Vets across Australia are open as normal. Walkerville Vet requests that clients:

• Maintain 1.5m from staff and other clients (nurses will hold your pet for examinations)
• Do not pay with cash
• Not attend the clinic if in isolation or even mildly unwell
• Wait on the front lawn if there are 6 or more people in the waiting room
• Come to the clinic alone whenever possible, and without children

Now dive deeper…

Dogs & Cats Are Low Risk

There is no evidence yet of transmission of COVID-19 from dogs and cats to humans.

It is possible however that dogs, cats, ferrets, mink and even large cats can be infected and pass the virus. Here’s what we know so far:

• Dutch mink farmers are believed to have caught COVID-19 from their mink, who were showing an epidemic of respiratory disease.
• There have been two dogs and one cat test positive for COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Each of these was owned by a COVID-19 infected owner. All showed no signs of illness but one dog died a few days after being released from quarantine back to the home. It should be noted that this dog was 17 years old.
• A cat in Belgium that tested positive was reported to have vomiting, diarrhoea, and respiratory signs.
• A letter to The New England Journal of Medicine and a preliminary report from China (neither peer-reviewed) both suggest that cats can be infected and pass COVID-19 to other cats. The first report found that the infected cats had no signs of illness.
• Two cats in New York with respiratory signs tested positive; one had a COVID-19 infected owner, the source for the other was unknown.
• Five tigers and three lions at the Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for COVID-19. Seven of these had a dry cough.

No other cases have been identified in the world. However, it’s fair to say that with the shortage of tests, dogs & cats probably aren’t being looked at very closely. Even if the virus can infect pets, it must be rare. The important source of infection is other humans.

Pet Care During The Outbreak

Right now, you should continue doing all the things you currently do to care for your pet. That might be feeding, walking, playing and cuddling. It’s always sensible to avoid such things as kissing, sharing food or drink, or not washing hands after touching animals.

There is no reason to change how you handle your dog, cat, ferret, rat or rabbit. This includes people in voluntary isolation without symptoms.

If you suspect you are infected with COVID-19, then it is a good idea to minimise contact. It is best that you keep your pets with you just in case they could pose a threat to other people. It’s also possible that an animal could act as a vector for the virus in the same way that hands or clothing might. However, any risk to humans is likely to be extremely low.

You might also need to make plans for how your pet can be looked after if you require hospitalisation.

You Can (Mostly) Still Go To The Vet

If you are unwell, especially with a fever or cough but even just a runny nose or sore throat, you should stay at home. The same applies for people in compulsory self isolation after travel or contact with an infected person. For everyone else, there is currently no reason to avoid the vet in Australia.

Keeping 1.5 m away from other people and avoiding physical contact are adequate precautions. Hand washing and disinfectants are always available at all vets. Infection control is what we have always done.

If you suspect you are infected with COVID-19, contact your vet to discuss how your animal can still be treated. An animal owned by a COVID-19 positive owner will need to be treated as a potential hazard and therefore the vets will need to be notified first. Some health problems can be adequately managed via video link.

In times like these, it’s important to make good, logical decisions and avoid the scaremongers. Your pets are valuable in sickness and in health, and coronavirus won’t change that.

Related: How To Socialise Puppies During COVID-19

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Much further and any one of them will create a painful wound and prevent eating. Horrible! Why this happens is due to a fact that surprisingly few rabbit owners know.

How Rabbit Teeth Work

Like many herbivores including horses and guinea pigs, rabbits have teeth adapted to an abrasive diet. To counteract the way their rough diet wears down the tooth surface, their teeth grow continuously. These sort of teeth are described as unrooted or open-rooted.

In nature this system works well, ensuring that a rabbit always has healthy teeth ready for action. Imagine how good it would be!

• No cavities ever
• No problems with tooth grinding
• Chips & fractures that heal

However, you can probably already see some problems with having teeth that never stop growing.

Rabbit Dental Problems

There are only two main problems we see.

Malocclusion is when the teeth don’t line up properly. In a human this might just mean braces but in a rabbit it’s a lot more serious. Teeth that don’t grind against each other can’t wear each other down.

Malocclusion is caused by a problem with the shape of the jaws. It mainly affects the front teeth in young rabbits, like the one in the photo.

