Health – Walkerville Vet

January 25, 2020January 24, 2020

What Is The Best Paralysis Tick Prevention?

Dog owners now have at least seven choices for treating and preventing paralysis ticks on dogs. The following represents my personal opinion on which ones are better.

Click here to find out more about ticks and whether you need tick prevention. However, the best way to know if you live in a tick area is to ask your local vet!

I travelled to just such a tick area. In 2020 I asked each person at Acacia Avenue Dog Park in Newcastle which tick treatment they were using. Here are their answers:

January 22, 2020January 24, 2020

Help! My Dog Ate Xylitol

Emergency Care: Xylitol Ingestion

If a dog eats anything containing xylitol:

Get a vet to induce vomiting ASAP
If xylitol was absorbed, blood tests will be required
A glucose drip may be needed to maintain blood sugars until the xylitol is gone

Now dive deeper…

January 11, 2020January 14, 2020

What Is The Best Way To Stop A Dog Pulling?

I see every day how hard it is to find the right way to stop dogs pulling on the leash. There are too many traps and too little good advice.

For these dogs, an appropriate restraint needs to be more than just comfortable and secure; it has to also be effective. So I put the question out to a select group of professional dog trainers.

November 24, 2019November 24, 2019

How To Treat Chicken Scaly Leg Mite

A normal chicken’s leg is a thing of wonder: shiny, evenly spaced scales completely cover the leg and top of the foot, giving you the unmistakable reminder that chooks are really little pet dinosaurs.

You know a normal leg when you see one, but it’s harder to notice when it’s not. Scaly leg in chickens often goes unrecognised in flocks until it either gets bad, or you end up at the vet for another reason.

November 13, 2019November 15, 2019

Can All Dog Breeds Have Summer Haircuts?

Have you heard this? The hair of double coated dog breeds doesn’t grow back properly after being shaved.

November 10, 2019November 10, 2019

Facial Swelling In Cats

There’s just one common cause of a lump on a cat’s face. Have a look at the picture above. I hope you can see that the left cheek isn’t chubby, it’s swollen. This is an abscess and it needs veterinary attention.

November 3, 2019December 8, 2019

Help! My Dog Has A Lump On The Face

Dogs can get all kinds of lumps and bumps, some serious, some not. That’s why I’ve previously written a guide to dog skin lumps with pictures. Just click on the picture to visit.

However, there’s one very particular swelling that I haven’t talked about even though it’s important, common and easy to recognise.

It’s the tooth root abscess.

October 26, 2019November 1, 2019

Hypothyroidism In Dogs: The Diagnosis Problem

Do you have a dog that has a thyroid problem? Or have you started to suspect a low thyroid level could be making your dog sick? Then there’s something you need to know: hypothyroidism is the most poorly diagnosed hormonal disease of dogs.

October 23, 2019October 24, 2019

Does Pet Food Contain Horse Meat?

Warning: this post contains descriptions of animal cruelty.

Images of racehorses being slaughtered at abattoirs have put the racing industry in the spotlight. And rightly so. But there’s also a connection that’s much closer to home.

October 20, 2019October 29, 2019

Causes Of Eye Discharge In Puppies

If you look up the causes of eye discharge in dogs, there’s almost always one missing. That wouldn’t be such a problem if what’s missing wasn’t also the most common cause in puppies.