142 North East Road, Walkerville. Ph (08) 8344 2000
I have never seen a drug either so hyped or so demonised as Apoquel®. If you have a dog that lives with itchy skin and allergies you’ve probably already heard of it. You might have heard of miraculous cures of long-suffering dogs. You might instead have heard of a drug too dangerous to trust.
Continue reading “Should My Itchy Dog Get Apoquel?”
Did you see on TodayTonight where a dog went to two different vets and was told it would cost either $2000 or less than $100? The story focused on corporate vets but I don’t think that’s the real story. lf you want to get the vet care you want you need to understand what’s going on.
Continue reading “What Cheaper Vet Care Looks Like”
‘At A Glance’ (details below)
now dive deeper…
Continue reading “Help! My Pet Has A Heart Murmur”
It seems like every dog owner has already heard the news. Chicken necks are causing paralysis in dogs. Now here’s the full story.
Continue reading “Is Raw Chicken Dangerous To Dogs?”
There’s a common, popular treat causing kidney failure in dogs. It’s right there in your local pet store. It drives vets crazy because there’s nothing we can do to stop it except warn you not to buy it.
Continue reading “The Problem With Jerky Treats & Tenders”
Update 1 year later: read to the end for the good news!
Out of the box came a beautiful and regal young male Ragdoll cat. He was quite a sight; in the prime of life and nearly perfect in health and temperament. But not to his owners, who said, “he’s a monster, we’re going to have to get rid of him.”
Continue reading “How & Why To Feed Kittens In Meals”
Emergency care (details below)
now dive deeper…
Continue reading “Help! My Dog Ate Onion”
In the last 5 years, having someone look after your dog in their own home has become a genuine alternative to using dog boarding kennels. Generally, the change has been a very positive one. However, with new industries always come new challenges.
The dog you see isn’t the only one harmed. In fact, he’s one of a whole string of similar stories I’ve seen and heard recently in Adelaide. Let’s call him ‘X’.
Continue reading “Adelaide Pet Sitters: What Can Go Wrong”The dog you see above was harmed by a bad experience at a pet sitter. You can read more about his story here. It’s a useful warning to all dog owners of the dangers of choosing the wrong pet sitter.
Continue reading “Adelaide Dog Sitters, Dog Minding & House Sitting”Here is a short list of cat boarding facilities we are familiar with. Click here to read what’s wrong with many other catteries. If you know of another cattery that you recommend, please leave a comment below.
Continue reading “Adelaide Cat Boarding Catteries”Here is a short list of dog kennels we are familiar with. Click here for cattery & cat boarding recommendations instead. If you know of another kennel that you recommend, please leave a comment below.
Continue reading “Adelaide Dog Boarding Kennels”Here is a list of dog training and obedience classes in Adelaide that use positive, reward based methods. You can read about different types of dog training here and why we recommend these classes.
Continue reading “Adelaide Positive Dog Training Classes”
30 seconds. That’s how long it took me to find a fake puppy being sold on Gumtree. Even I was surprised how easy it was.
If you’re buying a puppy online, you need to know how many scammers there are out there. Why don’t you hear more? Just like other internet scams, embarrassment stops people talking about how they got tricked.
I think it’s possible to spot a scam, and even easier to spot the warning signs of a possible scam. I want to share my knowledge and experience.
Also visit: a step-by-step dismantling of a fake website selling Cavoodles
Continue reading “How To Avoid Puppy Scams”
Are we talking gibberish? Here are the most common vet words that get us in trouble. Read this list and you’ll prevent a lot of misunderstanding at the vet.
Continue reading “34 Essential Vet & Animal Words”
Looks don’t matter. I don’t mean that in a ‘politically correct’, ‘we shouldn’t be so superficial’ kind of way. I mean it quite literally: looks don’t matter to you.
How can I say that? It’s obvious that some animals are cuter and more adorable than other ones. A cute kitty gets through my defences every time and I’m always baby talking to puppies.
Continue reading “The One Thing Every Vet Wants You To Know”
Do you have to give your cat medicine? The good news is that there are a lot of other ways than tablets.
Continue reading “Ways To Give Cats Medicine”
The advice you are getting is wrong. I’m to blame as much as anyone else. For years I’ve been blithely telling people how easy it will be. It was a friend of mine who first said, “Andrew, it was nothing like you showed me,” Then my own cat showed me, big time.