Overgrown molars, on the other hand, are usually about the food. That’s why rabbit vets nag you endlessly about an 80% hay diet. When the food being eaten is too soft, rabbits don’t grind down their back teeth at the same speed as they grow.

As molars get too long, the tooth roots get impacted in the jaw. The lack of grinding also commonly leads to the formation of painful spurs in the mouth.

Signs Of Dental Issues

As teeth or spurs get longer, they start interfering with chewing. They might also cause abrasions on the cheek or tongue. Therefore, the first clue that your rabbit has problems might be when they go off their food or start dropping food from the mouth.

Just to make things more difficult, a rabbit that’s not eating can still appear to be chewing (a common strategy in prey animals to avoid showing weakness). That’s why experienced rabbit owners also pay attention to body weight and the amount of droppings passed each day.

Signs linked to molar root impaction go from the simple (a weeping eye) to the serious and often fatal (a tooth root abscess or gut stasis).

Treating Overgrown Rabbit Teeth

When rabbit teeth go bad you’re suddenly in a race against time to fix them. Each problem has its own solution.

Overgrown Front Teeth

Once incisors start growing crookedly there’s nothing you can do to stop them. Therefore you only have two choices:

1. Frequent trimming
2. Removal

Trimming is done by a vet using a high speed dental burr, usually without needing sedation in a standard appointment. It’s quick, painless and cheap. The only drawback is that it needs to be done every six weeks for life.

Removal of rabbit incisors is often a specialist procedure.

Removal always comes with the risk that one or more of the teeth will grow back. However, most of the time after one procedure you’re done.

I always get asked, “how will he cope without the front teeth?” The answer is that if he was coping with them as abnormal as they were, he will almost invariably eat better without them. The only drawback might be having to chop up large food items.

Overgrown Molars

Overgrown cheek teeth can be much trickier. Firstly, rabbits always need an anaesthetic to have them treated. Secondly, removal is no laughing matter.

Painful spurs can just be treated as needed, usually up to four times a year. We use a shielded dental burr, under anaesthetic of course. Most of the time, if a rabbit’s diet can be fixed afterwards, the problem goes away.

I only remove rabbit molars if they practically fall out in my hands. The rest I refer. It’s not just that removal is very difficult to do well, it’s also that it isn’t always the best solution. Read my page about rabbit lumps on the cheek and you’ll see why.

Over To You

When I think about the teeth of rabbits, which I do often, they remind me of the job I once had running a food packaging machine. It was a touchy contraption, but if you kept it properly adjusted and monitored, your day went well.

However, if you took your eye off the ball, it was only moments away from spewing out an endless stream of defective chip packets while you scrabbled for the stop button.

The difference with rabbits is that they don’t have an off button.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

There’s only one common cause, and you need to know what it is.

Rabbit Lumps On The Chin Or Cheek

A lump on a rabbit’s chin or cheek is almost always an abscess. Abscesses are collections of pus caused by an infection under the skin. They generally grow rapidly if not treated.

Unlike most species, the pus produced by rabbits is almost solid. Therefore, a rabbit abscess feels hard and round. That’s why it’s often mistaken for a tumour.

What About Rabbit Tumours?

Tumours in rabbits are a lot less common than abscesses, but they do occur. Just like in any species, growths and cancers are more common in older rabbits.

Most rabbit abscesses are found on the head and neck. Therefore, if your rabbit has a lump on the chest, abdomen or legs, it’s more likely to be a tumour. Your vet can instantly tell you which it is by performing a fine needle aspiration of the mass. Sometimes a biopsy is necessary to confirm the diagnosis and plan removal.

Causes Of Rabbit Abscesses

Nearly all rabbit abscesses are caused by bacteria such as Pasteurella normally found in the mouth and throat. These bacteria are able to spread due to other problems such as:

1. Dental disease or overgrown teeth
2. Ear infections & ear mites
3. Grass seed injury from hay
4. Bites from other rabbits

Once an abscess starts, it keeps growing until it is treated. The picture shows an especially large abscess on the face caused by overgrown teeth.

Read more about dental problems in rabbits here.

Treatment Of Rabbit Abscesses

Unlike in other species, just lancing and draining a rabbit’s abscess is not going to be curative, and antibiotics are rarely helpful. To successfully treat these abscesses you need to be able to do two things:

1. Eliminate the underlying problem
2. Surgically remove the entire abscess capsule

Therefore, the chances of success depend on the cause of the abscess, where it is and how far it has spread. An abscess from a rabbit bite or grass seed is usually curable as long as the whole lump can be removed intact. By contrast, an abscess from dental disease or an ear infection has a very poor prognosis.

