Keep up to date with all our latest news, articles of interest, and case studies from the veterinary world around Hawke’s Bay.
As our pets age, normal and abnormal wear and tear within their joints can start taking its toll. Cartlidge within the joints start to wear thin and it causes inflammation. Once inflammation is present our pets suffer from arthritis. Arthritis is a progressive disease which means that over time it gets worse. Inflammation will lead…
Details
As our pets age, they can develop changes to their heart which can lead to heart disease and eventually heart failure. Some animals are more susceptible to this due to their breed. A normal heart: Takes deoxygenated blood from the body via a large vein called the Vena Cava and pushes it into the right…
Details
Why are health checks so important? As they say, ‘prevention is always better than a cure’ and here at Vet Services we take routine health checks very seriously. Health exams are very important in assessing the condition of your pet and in helping to detect any underlying disease or problems. Pets age five to eight…
Details
Bladder obstruction (commonly called a blocked bladder) is caused by a buildup of sludge, crystals or stones in the bladder. It is these crystals and stones, which obstruct the urethra (outflow tract of the bladder) and can cause an obstructed bladder, meaning your pet can not urinate. The inability to urinate causes the bladder to…
Details
The physical break in the toe nail or dewclaw causes a cracked nail with an exposed nail bed. The nail bed can bleed or become infected. This can be so painful that your pet may stop bearing weight on the affected leg. If left untreated, nail infections can spread up to the joints of the…
Details
Constipation is an obstruction of the colon with difficulty to pass dry, hard and firm faeces. Obstipation is a severe obstruction with an inability to defaecate at all. Clinical signs are: Straining to defaecate and/or defaecating small amounts of dry hard firm stool Straining with small amounts of liquid stool Occasional vomiting and not…
Details
What is epilepsy? Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes dogs to have sudden, uncontrolled and recurring seizures. Dogs can have seizures because of trauma, exposure to toxins, brain tumors, genetic abnormalities, issues with the dog’s blood or organs, or for a number of other reasons. Other times, seizures may sometimes occur for unknown reasons…
Details
Dogs do not perspire the way humans do; in fact, the only sweat glands that they have are on the pads of their feet. Dogs pant to cool themselves. If the surrounding air is not considerably cooler than the animals’ body temperature – as in the case of a hot, stuffy automobile – the cooling…
Details
With the change of season and cooler nights fast approaching it’s time to consider how you will keep your working team warm this winter. Why it is important to keep your team warm over winter? In recent years there has been a real push to improve kennel conditions and to provide bedding and jackets…
Details
Alpacas are very susceptible to the toxic effects of facial eczema spores and high risk periods occur during the summer and autumn. The spores, produced by the fungus Pithomyces chartarum, are broken down in the digestive tract releasing the sporidesmin toxin. The toxin is absorbed into the circulation and reaches the liver where it is…
Details
In recent years there has been an emergence of grain free diets, and these have been advertised as the “best” way to feed your pet. We suspect this trend has jumped over from the increasing amounts of human gluten-free diets. These foods are often marketed as feeding your dog a “natural” diet or something that…
Details
Podgy Pooches & Curvaceous Cats Every pet has an ideal weight but almost 50% of animals coming into the clinic are overweight. This problem can be difficult to manage and is often overlooked, despite the well-known health risks including diabetes mellitus, arthritis, cancer and respiratory and heart disease. The first step to helping podgy pooches…
Details
