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Welcome to the Argyll Blog, where I and other members of the team will be jotting down our thoughts on veterinary and pet-related issues from time to time. Please e-mail me at
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if you have feedback on any subject, or if you have any suggestions for topics you would like to see discussed. Please note that unless the owner has been specifically asked for permission to discuss their pet in this blog, names and some other details will have been changed to protect client confidentiality. Jo Dyer MRCVS
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Written by Jo
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Tuesday, 17 January 2012 12:23 |
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I have recently had quite a lot of contact with the NHS as my son has been very ill. A GP and a hospital consultant both failed to diagnose his chronic autoimmune condition, one which apparently affects 1 in 1000 of our population. I had to work very hard to get the NHS to take him seriously, going private in the end.
The 10-minute consultation cost me £175 (no VAT in human medicine, unlike veterinary) and the whole experience served to reinforce to me how very competent our vets are. I don't blame the GP for missing the condition, as it had an unusual presentation, but how a specialist (the first consultant) could miss it I have no idea. Certainly an equivalent condition, prevalence wise, such as Addison's or diabetes which affects around 1 in 1000 of our patients would not be missed by our vets. Which led me to realise that, as we deal with the vast majority of diagnoses and surgical operations ourselves, and only refer for specialist procedures, actually we are not equivalent to human GPs but have more advanced training in many aspects of veterinary health, and certainly at least at the level of the first consultant we saw with my son.
To provide all this at a cost of around £18 (plus the VAT) for a first consultation and £13.50 for a follow-up, strikes me as extremely good value! Our clients will often say to us ' I wish the hospital provided as good a service as you do' and, nice as it is to have the appreciation, I have never taken too much notice. However, taking into account my recent experiences, I am now in total agreement.
I think this was an unfortunate incident, and the NHS did a fantastic job reconstructing my face after my accident last April, for which I will be eternally grateful. However, because the NHS is seen as being free at the point of contact, we suffer by comparison as we have to charge for our services. So I thought it was worth blowing our own trumpet on this rare occasion!
Happily, with the correct diagnosis and treatment my boy is feeling much better, so hopefully all's well that ends well. |
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Written by Jo
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Tuesday, 17 January 2012 11:49 |
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 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. |
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Written by Jo
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Friday, 11 November 2011 15:47 |
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 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) |
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Welcoming home the troops |
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Written by Jo
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Monday, 03 October 2011 15:52 |
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 Our girls have done a really good job of decorating the Braunton surgery window for Thursday's 'Welcome home the troops' parade. The display is all about 'Animals at War' and it's really interesting. Have a look if you're in Braunton.
Well done to the nurses and receptionists for doing the display, and even more well done to the troops for spending 6 months at war in Afghanistan. |
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Written by Jo
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Monday, 21 November 2011 17:17 |
 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! |
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Written by Jo
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Monday, 10 October 2011 15:18 |
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 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!
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Written by Jo
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Friday, 16 September 2011 11:34 |
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 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 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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