Dental disease in rabbits is a huge issue, but it mostly starts with overgrown teeth due to long-term insufficient hay in the diet. Then the impacted molars get infected. By the time an abscess appears, the infection has usually already spread to the bone in the jaw.

Similarly, ear infections causing abscesses have often also spread to the bone around the middle ear before diagnosis.

Decision Making With Abscesses

Before attempting to remove an abscess, it’s important to fully investigate the chances of success. Abscesses around the head in particular need to have good X-ray or CT studies to show the extent of dental or bone involvement. The picture shows an an abscess (arrowed) on a rabbit’s lower jaw, which could be removed because it did not affect the mandible itself.

Which, in closing, brings me to a hard but unavoidable truth. Not all rabbit abscesses can be successfully treated. It’s important to ask about the chances of success before starting.

There is no point in treating the abscess if you cannot also fix the problem that caused it. In addition, rabbit abscesses are painful, and therefore sometimes it’s better to choose humane euthanasia instead of doing nothing or making things worse with unsuccessful surgery.

However, the main message is to get to your rabbit vet as soon as possible. The chances of success get higher the earlier a lump is checked, whether it be abscess or tumour.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

It’s the classic case of sitting in an ivory tower making the rest of Australia feel guilty for doing what comes naturally. It also says some fairly silly things. So before I give you some simple tips for a proper home burial, let’s clear them up.

Q: Is the concentrated anaesthetic used for euthanasia dangerous to other animals?

A: Not if pets are buried according to our advice.

Q: Should their remains be enclosed in a container that prevents animals accessing the body?

A: No. This will inhibit the normal decomposition process.

Q: Could the diseases they died from spread to other animals or people?

A: If a pet dies of a contagious disease such as Parvo, home burial is not recommended. However, this is now exceedingly rare.

Q: Is your dog or cat’s body useful to science?

A: Rarely. I encourage donations for research and training (see below). However, universities are neither willing nor able to accept the sorts of numbers involved.

Q: Do local councils have restrictions on pet burial

A: Not to our knowledge. I rang my three local councils, and visited many other websites. I am not aware of any council in Australia that has rules against pet burial. Many even give sensible ‘how to’ guidelines.

Pros & Cons Of Home Burial

Reasons why home burial may be right for you include:

• Grieving- no two people respond to the loss of a pet the same way. For some, having them buried at home is a great comfort.
• Environment- done well, a pet burial will be carbon neutral and your animal goes back to the soil.
• Cost- we have to be realistic about what people can afford.

However, home burial is only an option, and these days less people do it. I suspect the reasons are:

• Difficulty- a good home burial is both physically and emotionally draining.
• Availability- many people don’t have access to suitable land, especially if they are renting or live in an apartment.
• Preference- the Animal Welfare League here provides a good cremation service that most owners find very comforting.

Another potential problem (as discussed in the comments below), is leaching of the pentobarbitone from the body into surrounding soil. Euthanasia drugs appear to persist for a long time in the environment. This is of particular concern if food crops are being harvested in the vicinity.

How To Bury A Pet Well

Follow these simple guidelines for a responsible pet burial.

• Choose an area set aside for ornamental plants, not food crops. Be aware of locations of utilities such as power and water, and future plans for the area.
• Put your other pets away until afterwards and do not let them see the burial.
• Dig a hole at least one metre or three feet deep
• Wrap your pet’s body in something biodegradable like a cotton pillowcase or woollen rug. Avoid synthetic fabrics, plastic bags or sealed containers.
• Lay them in the hole and cover with all the dirt, tamping it down periodically to make it hard to dig.
• Mark the location. To be extra sure, place a slab or stones over the top.

Just a warning: it’s very hard to do. Having done this several times, I now wish I had asked someone who wasn’t so emotionally attached.

Importantly, commercial species such as chickens and other poultry cannot be legally buried. Contact your council for advice on options other than cremation in your area.

Alternatives To Cremation & Burial

Pet cremation services are available which allow for a wide range of choice, from special urns and keepsakes all the way to plastic containers for scattering the ashes. We use our local Animal Welfare League; costs are usually around $300 and go towards supporting their animal shelters.

