If you are planning to take your pet to the UK, life has just got easier for you. From today pets travelling to Britain from Australia will no longer need to spend that endless six months in quarantine. From January 1 2012, Britain will allow animals from Australia, the EU and listed countries such as the United States to enter with just a veterinary certified rabies vaccination given 21 days beforehand.
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Alpine Animal Hospital will be closed for the statutory Public Holidays during the Christmas/New Year period. We understand that emergencies never take a break and accidents and illness can strike at any time. Dr. Bek will be on call for locals and visitors throughout the holiday period to provide advice and emergency care for your pets or farm animals. In an emergency please call (03) 5756 2444, day or night.
Read more →Last week, George, a Cornish Rex cat, became the first feline in Australia to receive stem cells to halt chronic renal failure.
The velvet-furred six-year-old cat was given just three months to live after being diagnosed with 75 per cent renal failure. George’s owner, Veronika Morrison, refused to give up and, after research on the web, discovered Stem Cell Therapy had been successfully used in trials in the USA to treat similar conditions. Mrs Morrison is hopeful that the treatment will create new kidney cells and give her precious pet further time.
Christmas has come early for Abbey, the 11-year-old Border Collie who received the Alpine region’s first ever stem cell transplant just four weeks ago, and is now happily re-discovering what it’s like to be a puppy again. Abbey has made astounding progress toward permanently beating the severe arthritis that saw her crippled with chronic pain. Abbey’s mum says that her much loved dog is running, jumping and chasing sticks and balls, with no sign of lameness or discomfort despite having had no pain medication since her stem cell transplant.
Read more →‘Tis the season … but it’s not always a jolly time for your pet. It’s the time of year we see lots of dogs, and a few cats, with problems caused by a grass seed getting lodged in some part of their anatomy. We might find them in the eyes or in the ear, up their nostrils or between their toes. They are always, at best, uncomfortable for your pet. At worst they are very painful and can cause serious long term damage.
Read more →Little more than a week after her treatment, Abby, our first Stem Cell Therapy patient, is already showing positive signs of improvement. She is moving much more freely, can get up and down very easily and appears to be in no pain, despite not having had pain medication since recovering from her stem cell transplant.
We’re very excited about the promise stem cell transplants holds for many of our older patients suffering chronic arthritic conditions and Abby’s rapid improvement only makes us more keen to help more pets suffering from this debilitating condition.
The hospital is now using the brand new Micro-ID Mini Chip for all our animal microchipping. These tiny new microchips are 40% smaller than the standard chip.
Read more →This little Joey was a recent visitor to the hospital, after his Mum was found dead in the paddock and a concerned resident brought the distressed youngster to the hospital. Dr. Bek gave him a good feed, a thorough vet check and shipped him off to a wildlife carer.
Read more →We want to warn dog owners planning to travel away from the Alpine area, either out of state to coastal NSW or Queensland or to coastal Victoria, of the very high dangers of your dog (or your cat if he or she travels with you) picking up a potentially fatal paralysis tick while you are away.
With our cooler climate and higher altitude we rarely see paralysis ticks in the Alpine region (although they are found here), which probably tends to make local dog owners less likely to be aware of the risks. However, Dr. Bek has seen two cases of dogs suffering paralysis tick poisoning in just the last two weeks. In both cases the dogs had travelled with their family to the coast, where ticks are far more prevalent.
This Friday, 14 October, is Vet Nurses Day, celebrating the vital role veterinary nurses play in animal health care. It’s an important day in our calendar because we think our nurses are terrific. Over the years I have worked with many different vet nurses. I know how important a good nurse is to achieving positive clinical outcomes for my patients. My clinical team are the best I have ever worked with. We couldn’t care for your animals without them.
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