Spring 2011 Pet Patter
Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of our practice newsletter. We have all experienced a pretty severe winter by UK standards. We managed to provide a normal service throughout December despite the heavy snow fall. I am sure you like us are looking forward to some fine Spring weather. Christmas is a relatively quiet time at the practice. We have now all recuperated from the excesses of Christmas and are looking forward to continuing to provide you with a quality veterinary service. We were overwhelmed with the gifts and cards that so many of you gave us at Christmas. We have tried to thanks you all personally-however if we have forgotten any of you we would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude.
Staff
Congratulations to trainee nurses Fay Whithead and Kim Parry who have been successful in their 1st year veterinary nursing exams. They have both embarked on their second year of study at Warwickshire College and are making an ever increasing contribution to the practice.
Receptionist Ann Turner-Mitchel goes on maternity leave in March. We wish her good luck for the new arrival! Julia Cooper will be replacing Ann for the duration of her maternity leave. Julia lives locally, has a dog of her own and has many years experience in client care. We are sure you will all welcome her to the practice and help her to settle into her new role.
Vet Laurie Hall returned to the practice two years ago after spending a few years in his native South Africa. Laurie has taken up the role as practice clinical director with overall responsibility for all of the practice’s clinical work. He will play a key role in developing the practice further in the coming years.
Last, but not least, Amanda Cousins is continuing with her animal behaviour study. She is now seeing a number of dogs and cats to advise on a variety of behavioural problems.
Prices
We appreciate that the current financial climate is still very challenging for many people. We have held all of annual health check and vaccine prices at 2010 levels even after the VAT rate change. All of our Heathcote Healthy Pet Club prices have stayed the same as in 2010. Membership of this scheme provides annual health checks and vaccinations, worming treatments, flea treatments and a variety of other discounts on routine services and food purchases. For further details collect a leaflet at the surgery or have a look on our website. This scheme is becoming an increasingly popular way to spread the cost of your pet’s preventative healthcare.
Heathcote TV
We have now had our reception television for a few months. We hope you are enjoying watching whilst waiting for your appointment. We have started to show details of cats that local animal charities are trying to re home-we hope this will be of assistance to you if you are looking to re home a cat.
Worming Cats and Dogs
Adult cats and dogs should be wormed every three months. We have been using Milbemax as our routine wormer for a number of years. It is a very effective wormer and extremely easy to administer. Dog Milbemax now comes as a chocolate flavoured tablet-so many dogs will eat it as a treat. Cat Milbemax is the smallest available cat worming tablet. Although a few cats will voluntarily eat Milbemax most cats will need to have them hidden in their food or popped into their mouth. Our buy three get one free Milbemax offer continues-ask at the surgery for further details.
A few of our feline friends are extremely difficult when it comes to tablet administration. Spot on wormer Profender is probably the best option for these cats.
Dental Disease in Cats and Dogs
We all take care of our own teeth but often don’t pay enough attention to our pet’s teeth. In the absence of regular dental care, dogs and cats will develop gum disease which can lead to mouth pain, bad breath and tooth loss.
Like us pets generally start life with perfect glistening teeth and healthy gums. However over time accumulation of tarter on the surface of teeth can lead to gum infections and bad breath. If the infection continues untreated, bacteria start to penetrate below the gum line and damage the tooth itself.
Cats sometimes develop tooth resorptive lesions. In these lesions the tooth is progressively damaged leading to exposure of the nerve. These lesions can cause extreme pain.
Like in so many conditions, early recognition and treatment of dental disease in dogs and cats gives the best possible chance of a successful treatment outcome. We will take the opportunity to check your pet’s teeth on your routine visits to the surgery. However if you have concerns let us have a look sooner rather than later.
Bank Holidays
The surgery will be open for urgent cases on the following bank holidays:-
Good Friday-Friday 22nd April 2011
Easter Monday-Monday 25th April 2011
Royal Wedding Day-Friday 29th April 2011
Monday 2nd May 2011
Monday 30th May 2011
The surgery will be open as normal on Easter Saturday (8.30am-5.00pm) and Easter Sunday (9.00am-12.30pm). In an emergency outside of these times please phone the normal practice number and listen carefully to the answer machine message.
Thankyou
During November and December many of you helped us to raise money for the local Cats Protection branch. Pharmaceutical company donated £2 for every packet of Frontline Combo purchased in the practice. We have handed over a check for £300 to Cats Protection on your behalf. Many of you donated animal food for Cats Protection and the RSPCA at Christmas-this has now all been handed over to the charities.
Animal charities work tirelessly to help animals in need of care or of a good home. Many of us have wonderful pets that originated from animal charities. It was great to have so many of you involved in these fund raising efforts in the run up to Christmas.