I have enquired with the Companion Animal Health Centre at the Adelaide Uni veterinary school. They are willing to accept donations, mainly for student teaching, but aren’t able to guarantee they could always say yes. The answer will depend on storage space and current student needs.

Another disadvantage of donation to a teaching school is the lack of availability for most Australians. Even here in Adelaide, it’s a long drive.

In saying all this I haven’t asked you how you’re going. I hope the loss of your pet hasn’t been unbearable,. If you’re having trouble, you’re not alone. I’ve written some advice here on bereavement after losing a pet that I hope you find useful.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

It’s critical that your vet considers all the common causes. It’s not a long list, and can quickly be narrowed down as you’ll see.

Causes Of Hind Leg Paralysis In Rabbits

Reasons for paralysis (no movement) or paresis (weakness) include:

• Spinal Trauma
• Encephalitozoon infection
• Arthritis
• Disc protrusion
• Unusual causes

Many of these are treatable by any good rabbit vet, so it’s important to get a correct diagnosis early. Delayed treatment can lead to permanent disability as well as secondary problems from urine and faeces in the fur,

Spinal Trauma

Back injuries are the number one cause of a rabbit suddenly being unable to use their back legs. The ways we see this happening are:

• Jumping out of people’s arms while being carried
• Struggling and kicking while being held
• Panicking in an outside hutch when a fox is about

If you think foxes aren’t common, please read this story of a rabbit and a fox in Adelaide.

When a rabbit suddenly starts dragging the back legs, they need to see a vet ASAP. Most spinal injuries can be easily seen on standard X-rays. Please keep them calm and as still as possible in the meantime.

Encephalitozoon Infection

E. cuniculi is the most common cause of gradual loss of hind leg function in young rabbits. It is a single-celled parasite that is carried by many rabbits without causing problems. However, for reasons we don’t understand, in some rabbits it causes:

• Head tilt progressing to rolling the whole body
• Falling on the side or inability to stand
• Urinary infections
• Hind leg weakness progressing to paralysis

E cuniculi is usually easily treated if recognised in time but can relapse.

Arthritis

Arthritis is the most common cause of gradual loss of hind leg use in old rabbits, usually over 9 years of age. It can occur in the joints of the legs, or the spine where we call it spondylosis.

Old rabbits with arthritis will gradually lose the ability to climb stairs and furniture or hop on slippery floors. With time they may just sit with a hunched posture due to pain.

Arthritis in rabbits is treatable. Visit our page on rabbit arthritis for more information.

Disc Protrusion

Prolapse of a spinal disc is the most common cause of back legs suddenly not working in an old rabbit. Just like for acute trauma, it’s very important to keep your rabbit quiet and see a vet as soon as you can.

Many rabbits with ruptured vertebral discs can recover enough function to survive. However, like in all cases of hind leg paralysis it’s important to be realistic. If the chances of recovery are slim, we have to consider their quality of life.

Soiling of the bottom with urine or faeces creates a high risk of skin infections and fly strike. Additionally, any rabbit who can only drag him or herself about is likely to be suffering. Your vet will be able to help you decide if treatment is a good idea. 

Unusual Causes

Lastly, there are less common ways rabbits can lose balance or function in their hind legs. These include:

• Bacterial infections of the central nervous system or inner ear, especially Pasteurella multocida
• Infection with Baylisascaris procyoni in areas with raccoons
• Tumours of the spine, especially lymphoma
• Toxoplasma
• Herpes simplex
• Strokes
• Poisons, especially heavy metals

None of this list should be considered first, but your vet should be able to tell when these are possible causes.

So good luck. As you can see, most problems can be treated if you get to them in time.

Note: Thanks for all the comments. These are now closed but you should find all the common questions answered if you scroll through them.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Our page on treating arthritis in dogs shows you lots of choices.
Our page on treating arthritis in cats shows you a few choices.
There is no registered treatment for arthritis in rabbits.

That doesn’t stop us though. All rabbits that live to old age have some degree of arthritis. In my experience, they all do better on treatment.

Old age, by the way, is over ten years. Most rabbits don’t live that long due to a combination of poor housing and poor diet. However, if you look after your rabbit properly it’s totally normal to reach these lifespans.

