“It’s the season of the ticks” - Noah Kahan
A friendly reminder that tick season is well and truly upon us, as these tiny (and not so tiny.....) blood sucking parasites present throughout the beaches region, particularly following recent rainfall.
Ticks vary in size from microscopic to a pin head, up to the size of a 5 cent piece once engorged with their blood meal.
Immature ticks are often found on low lying scrub, in high numbers particulary after high rainfall. Females attach and feed from our wildlife, however ticks will also attach to unsuspecting domestic pets and humans.
Cats and Dogs can fall foul to these little creepy crawlies in a number of ways. They are susceptible to a toxin that is released in the saliva of the tick, that can cause loss of appetite, weakness and wobbliness and sometimes difficult breathing and paralysis. This can most certainly be life threatening.
For some pets, the tine immature ticks can cause severe irritation, causing frantic scratching and chewing at the area of attachment.
In other cases the ticks can transmit serious, life threatening infections from their mouthparts to our pets. Tick infestation can be serious.
Coastal bush regions in our region of South Eastern Tasmania provide a healthy population of these ticks. Due to the threat to our pets we recommend all pets in the region use tick prevention.
We can advise on a range of very effective tick preventatives.
If you find a tick on your pet:
We advise you don't squeeze or provoke the tick. Spray it with a ascaricide(insectide known to kill or paralyse ticks, without harming your pet.....always check the product is safe to use on your pet). Once the tick is paralysed, use a tick removal tool to easily remove the tick from the pet.
Our skilled nursing staff are always happy to help and advise on tick removal from your pet and discuss a preventative to keep your pet safe from further infection.
***BEST COMEBACK OF 2022***
[*WARNING: comments contain images of wounds throughout the healing process*]
Everyone meet Miss Rudii, one of our favourite stories of 2022.
Rudii was hit by a car in August last year, causing severe damage to her right hind leg and paw, the bitumen grazing off all of the skin, muscle, tendons, ligaments and some bone from the inside of her limb. Luckily the rest of her body was relatively unharmed. She was rushed to the emergency/afterhours clinic in Hobart where our colleagues stabilised her, did some tests and managed her pain before she returned to us for further treatment.
Rudii required SIX general anaesthetic procedures to completely clean out and debride all of the dying tissue from her leg over the next two weeks. Once the leg was clean and had started the healing process she needed a specialised orthopaedic procedure to place an artificial ligament to stabilise the hock (ankle) joint. After this surgery she needed another TWELVE bandage changes (including six under sedation) over the following 3 months whilst the wounds healed completely and her skin re-grew. Despite the pain, she still happily hopped up the driveway for her treatments followed by a good helping of liver treats every week!
Rudii still has a little hop in her step but has otherwise made a full recovery and was back swimming at the beach and following her owner around at work by Christmas! We are so happy for Rudii and her very loving and dedicated owners - the recovery was not a short or easy process for them either - but so worth it to see her now.
Well done Miss Rudii!
💦NICE DAY TO SWIM WITH THE KIDS💦
We just adore the antics of the animals interacting with our native garden. Everyday, without fail, we have numerous birds drop by to bathe in our bird bath. Come 11am, the bird bath is like a sprinkler, with water flicking everywhere💦
🐈⬛ 🐈GIDGET & GEORGIA.....LUNCH TIME SHENNANIGANS🐈 🐈⬛
Meet Lady Gidget the Southern Beaches’ homely clinic cat. On a daily basis she loves nothing more than to share a luncheon with her favourite veterinary nurse, Georgia.
Here the two of them share a “Lady & the Tramp” moment. Begs the question who is playing the part of Tramp?
*************WINSTON'S WHIMSY*************
May we introduce one of the Southern Beaches' grandest gentlemen, Mr Winston. Winston enjoys nothing more than a daily frolic on Primrose Beach, with his little Maltese/Shih Tzu side kick, "Missy".
It was with concern, that Winston came to visit me in January 2021. He had managed to rupture the cruciate ligament in his knee and was struggling with his daily walks on his beloved beach.
A dilemma arose, do we put a 10-11year old Golden Retriever through such a big surgery to stabilise his knee? For Winston's humans it was a fait accompli, Winston needed to run along his beach again, unencumbered and we were tasked with giving him the best possible chance of making that happen.
Enter our amazing Orthapaedic sugeon, Dr Chris, who expertly reconstructed Mr Winston's knee, along with the amazing nursing care of his adoring humans. It has been a lengthy process but we are proud to announce that this 10-11 year old is feeling footloose and fancy free again on his beach frolics.
Go Winnie❤❤❤
