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Monday 7:30am - 5pm Tuesday 7:30am - 5pm Wednesday 7:30am - 5pm Thursday 7:30am - 5pm Friday 7:30am - 5pm

Wild North Veterinary Hospital, 44 Graffin Crescent, Winnellie, Darwin (2025)

22/12/2024

Letty’s Story 💜 🐉 ❤️

Letty is a 10 year old female bearded dragon who has been under the care of our team for a number of years. Recently Letty’s appetite and energy levels had decreased, she had lost a lot of weight and had begun to drink a lot of water.

Radiographs, blood tests and f***l tests were all unremarkable. A gastric endoscope was preformed to assess her stomach and oesophagus, and to rule out gastric tumours which are common in older bearded dragons. An ultrasound was then performed to further assess her internal organs.

On ultrasound it was found that Letty had a very distended gall bladder and free fluid in her coelom (that’s what we call the body cavity in animals that don’t have a diaphragm). Gall bladders in healthy bearded dragons can measure up to 2cm x 1.5cm. Letty’s gall bladder was more than twice this size!!!

The decision was made to take Letty to surgery to assess the cause of the gall bladder distension. Prior to surgery Letty was mildly anaemic, so blood donor Alexandra was at the ready to donate blood.

At surgery it was discovered that Letty’s bile ducts were thickened and blocked, causing her gall bladder to be unable to drain. Which would have been causing pain and discomfort for her. A cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal) was performed and samples of the liver were taken for analysis.

Laboratory tests confirmed obstructive bilary disease caused by fibrosis (thickening) and granulomas (abscesses) in the liver.

Letty was given a blood donation post operatively to aid in her recovery. Letty has made a steady recovery and is becoming stronger every day. She appears much more comfortable now and her appetite is increasing.

18/12/2024

We are now stocking these beautiful cards by local artist Dreaming Bee Studio. Pop in and see us to purchase one of these beautiful cards just in time for Christmas!!

Proceeds support the care and treatment of wildlife

16/12/2024

A little possums with singed toes 🔥 🦶 🔥

This lovely sub-adult Northern Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula arnhemensis) recently came to us extremely dehydrated and underweight, with blisters on the surface of all four of his feet. We suspect he had burnt his feet running across on a hot tin roof. With burnt, sore feet he had been unable to forage for food and had rapidly lost fluid and condition.

After four days in hospital receiving intravenous fluids, pain relief and managing his wounds he is much brighter, healing well, and is gaining weight. He has just been discharged into the care of Darwin Wildlife Sanctuary to get him back to a healthy body weight and prepare him for release. 🌳

15/12/2024

We would like to thank the Super Star🌟 Alexandra🌟

Alexandra provided us with a life saving blood donation a few weeks ago to aid in the recovery of Letty, another bearded dragon, following a major surgery.

Alexandra took it all in her stride and was super happy and chill though out the procedure and the whole day.

We would also like to thank Russel another fabulous beardie who was available as a backup donor just incase.

* Letty’s story coming soon

13/12/2024

Parasites and trauma a frog’s long journey to recovery 🐸 ❤️ 🐸 ✨

In week one of the clinic’s opening this beautiful Green Tree Frog lady (Litoria caerulea) came into us for care. She had resided at the same property for a least 5 years where home owner and frog lover Cathy had been monitoring her wear abouts and behaviour. Cathy brought her to us when she noticed a decline in her condition with weight loss, lethargy and skin discolouration occurring over a number of weeks.

On presentation she was weak and emaciated and covered in pond scum. Radiographs showed she had previously suffered a fracture to her right tibia, which was healing well on its own.

We suspect that she had suffered a trauma and had been unable to feed and clean herself during this time. She was also suffering from a range of internal parasites including a condition called sparganosis, a tape worm infection that causes cysts under the skin. This is common in green tree frogs and often causes few problems, however in her debilitated state the infection was severe and impacting her health

She was soaked in a rehydration fluid on presentation and then later treated with antiparasitic reigime for internal parasites and surgical removal of the many sparganum.

She slowly began to look brighter and stronger, and started to eat food offered to her on her own. After almost 3 months in care she had gained 15g and had reached a healthy weight. We are pleased to report she has now returned to her home just in time for the breeding season.