Symptoms of Arthritis in Rabbits

Despite the pain, signs are usually vague and can be just one of the following:

• Reduced jumping height or ability
• Reluctance to use stairs
• More time spent resting
• Objection to handling
• Changes in litter box use
• Reduced activity
• Changes in resting areas
• A poorly groomed coat
• Posture change
• Faeces stuck to the bottom, or flystrike
• Bumblefoot or sore hocks
• Weakness in the hind legs: read other causes of back leg problems in rabbits here.

I find that most good rabbit owners will bring it to my attention, not the other way around. Look at the rabbit pictured above for example. You can see:

• faecal staining around the rear caused by not sitting properly to poop
• the pink colour of a sore hock caused by prolonged pressure
• an abnormal posture

Treatment of Rabbit Arthritis

So let’s get these rabbits feeling and moving better.

Home Care

Before talking about medication, it’s important to not forget lifestyle changes. Food and water need to be put in easily reached places. Litter boxes need shallow sides so that it isn’t painful to get in or out. Sometimes slippery floors need carpet runners to add grip.

Nails will need trimming more often and hard to reach areas of the coat may need brushing to prevent matting.

Weight Loss

Weight loss is incredibly important for arthritic cats and dogs but less so for rabbits. That’s because the diet that encourages a long life is also the one that has been shown to promote a healthy weight.

Most old rabbits I see are not fat at all, but if they were, I would recommend following our rabbit feeding advice.

Meloxicam

The most important arthritis drug for rabbits is meloxicam. It is a very effective anti-inflammatory and should make an obvious difference for rabbits in pain. It’s also very easy to give as it comes as a palatable liquid.

A word of warning, though: the effective dose of meloxicam for rabbits is thought to be much higher than that used in other common species. Your vet will be able to provide more information. If you are giving a lower dose, you might reject meloxicam as being useless without giving it a chance to help.

I and many other rabbit vets use meloxicam daily without seeing adverse effects. I have also had many elderly patients on meloxicam for many years without seeing a problem. For greatest efficacy it’s probably best given in the morning as rabbits may metabolise the drug quite quickly.

Tramadol & Gabapentin

I have also used tramadol in a handful of rabbits. I reserve it for cases when meloxicam alone is no longer enough.  It appears to give improvement, but it’s hard to tell. The latest thinking is to try another drug called gabapentin instead. I have yet to try this personally but I don’t expect miracles.

It’s very important for rabbit owners to understand that if they choose to use meloxicam, gabapentin or tramadol, they do so at their own risk. Although these drugs appear to work well, they are untested and we cannot guarantee their safety or even predict what might go wrong.

I do not believe there is enough evidence to recommend any other treatments. I hope I have given you enough to help your rabbit and would welcome your thoughts.

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By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Pet disasters tend to go along recurring themes. If you know what they are, you have an excellent chance to avoid them. Some might be upsetting, but I hope you can see the benefit in thinking about them now.

Dog Attack

One of the biggest causes of sudden death in dogs is the person who lives in denial of how dangerous their dog is to other dogs. They keep using off leash environments even though the warning signs are there. Often, these dogs and people are repeat offenders.

We all know them. You hear them say things like:

• “He’s only playing” (if that’s true, why do you need to tell me?)
• “Now be nice” (why are you saying this?)
• “He’s never done that before” (unlikely to say the least)

This time of year we also see more dog attacks when relatives or friends get together with their dogs. It could be at a barbecue or Christmas lunch, or perhaps while a friend looks after your dog when you’re away. The mixture of unfamiliar dogs and inattention can be explosive.

If that’s not all, last week I saw a dog badly attacked by another dog while being boarded at their breeder. Yes, I know good dog boarding kennels can look like prisons, but bad things seldom happen there.

Rabbits and chickens kept outside are at great risk of fox attack anywhere in Adelaide. As anyone who tries to keep chickens without a coop learns.

Snake Bite

Snake bite is a threat to dogs mainly because their owners don’t see it coming. All of my favourite Adelaide dog walks have snakes in warm weather, yet I always see dogs a long way from their owners whenever I go. Anytime you let your dog off, even in a strange yard, you should always think, “could there be a snake?”

Cats in Australia are at highest risk of snakebite if they have outside access and live near open spaces like the river, parklands or vacant blocks. You can read a lot more about dogs, cats & snakes here.

