Rosie recently visited the surgery due to a fast growing lump on her toe. After initial treatment for the lump no improvement was seen and the decision was made to amputate the toe and send the lump off for testing. Rosie has had a long recovery which has needed substational care with dressing changes every few days on her foot due to excellent care from her owners, Rosie is nearly back to her normal self and is managing fine on her 3 toes. Dogs are digitigrade animals, meani

Scout first visited the surgery some weeks ago. Scout being a very excitable puppy had managed to fracture his trochanter tip femur. Scout was put on strict cage rest and follow up x-rays showed the fracture had started to repair. The growth plates in a dog are areas of cartilage that develop at the end of the long bones of the legs. Over time, they calcify developing into denser matter as your puppy gets older and works their muscles more. As your puppies grow , how and whe

Scooby a very cheeky rabbit visited us recently due to a sore leg. Scooby had to have an X-ray on his leg to see if there was any obvious broken bones or fractures. X-raying a rabbit can be very challenging due to their size, and easily stressed nature. X-rays are like light except they can travel through the body. For an x-ray a rabbit will lies under the x-ray machine which sends a beam of x-rays through the rabbit’s body onto a photographic plate. When the film is develope

Meet Gus a very naughty boy. Gus decided to help himself to his mums sowing needle. He was very lucky. Gus was anaesthetised and a X-ray taken to see if the needle had caused any damage to his throat. The needle was removed will no permeant damage to Gus and he was sent home with some pain relief for his very sore mouth. Gus was very lucky as the needle had not started to move, Gus would of needed surgery to revive the needle. #mydogateaneedle #mydogatesomething #lockdownvets

❄️Take care when walking your pets on snow and ice. Rock salt which is used to grit the roads during icy conditions can be toxic to some animals, Ingestion can result in a high blood sodium concentration which can cause thirst, vomiting and lethargy, and in severe cases there is a risk of convulsions and kidney damage. Prolonged contact during long walks can lead to chemical burns, dryness, and painful cracking of the pads. Always wash paws as soon as you get home to prevent

Meet Rosie who recently decided to start a fight with some chickens! Rosie came off worse for wear when a piece of hay became embedded in her eye causing an ulcer. Rosie had a dye called fluorescein placed into her eye the dye sticks to the damaged areas of the eye and shows how far the corneal ulcer extends, by highlighting luminous green under a florescent blue light. Cats have better night vision than us humans but the basic structure is much the same. Because the eye is

Alfie visited us recently having been unwell and off his food, on ultrasound Steven our vet could see some areas of concern and a exploratory laparotomy was preformed. A mass could be seen on the spleen so a splenectomy was preformed. A splenectomy is the surgical procedure performed to remove the spleen from the body. The spleen is an oblong organ that sits just below the stomach, in the middle of the abdomen. Comparatively, on a size-by-size basis, it is much bigger in dogs

Its cold outside! Winter pet care tips dogs and cats are walking through the substances left by gritters trying to clear roads and car drivers defrosting their windscreens and then licking them off their paws.Consuming rock salt can cause dehydration, liver failure and pancreatitis, while antifreeze contains the chemical ethylene glycol, which can be lethal when ingested The symptoms of ingesting anti-freeze include vomiting, seizures, appearing sleepy and a heightened breath

Millie visited the surgery for some further investigations and tests which included having her blood pressure monitored and a urinalysis, taking the blood pressure reading off a cat is very challenging but Millie was the purfect patient. Measuring blood pressure usually takes only a few minutes, and involves placing an inflatable cuff around a leg or the tail (much the same as the cuff used on the arm in humans). It is completely pain-free. A urine sample is collect using spe

❄️Small pets winter guide.❄️ Meet Burt a skinny pig, Skinny pigs can not be found in the wild. “skinnies” don't have any fur, except on their noises and a little on their feet, they must be kept indoors in a warm environment. Due to the fact they don't have fur which naturally keeps them warm when the weather is cold, skinnies are prone to catching cold or even hypothermia very easily. If your rabbits, guinea pigs or ferrets live outside, you can make their winter a bit more

poinsettia mildly toxic to dogs and cats 🌺 Poinsettias are originally from Mexico and are famous for reaching their beautiful red full bloom in December. Their bright red petals are actually leaves and, because they contain chemicals called diterpenoid euphorbol esters, they’re mildly toxic to dogs and cats. If your pets Eat poinsettia they can experience drooling, oral pain, diarrhoea and vomiting — but only if they’re ingested in large enough quantities. Please call the su