Continue reading “Giving Cats Tablets (Or Ointment)”
Deafness in dogs and cats is important to understand. You need to know which puppies and kittens might be born deaf and recognise when it’s a sign of serious problems. You also need to know when it’s normal.
Continue reading “Help! My Dog or Cat Is Going Deaf” Are you worried your new puppy or kitten might be deaf? Read on to find out if your pet might be affected.
For more information please also read our guide to deafness & hearing tests in dogs and cats.
Continue reading “Congenital Deafness In Puppies And Kittens”
Why did working with Red Panda change my views on flea control? The answer contains an even bigger message about product safety and feline health.
Continue reading “Why Pandas Made Me Care About Flea Control”
Sometimes in quieter moments, the past weighs heavily on me. What makes being a vet great is also what makes it so tough. It’s also one of the main reasons why so many young vets walk away from the job. Being a vet means being responsible for a patient’s care in a way that perhaps only your GP will understand.
Continue reading “When Vets Make Mistakes”
Every seen a mangy dog? Probably not, at least not the way I mean. You have to be my age or older, or travel to disadvantaged places, to be likely to say yes these days. What passes for ‘mange’ now is nothing compared to what it looked like up to a generation ago.
Continue reading “What Causes Mange In Dogs?”
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ What To Do
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ What To Do
Picture this: it’s 4 o’clock on a Saturday, we’re about to close for the weekend, and a caring local resident brings in a dog they’ve just found wandering the street. We get out the scanner, all set to read the microchip and reunite a dog with his family.
Aargh! We can’t find the owners.
Continue reading “The Problem With Microchips”
The picture above shows Bingo, a cat from our clinic before and after treatment. I need all cat owners to know the warning signs of this insidious disease.
You are looking at one of the top three diseases of older cats. Without treatment, it causes significant health problems leading to early death. I would say that when you compare the pictures, it’s obvious. Yet it’s still missed all the time.
Continue reading “The Look Of Thyroid Problems”
This isn’t just a catalog of limping dogs. By knowing the leg problems that dogs get you have a better chance of preventing some, identifying others and taking them all seriously.
I’ve gone back through our records, found the top 20 with pictures. The list below is sorted into ‘puppy’, ‘adult’ and ‘common’ problems. Visit this page to see which problems happen in the front or back legs and how to tell which leg is sore.
Continue reading “Help! My Dog Is Limping”We’ve written a guide to the common causes of limping in puppies and dogs. This companion page is designed to help you narrow down the possibilities based on which leg is lame.
Continue reading “Causes Of Limping On Front & Back Legs”
Hopefully you’ve read our guides to:
Now the fun really begins. Here’s what to do and what to expect during the first 6 weeks of a litter of puppies.
Continue reading “Caring For Newborn Puppies” ‘Emergency Care (Click here for more details)’ What To Do
You need to see a vet urgently if no puppy is born after:
Know what a BYB is? That’s what some people call a ‘backyard breeder’. They see ‘BYB’s as poorly educated breeders of unhealthy pups totally motivated by money. In other words, no better than puppy farms.
I have to tell you, there are certainly people like that here in Adelaide, and the new laws on dog breeding can’t come soon enough to help get rid of them. But there’s another side to this story. Some of the best-bred dogs in Adelaide come from backyard breeders. And it’s not just me saying it; sensible dog trainers say the same thing.
Continue reading “All About Dog Breeding” Have you already read our Guide to Breeding and Dogs Getting Pregnant? Now here’s what to do for dogs from conception to birth.
So let’s say your dog has possibly been mated, it’s not a disaster and you want her to have puppies. The first thing is to see if she really will.
Continue reading “Pregnancy Testing & Counting The Puppies”
What if there’s a parallel universe where cats are our masters and keep us as pets. Wait, hang on… that’s our universe.
OK, let’s try that again. Imagine a universe where cats actually look after humans. I can just hear the sorts of things they would say:
Continue reading “Is It Bad For Cats To Drink Milk?”
It’s not what you think. Once I tell you you’ll wonder why you didn’t see the problem straight away, and I bet you’ll never take the risk again. In fact, even after my mother pointed it out, I nearly made the same mistake as you’ll see later.
Continue reading “Why Kids Should Never Walk Dogs Alone”
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ What To Do
Many dogs do well on raw diets, but there are also several pitfalls to avoid. This article aims to guide dog owners into the safest choices within this sphere.
Vets have a tendency to be against raw diets, but I will do my best to be logical and unbiased. Therefore I’ll start with some benefits we see in these dogs.
Continue reading “Are Raw Diets Good For Dogs & Cats?”
Every so often I’m reminded that I’m not doing such a great job. As part of a routine health check, I’ll be checking a dog’s teeth. “Wow,” I say, “Good job! You must give him a raw bone at least every week to get teeth this good.”
“No. I brush his teeth every day.”
Continue reading “Should I Brush My Dog’s Teeth?”
‘At A Glance (Much More Below)’ What To Do
A good start is to accept it for what it is: common and no cause for shame
There are two ways to clip wings. The lazy way and the right way. Vets have known this for a very long time. Why is it then that I rarely see a bird’s wing clipped properly? I keep seeing birds’ wings I can only describe as butchered, and injuries as a result. It’s time bird handlers and breeders got on board.
Continue reading “How To Clip Birds Wings”Imagine the outrage if a character called Fat Dog (or fat anything for that matter) was created today. Yet, there we were in Adelaide in the 1980s watching Fat Cat tell us to go to bed at 7:30 every night.
The fact is that an overweight cat is taken less seriously than an overweight dog. We see fat cats as fun and loveable, and somehow beyond our control. Like Garfield and his lasagne.
Continue reading “How You CAN Get Overweight Cats To Lose Weight”
‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ Emergency Care
It’s especially important to see a vet straight away for:
If we assume that the US, UK and Australia have similar dog cultures then we’re watching a slow train wreck.
Does it really matter? Aren’t vets just a little too obsessed by your dog’s weight?
Continue reading “What’s Wrong With Dogs Being Overweight?”
Have a look at this chart: are you as surprised as I was when I put this together?
It shows the results of the last five studies where vets have taken percentages of overweight dogs in the US, UK, and Australia.
How can you make sure your best mate doesn’t end up as another statistic in the dog obesity epidemic?
Answer: read on. It’s positive, 100% judgement-free and based on 25 years of successfully helping dog owners like yourself.
Continue reading “How You CAN Get Your Dog To Lose Weight”‘At A Glance (Details Below)’ What to do
This isn’t just for dogs and cats in Adelaide. If you live near any city in the developed world these days, you need to know these people exist (click here for specialists in other states and countries). One day you may be very grateful.
Continue reading “List of Adelaide Vet Specialists”
If you’re a dog owner, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll find a lump at some point. Dogs get lots of lumps and bumps, especially as they get older. How do you tell which ones are more serious?
Later I’ll show you a large gallery of pictures and descriptions of the most common lumps of dogs.
Continue reading “Help! My Dog Has A Lump”
UPDATE: We are glad to inform you that our standard Nobivac DHP vaccine has been proven to protect against strain CPV-2c. See more below.
Every dog owner’s worst nightmare is Parvovirus. This week the detection of a new strain in Australia was announced. Although there’s no reason to panic, here’s what vets and dog owners need to know.
Continue reading “The New Parvovirus Strain In Australian Dogs”
25 years ago, in my very first week as a vet, a lovely bouncy Cocker Spaniel puppy taught me a hard lesson. Innocently enough, I asked his owner “so, how’s everything going?”
Right in front of me, without another word, his owner burst into tears. Back then I really didn’t know what was going on. I sure do now.
Toilet training, house training or potty training. Call it what you will, but it’s the greatest challenge most puppy owners will face. As vets, we might consider ourselves masters of keeping puppies healthy, but we often look on helplessly at training problems.
Continue reading “Help! My Puppy Keeps Peeing In The House”
It’s very easy to feed a puppy correctly. Do it right and you’ll have a healthy, happy eater for life. Do it wrongly and you may end up with a fussy dog eating all the wrong foods. Or worse.
Please visit our pages on Five steps to feeding puppies and adult dogs or How much should I feed my puppy? if your answer isn’t found in these common questions.
Continue reading “Feeding Your New Puppy FAQs”
Before I show you the causes of the most serious problems we see in young puppies at my clinic, there’s one thing that you have to do: know where to go.
Plan your route before you need it. This map shows your closest 24-hour veterinary emergency hospital in Adelaide.
Continue reading “Common Hazards To Puppies”