Chocolate Poisoning

Look at our rates of dog poisonings and you’ll see that chocolate is the greatest problem. Here’s what we hear:

• “I didn’t think he went there”
• “I can’t believe he stole it”
• “I forgot it was in my handbag”
• “The cupboard was left open”
• “I didn’t know it was inside that Christmas present”

I’ve written a whole page on chocolate poisoning but here’s a quick summary: it’s most dangerous to smaller dogs and when it’s darker or better quality. Keep it in a secure place, just like you would any hazardous substance. Like medicines for example!

Human Medicines

Again this mainly concerns dogs, in two situations:

1. Dogs that watch you take a pill every day think it’s a treat and often pounce on any you drop
2. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to put a sugary coating on ibuprofen tablets

Be careful by storing medicines securely and taking your own in private. And if any get eaten, come straight down so we can make them come straight up again.

Bin Raiding

Here’s a list of the things we’ve had to remove from pets:

• Cooked bones (dogs, cats, ferrets)
• Meat skewers and wrapping (dogs, cats)
• Corn cobs (dogs)
• Fruit stones (dogs)
• Underwear & hygiene products (some dogs)

Nearly all of these were either put in an insecure bin or left where pets could find them. If your bin’s getting raided, don’t wait. While not strictly a cause of sudden death, intestinal foreign bodies can kill within days.

Car Accidents

I know vets who think that good yard fencing has been the single greatest advance in dog health. These days a common story is a gate that gets left open. Sometimes it’s a tradesperson, sometimes it’s during home theft, but often it just needed maintenance.

As a vet who sees the consequences, I’m also very careful about when and where I let my dogs off leash. Once you do it, you’ve lost the most important level of protection you have. All your dog has to do is see another dog across the road.

Extendable leads are particularly dangerous. Anyone who’s used one knows how easily dogs can run onto roads. Other problematic areas are children walking dogs without adults and pets not restrained properly in cars.

A trap that even experienced dog owners fall into is the collar that’s too loose. If it can be pulled over the head then all a dog has to do is get a fright and they can back out of it. I have seen several dogs get hit this way after being startled by traffic noises.

To prevent car injuries and deaths in cats, they should be in after dark at very least. That’s when most car accidents occur. Of course, being an indoors cat or having an enclosed outdoor run is even better.

Drowning

Just the other day I got a fright when Loki fell in our pool. Luckily I was there because he can’t swim. Dogs not being able to swim are a lot more common than people think.

Even if a dog can swim, the pool cover often gets in the way, or they don’t swim to the steps. Very few dogs can get up and over the pool edge.

When Loki was a puppy I put extra fencing up. If he could have swum I also would have trained him where the steps were or submerged a ramp. He fell in recently because big pool toys had been left out that he couldn’t walk around, and the pool cover wasn’t on properly. However, I probably should never have taken that fencing down.

Pesticides

There’s no level of safety good enough for something that’s actually intended to kill. A poison made to be eaten by snails or rats is just as attractive to a dog. Cats even get poisoned by eating poisoned animals.

I believe the risks are too great to ever use animal poisons if we have pets.

Fertiliser Poisoning

It might come as a surprise to learn that dogs like fertiliser. Not so surprising when you learn that it’s often made from chook poo or animal products. The same goes for compost made from food waste.

Both are highly toxic and can cause serious illness or kill. Easy to prevent by storing them securely and always digging them well in. I also exclude the dogs for a day or two afterwards.

Heat Stroke

If people didn’t sweat, I don’t think dogs would ever get heat stroke. We wouldn’t stand there completely unaware that our dogs are getting hotter and hotter.

Anything over 26 degrees is too hot for a dog to run around for very long. Anything over 35 and they need a cool place to rest. Even less for flat-faced and long-haired dogs.

Most deaths occur when people keep throwing the ball just because the dog keeps chasing it. As I’ve said before, dogs don’t know when to stop.

Take water with you on warm days but also make sure the water supply at home can’t run out or be knocked over. And consider clipping dogs with thick coats.

Parvovirus

Canine parvovirus is present nearly everywhere as a contaminant of public spaces. Here in Adelaide we see sporadic disease year-round with a strong seasonal peak in December.

Parvo in Australia has been shown to be more common in disadvantaged communities (source) which are often the least able to afford the veterinary care needed for survival. Vaccines are an extremely effective protection.

