthday party went well yesterday as you can see from the photos! Everyone enjoyed themselves and we raised £322.28 for Shelterbox, which we will be making up to £490, the cost of 1 Shelterbox. We're looking forward to tracing the 'Argyll Vets' box via their website, finding out where it has gone and who it is helping. Thank you so much to all those who helped or came along to support us.
Still eating our way through the cakes though!
 
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 Two of our staff, Claire and Sharon, played their part in the rescue of this baby seal from Ilfracombe harbour last week. The baby was thought to be around 4weeks old; she was washed up by the spring tide and her mother could not be found. Claire, as well as being a veterinary nurse is also trained as a reserve medic for the British Divers Marine Life rescue organisation. After Claire and Sharon picked the seal up and she had been examined by vet Rebecca, she was taken to West Hatch wildlife rehabilitation centre where she has been christened 'Thrift'. She is apparently doing well, being tube fed at first but will soon be eating by herself. She weighed only 10kg at the time of her rescue and will not be able to be released until she reaches 50kg. We are delighted she is doing well, and look forward to news of her release later in the year.
Picture:Jane Perrin |
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Happy birthday Roundswell! |
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 Hard to believe, but our Roundswell surgery is 5 years old this month! It is now a thriving, busy surgery with many patients registered. All the original staff are still there, plus some new faces.
We are going to have a birthday party on March 10th between 3 and 5pm. There will be refreshments, competitions and a cake stall. David Kennard will be there with Mist, his TV star sheepdog, and Heather Carol will have some of her rare small rodents on show. We are also hoping to raise some money for our 'Charity of the Year', Shelterbox.
We are holding an art competition for children with the subject 'My pet' which can be in any medium - the winners of the different age categories will be announced at the party. Please drop your entry in to the surgery by Saturday 6th March.
So, come along and have a cup of tea and a cake with us to say thank you for your support over the last 5 years and raise a toast to the next (twenty-)five! |
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 One of our nurses, Claire Rollitt, who usually works at Ilfracombe, has recently qualified for the British Dressage Winter National Championships to be held at Hartpury College in April. Well done to Claire and her horse Louis, and good luck for April!
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Puppy and kitten checklist |
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 I thought I'd put in a kitten picture this time, to balance out all the puppies a bit! Here are Alfie and Archie - aren't they gorgeous?
I've uploaded a new factsheet, a checklist for people thinking of buying a new puppy or kitten. It runs through decisions to make before and during the process of acquiring the new member of the family, which will hopefully help to ensure that the right choice is made and a long and happy relationship follows.
Click the 'Argyll Factsheets' tab to find it, or click here! |
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Summer is the time for itchy dogs (and cats!) |
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 The summer is upon us - boiling hot one week, tipping down the next - and the surgery is overrun with scratching pets! The following information comes from our 'Itchy dogs' factsheet which is available to print in the Articles section.....
There are many causes of scratching in dogs and cats and it is important to reach a diagnosis. Clinical signs can be very characteristic of certain conditions but in many cases further tests are required. For the more obscure conditions, these tests can be involved and sometimes expensive.
The commonest cause of scratching is flea infestation. Many people think fleas only cause a problem in the summer, and it is true that our first cases tend to occur around May, but actually the peak month for fleas in our practice is November. This is because they have been breeding rapidly throughout the summer and reach a peak in the late autumn, before the first frosts come along and kill some of them. (But remember that they will happily survive overwinter in centrally heated houses). Combing the coat may reveal fleas or more commonly the droppings they leave behind. However, fleas can evade all attempts to find them in the consulting room and this is why we make sure that all itchy dogs and cats have a flea eradication programme in place before going any further. All pets in the home must be treated at the recommended intervals. We use Advocate which will also treat and prevent a large number of other parasites; or Frontline which treats fleas and lice. If fleas are found on the pet, it means there will be a hundred times that number in the house, as breeding takes place in the environment and not on the animal. Therefore the house will also need to be treated with an environmental spray - we currently use Indorex.
Often effective flea treatment of all dogs and cats in the household (not just the itchy ones!) will cure the problem - but you do have to remember to continue flea prevention longterm or they will be back next year.....
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 Sadly, we have seen several wild bunnies this week who were suffering from myxomatosis - see picture of one of them. With the explosion in the rabbit population recently, the disease is back with a vengeance, and it is incurable. It is caused by a virus which only affects rabbits, and is spread by an insect vector eg rabbit fleas, midges, etc. It can and does affect our pet rabbits, but fortunately there is a vaccine available. We normally vaccinate annually, but when the disease is in the area, as at present, we recommend boosters every 6 months. Please give the surgery a call to find out more. |
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Welcome to our new website! |
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We are delighted to have our new website up and running! Please take a few minutes to have a look around. If you hover over the items in the Main Menu to the right, new items will appear to click on. We have a range of factsheets available, which can be printed by means of the printer icon in the top righthand corner of each one. We will be adding new factsheets regularly, and the titles of the latest 5 will be displayed in the box on the right below the main menu.
If there is anything you would like us to do a new factsheet on, or you have any other comments or requests, please contact us by hovering over 'contacts and forms', clicking 'Find us' and then click on the surgery name - there is an e-mail box just waiting for your comments!
We've got staff photos and also patients' photos, so please send us pictures of your pets to display. We are having a few teething problems with the photos at the moment, but that should soon be resolved.
We've got links to some of our pet(!) charities and other websites we think might be of interest, registration and feedback forms, and a blog....so get clicking and then let us know what you think! |
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 We are so lucky, not only to live in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but also having a UNESCO World Heritage site right on our doorstep at Braunton Burrows. Many protected species thrive here and on related coastal sites nearby, including the UK’s only poisonous snake, the adder.
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