*before pictures taken by frog mum Cathy*

11/12/2024

A Monitor’s second lucky escape! 🍀 🦎 🍀 ❤️

This handsome Spotted Tree Monitor (Varanus scalaris) was brought into us after being grabbed by a dog. He suffered puncture wounds to his abdominal area and lower back.

Radiographs revieled a fracture to his lower jaw. We also discovered he had healing fractures to both his back legs which would have occurred at least 6 weeks prior to this attack. Fortunately his joints are unaffected and he is able to use both legs well.

The wounds were cleaned and antibiotics and pain relief were initiated. A feeding tube has been placed to allow us to provide medication and nutrition to him whilst the jaw fracture heals.

He is still in our hopital under veterinary care and is responding really well to treatments and is becoming brighter and fiestier every day.

11/12/2024

🎄🎅🏼XMAS CLOSURE HOURS🤶🏾🎄
We will we having a small Christmas break! Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year, we look forward to doing more awesome work next year! Wish everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy new year!

27/11/2024

What’s better than one baby blue-tongue? 🦎
10 baby blue-tongues! 🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎

Today we were called upon to examine 10 baby Northern Blue-tongued Skinks (Tiliqua scincoides intermedia) rescued by the fabulous team at Darwin Wildlife Sanctuary. Despite our joy to see them they were found under distressing circumstances as their heavily gravid mother was attacked and killed by dogs. Blue-tongued skinks are one of approximately 20% of skink species that give birth to live young rather than laying eggs. In this case the dogs had literally ripped the mum in half causing the babies to be born prematurely.

Babies 1-9 arrived to us, bright and active and in good condition. Baby number 10 was still stuck in the uterus of its dead mother. It was able to be removed and revived despite mum dying hours prior to presentation. Baby 10 (now refered to as Grogu) suffered some blood loss from a tear in its umbilicus and was initially cold and weak. It is recovering well after warming and supportive care.

All babies will be released back into the wild close to where they were found in a space safe from dogs.

27/11/2024

UPDATE: Blood donor found! 🩸 🩸 🩸
Thank you so much to everyone for sharing this post, we now have multiple blood donors available.

We are on the hunt for an adult bearded dragon to give a one off blood donation for a patient scheduled to have a major surgery next week. If you have a healthy adult bearded dragon over 400grams and would be happy to help out please get in touch with us. Your dragon will receive a free general heath check and blood test prior to their donation.

Please call us on 08 79268909 if you can help

26/11/2024

Mozzie’s gassy day 🦇 ⛽️ 🌞

Mozzie is an 8 week old Little Broad-nosed Bat (Scotorepens greyii). She has been with Wildcare Inc NT carer Laura for the last 3 weeks being raised on a tiny amounts of carefully crafted nutritious bat milk. On Friday she developed a very distended abdomen and was rushed into the clinic for assessment.

Mozzie was found to be suffering from bloat, a painful and life threatening condition where the stomach fills up with gas. She was treated with fluid therapy, massage, painrelief and medications to increase her gastric motility. Gastric decompression was attempted via stomach tube, but at only 4 grams she was just too small for this procedure.

Fortunately Mozzie responded well to the medication and managed to pass the build up of gas over the day. Check out her very cool X-ray series showing the gas passage! She is now back with her carer and is being treated for a suspected gastritis, the likely initial cause of her bloat. We are pleased to to report she is doing well and is back to her normal sassy self.

***Note You may notice in all our bat posts we are wearing gloves. Our staff are all fully vaccinated against Australian Bat Lyssa virus, a rabies like disease carried by an estimated 1% of the bat population. Lyssavirus is a rare but fatal condition that can be prevented but can not be treated. In the event of a human being scratched or bitten by a bat the protocol is for the bat to be euthanised and sent for testing regardless of the vaccination status of the person exposed. We wear gloves to protect both our staff and the bats. Unvaccinated persons should never handle bats. If you find a bat in need of help please contact a wildlife care group to come and safely rescue the animal.