Regional Hazards

Everything so far is relevant to Adelaide, but for the last I’ll go national. Here are some examples:

• Paralysis ticks in eastern Australia
• Poisonous toads in northern Australia
• Puffer fish and sea hares on beaches
• 1080 baits in farmland and national parks
• Grape ‘marc’ in wine producing areas
• Local disease outbreaks

How do you know what to look out for in your area? Simple! Ask your vet.

To finish, I want to share with you the state of mind of a vet when it comes to preventing dangers. I call it…

Keeping Two Degrees Of Separation

Allow for human error. Everything dangerous to your pet should be separated by two levels of protection. There should be a backup for everything that could cause serious harm.

Here are just a few bad examples:

• The chocolate that’s only protected by a cupboard door
• The water bowl that can be tipped over
• The gate that’s easy to leave open

Solutions are usually simple, cheap, and a whole lot better than the alternative. They just take someone to ask, “what could go wrong here?”

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

Aargh! We can’t find the owners.

Before I tell you what went wrong, let’s remember why we use microchips in the first place. Microchips are without a doubt the best way to identify lost animals.

Benefits Of Microchips

• Permanent, unchangeable ID
• Identification that can’t slip off
• Proof of ownership
• 24 hour access to recovery details
• Worldwide standard of technology
• Virtually no adverse effects
• Low cost

Discover more in our page on getting and registering a microchip. Microchips are great technology but they aren’t foolproof. Here’s why things go wrong.

Details Need To Be Updated

The biggest problem with microchips is that people forget to update them when they move. Sometimes it seems like a third of lost pets have out of date details. It’s only going to get worse as chips become compulsory. We do our best Sherlock Holmes act to return the animals but sometimes we have no choice but to send them to the pound.

Another common mistake is to never register a chip in the first place. Among all the papers you are given with your new puppy will be the instructions for new owner registration. It’s very easy in the excitement and confusion to forget to get this done.

Read here how to update a Microchip’s details. It’s online and easy.

Microchip Aren’t GPS Trackers

A lot of people ask if pets can be tracked using microchips. The answer is no; GPS trackers need regularly recharged batteries, a SIM card and a mobile data plan. They’re also big enough to be a fair weight on a collar, not exactly rice grains. Microchips are passive transponders that redirect the outside energy from a scanner. They don’t actively emit anything and never will.

Related: What to do when your pet goes missing

Microchips Don’t Stop Theft

A chip only works if someone reads it. If pets are found on the street, it’s up to the person who finds them to get their chip scanned. Sometimes, the person who finds (or steals) them doesn’t take them anywhere. I’ve talked about this before in the form of people feeding other people’s cats.

I’ve met these people. Horrifyingly, they justify themselves by saying “I rescued him” when what they really did was kidnapping. I say to them, “there could be a child wondering what happened to their pet”. Even after this you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get these pets brought to the vet to be scanned. I think they don’t want it done because they don’t want to know the truth.

Microchips Need To Be Scanned

A classic problem is the animal on the street without a collar. Your neighbour doesn’t own a scanner and will need to take the animal to a vet or shelter to find out the owner. For all you know, the cat could be sitting on her own front fence! This is why an old fashioned dog or cat tag is still a very good idea. Remember to change the details if you are using a dog or cat sitter.

Problems happen even in organised rescue. Several years ago we alerted the two Facebook lost pet finder groups to a new dognapping scam. An animal we posted was claimed using fake photographs, and it was only a suspicious vet who picked up the fraud. I think most well-meaning people would have been too trusting to detect the scam.

We suspect this was being done repeatedly, with the scammers making false claims and collecting lost pets for resale. The key point was that this form of lost pet finding was happening in people’s homes without systematic scanning and checking of chips. All lost pets must be taken to a vet or shelter for scanning before advertising. That’s certainly the policy for the Facebook groups.

Microchips Fall Out

Once or so a year we find a microchip on the floor during cleaning. It would have come back out of a bouncy puppy straight after getting microchipped. All we do is scan it and call the owner to put a new one in. However, the loss won’t be detected if it falls out anywhere else.

If your pet has had a microchip, make sure you get them re-scanned the next time you’re at the vet. That’s because the chip can occasionally slip back out the needle hole before the wound closes. If the chip is still there the next time, it’ll be there forever.