Meet Nelly a Dwarf Hamster who visited the surgery due to a sore back leg. Nelly needed to have an X-ray to see if there was any damage to her bones, we would usually sedate or give patients a general anesthetic to position them for X-ray Nelly was far to small for this. A cardboard tube was used to place tilly in and wrapped around her so she could not move allowing us to x-ray her. Nelly was very brave and no broken bones were found Nelly is now home recovering well. Did yo

On Saturday we met Clover for the first time. Clovers owners brought her to see us as she had what looked like a small would on the inside of her leg, Clover was admitted so we could examine the wound more thoroughly. Once Clover was under anaesthetic we could see a large wound that would need stitching, the cut was very deep and had cut through the medial thigh muscle and there was lots of hair tracking into the deep fascia so a drain was placed to drain infection from the s

Many animals find fireworks scary. It's estimated that 45 percent of dogs in the UK show signs of fear when they hear fireworks. It doesn’t have to be that way though, so don’t ignore the problem. There are lots of simple things you can do to help your pet deal with fireworks. By preparing in advance before fireworks start your pet will be better able to cope with the noises. just for cats l. Make sure your cat has somewhere to hide if they want to. For example this may be u

We recently saw Poppy the Yorshire terrier who visited us with lumps near her teats, Poppy had a mammectomy. Lumps found in the region of a dogs teats is usually a benign or malignant tumors of the mammary glands. They occure more often in female dogs that aren’t spayed  and another risk factor for development of mammary tumors is obesity. In fact, mammary gland tumors are the most common type of tumor diagnosed in entire female dogs. The mammary glands' function is to produc

Cooper recently visited us as he had sliced his tongue whilst playing with another dog. Cooper had to have a general anaesthetic and quite a few sutures placed in his tongue. Did you know a dogs is like a It's a radiator, a water-lapper, a healer of wounds, a food conveyor, a register of tastes, a texture sensor, and a wet equivalent of a dog's handshake. A dog's tongue has more responsibilities than any other part of the dog anatomy -- excluding the brain. And oddly enough,

Diabetes is a disease that is on the increase in dogs and cats, over the last few weeks we have diagnosed an increasing number of cases. Diabetes mellitus in pets is very similar to that in humans, it occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin (type 1) or the body no longer responds to the insulin it produces (type 2), this insulin is vital for converting sugar in the blood to useable energy within the body. Diagnosis of diabetes is easy, with a simple blood and urin

Meet daisy the beautiful Boston terrier. We have seen Daisy this week with a painful eye which had high ocular pressure due to glaucoma as it could not be medically managed the decision was made to remove the eye. Daisy has been very brave and is recovering at home with lots of TLC. Glaucoma is a condition in which pressure is placed on the eye, causing inadequate fluid drainage in the eye. If the condition becomes chronic or persists without treatment, it will eventually c

Bernie the Bernese Mountain dog visited us with a Hot spot on his leg. A hot spot is officially known as Moist Dermatitis, hot spots are found anywhere on the body and can increase in size very quickly. Your dog will experience them as itchy and sometimes painful patches and will often try to soothe hot spots with scratching, licking or biting. Treatment for a hot spot is to : Clip and clean – clipping the fur around your dog’s hot spot will allow air to reach it and speed up

Enzo visited the surgery after suffering from intermittent lameness over a short period of time. Enzo has had extensive test including a CT scan of his leg. Enzo was diagnosed with a fractured medial coronoid process. This is a developmental defect of one of the coronoid processes, two small bony protrusions on the end of the ulna within the elbow joint. In this condition, one of the coronoid processes develops a fissure or crack and separates from the rest of the bone. Enzo