For more information on Lyssavirus

https://wildlifehealthaustralia.com.au/Portals/0/ResourceCentre/FactSheets/mammals/Australian_Bat_Lyssavirus.pdf

21/11/2024

It was a pleasure to assist in the treatment and recovery of this juvenile Eastern Reef Egret. ❤️‍🩹

20/11/2024

Ratatouille’s (not so) lovely lady lump! 🐀 💜 🐀

Miss Ratatouille a 2 year old fancy rat recently visited our clinic. She had a slow growing mass under the skin on her abdominal area, which was starting to affect her movement and quality of life. Ratatouille underwent surgery to have her tumour removed. She did fantastically under the anaesthetic and recovered beautifully. The tumour weighed nearly one third of her body weight!!

Tumours in rats are common. Female rats over 18 months of age are most likely to get mammary tumours. Having your female rat desexed at a young age will greatly reduce their chances of developing mammary tumours as they age. If you would like to book your rat for desexing contact our clinic on 08 79268909 or book online www.wildnorthvet.com

We are pleased to report Ratatouille has recovered really well from her surgery. She will be visiting us in the near future for desexing.

19/11/2024

Today sweet little Billy a 460g Agile Wallaby (Macropus agilis) came to visit our clinic with her fabulous Wildcare Inc NT carer Dorit. Billy has been in care for 2 days with Dorit after her mum was found dead by the side of the road.

She had a small puncture wound on her right arm which was becoming increasingly swollen. Radiographs were taken and we were all surprised to find a shot gun pellet lodged in poor Billy’s arm. Thankfully it had not broken any bones.

The pellet was surgically removed and the wound was cleaned and flushed. Billy is recovering from the procedure well and we are expecting a full recovery. She will remain in care until she is big enough to be released.

14/11/2024

Yesterday was World Animal Enrichment Day! 🌍 🦜 🦎 🐇 🍿 ☀️

Enrichment involves altering an environment to encourage animals to exhibit natural behaviours, thereby enhancing their overall well-being. It promotes both physical and mental stimulation and can often be achieved using common household items.

Enrichment can and should be provided to all types of pets no matter the species.

Enrichment activities can:
🪶 Promote foraging behaviours; such as puzzle toys, hay wheels or pet safe grasses,
🪶 Increase excersize; such as tubes and tunnels, dig boxes and hanging/shredding toys
🪶 Provide security; such as hide boxes, caves and substrates to dig in, or
🪶 Stimulate the senses; many different types of visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile stimuli can be provided, such as television and radio, nature sounds, food items or packaging, and different textures.

For more information and ideas on enriching your exotic pet chat to our team on 08 79268909

13/11/2024

Buddy and his Persistent Bubble 🦜 🫧 ❤️

Buddy is a turquoise-pineapple Green Cheeked Conure. He presented to us with a large accumulation of subcutaneous emphysema (air under the skin) on his left side. This problem is usually caused by the rupture of an air sac, either as a result of trauma or chronic respiratory disease. In Buddy’s case the cause was determined to be trauma after he had a fall due to an uneven wing clip.

Often these cases revolve with a simple deflation of the air accumulation with a needle and syringe, but in Buddy’s case the air continued to accumulate.

Buddy was taken to surgery and a modified stent, made from a syringe top, was placed to allow the air to continually drain whilst the air sac healed. The stent was left in place for 3 weeks allowing plenty of time for healing. Buddy was a very good boy and with the aid of a cone he left the site well alone whilst it healed.

The stent has now been removed and we are pleased to report Buddy has had no further problems. We also had the opportunity to correct Buddy’s uneven wing clip and educate his owners on a healthy and nutritious diet for a conure.

11/11/2024

We are now stocking these beautiful earrings by just in time for Christmas!! Proceeds go towards the care and treatment of wildlife.

perfect gift for a flora and fauna lover 🌸🌻🕊️🦉

06/11/2024

Late yesterday Snags the possums was rushed into the clinic after his carer arrived home to find him bloated and very uncomfortable. Radiographs showed a huge amount of gas trapped in his intestines.

Snags was taken straight to emergency surgery. A blockage was found in his intestines and fortunately this was able to be removed.

Today we are pleased to report that Mr Snags is looking much brighter and is starting to eat and drink small amounts. He is being maintained on intravenous fluids therapy, antibiotics and pain relief. We are hopeful for a full recovery.

*warning surgical images attached*

Wild North Veterinary Hospital

22/12/2024

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Monday	7:30am - 5pm
Tuesday	7:30am - 5pm
Wednesday	7:30am - 5pm
Thursday	7:30am - 5pm
Friday	7:30am - 5pm