The Registry Need To Be Checked

Did you see the TodayTonight story about the stolen dog who was treated at two different vets without anyone realising? The point was made that the vets should have checked the chip. That’s fair criticism, but I’ve never heard of any vet who has the time to look up each new patient on the microchip database.

Perhaps cross-checking every new patient should be compulsory. This would be great for helping keep chip details updated but it won’t fix the problem. If vets started doing this, all that would happen was these pets would go even deeper underground. I don’t think there’s a simple answer to this problem but I would love to hear your ideas in the comments section.

In conclusion, by knowing when microchipping fails, you have a better chance to prevent this happening to your pets. In the meantime, keep getting your pets microchipped.

I had to collect my Loki from the local vet recently when he slipped through the gate and lost his collar while I put the bins out. If he wasn’t microchipped, I’d hate to imagine what would have happened.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.

How To Get Rid Of Fleas

1. Use modern flea killers recommended by vets and pet stores
2. Remove fleas from the house and especially pet sleeping areas
3. Keep dogs and cats on good flea control to prevent new infestations

Now dive deeper…

Do you keep finding fleas on your dog, cat, rabbit or ferret despite your best efforts? Frustrating isn’t it? It seems so simple and yet so many people have the same problem.

Why Is It So Hard To Get Rid Of Fleas?

Here are a few reasons:

• Failing to kill every last flea
• Heavy house & garden infestation
• Catching fleas again

I’ll now explain each of these points…

How To Get Rid Of Fleas On Dogs

Using flea products recommended by vets is the most important step to having a flea-free pet. In many cases, it’s the only thing you need to do. The same applies for cats, rabbits and ferrets.

The reason most people can’t kill every last flea is that they are using outdated products. Until the mid 1990s the only products available could not eliminate fleas. Pets with flea allergy kept on suffering. The shocking news is that these products, mainly shampoos, sprays or rinses, are still widely sold, and resistance has only grown.

However, these products aren’t perfect either. Some, like Frontline or Nexgard have been shown to kill fleas more slowly than others (or not at all in the case of Sentinel) and resistance is suspected for others. I haven’t even mentioned Capstar as it’s far too short-acting. Nowadays I get best results with the flea tablets Simparica, Bravecto or Comfortis, and Advantage still works well.

Although the new flea controls are very safe, they remain unpopular with people wanting to get rid of fleas naturally. If you want to do this, it is possible and we’ll support you, but you have to have lower expectations of success.

How To Kill Fleas In The House And Garden

Fleas on the animal are no more that 5% of the total. That other 95% comprises eggs, larvae, pupae and adults waiting to jump. These are found wherever your pet, or any other dog or cat with fleas, has been.

You don’t have to kill all the fleas in the environment to eliminate them. The weak point in the flea life cycle is the need for adults to get a blood meal in order to lay eggs. Therefore if you’re not in a hurry, all you need to do is use a good flea killer on your pet and wait.

However your pets or children may disagree. If infestation levels are high, they will keep getting a lot of bites, even if each flea then dies. You or your family may also be getting nasty itchy welts on the ankles and legs.

To learn more please visit our separate page on treating fleas in the household and garden.

Help! My Pet Keeps Catching Fleas Again

That famous jump is how fleas get on passing animals, so unless you keep your dog or cat in a glass box they will keep getting flea hitch-hikers and bringing them home for everybody to enjoy.

The good news is: once you’ve eliminated fleas from your pet and home almost any good flea control will stop reinfestation. You’ve just got to remember to do it. Here’s some suggestions:

• Set a monthly recurring reminder on your phone
• Use Bravecto (dogs) so you only need to remember once every three months
• Buy from friendly local places that send reminder messages (OK, you got me there- that’s a shameless plug!)

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here. The information provided here is not intended to be used as a substitute for going to the vet. If your pet is unwell, please seek veterinary attention.

Walkerville Vet is open 8am to 7:00pm weekdays and 9am to 1pm Saturdays. Vets start consulting at 9am.

About The Map Of 24/7 Vets

Each of these vets advertise 24/7 service but there is no guarantee they will always be open, as occasionally vet staffing is low. Therefore, please call them either before leaving or while you are on your way. This will also make sure they are ready to help you if your problem is very urgent.

Now enlarge the map to check the quickest late night, Sunday or public holiday vet to your home!

* “Emergency Veterinary Hospitals” included if continuously staffed through the night and over weekends and public holidays.

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.
By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.