Matt Young's blog

We all had a great time at our community Christmas Party. Thanks to everyone that came along! We hope you had a great day too!

See you there next year.

Merry Christmas

We're super excited to be able to hold our Commnunity Christmas Party again this year. The festivities begin at 1pm on Saturday the 11th December and will wrap up at 5pm. There is no need to purchase tickets, the event will be completely free, just turn up on the day. Proof of double COVID vaccination will be required.

Imminently there will be a release of RHVD virus in the Wollongong area.

Both RHVD and myxomatosis are fatal diseases of rabbits that are used to control wild populations of rabbits. After the wet year we've had the rabbit population has exploded and council is working with the department of primary industries to control these populations by releasing RHVD virus. 

To protect your rabbit against RHDV you need to have your rabbit's vaccination current.

Companion Animal Vet Hospital remains open for business!

In addition to the changes mentioned in my previous post we have implemented some new social distancing changes that will help us all to stay safe while getting help for your animals.

At Companion Animal Vets we share your concerns and know you will want to keep your pets happy and healthy as well.

Firstly let's make this clear- pets DO NOT appear to be infected with or carry COVID-19. But, it is possible that an infected person could leave viral particles on their pet just like any other surface.

Pets are part of your family and should form part of your overall Bush Fire Survival Plan.

Bushfires are stressful for you and your animals and you’ll have enough to do without having to worry about your animals. Therefore, in general it’s better to relocate your animals early.

Identification of your animals is important. Make sure you have stored remotely a photo of them and their microchip details in case they need to be identified or escape.

Planning to Evacuate

Prepare your pet’s bushfire survival kit:

When registering a new litter of puppies or kittens it is now necessary to create an account online at the NSW Pet Registry Site (nb. In order to create an account you will need access to your email to verify your identity).

Once you have created your profile you will now need to generate a breeder number (this is what we use to link the litter to you).

Having heart disease is not the same as heart failure. When the heart is failing there are treatments that can be given to help. Monitoring the resiratory rate is one simple tool we can use to help determine if the heart is failing and also monitor response to treatment.

Sometimes we may ask you to monitor your dog's resting respiratory rate. When your dog is relaxed and asleep we are less likely to have interference from things like excitement, fear or exercise.

How to do it

So this is what we need to do:

Greg was surrendered to us in March 2017 as a 9 week old puppy who was in a state of continual seizure activity. We suspected that he may have ingested some drugs as we could smell marijuana on him esp around his mouth when he arrived. It would be unusual for the marijuana itself to cause the seizures but it is possible that he had ingested other drugs that may have caused it such as crystal amphetamines. The marijuana may have even been given to him in an attempt to stop the seizures and now just contributed to his comatose state.

There’s alot of perceived stigma about using medications to treat anxiety in dogs but this is a real disease that causes suffering if not treated appropriately. Here’s why in this case drugs are good....

Generalised anxiety is a common problem in dogs. If left untreated it can result in: