Why attend the 2025 VSS Conference? Hear from one of this year's attendees!
We're gearing up for an unforgettable event, with a program that is jam packed with incredible speakers, engaging sessions, fun social events and unparalleled networking opportunities.
🎫Last's year's conference SOLD OUT. Get your tickets ASAP to avoid disappointment🎫
💻BOOK NOW at www.vssconference.com💻
We also have some exciting NEW sponsorship opportunities to ensure your brand reaches a highly engaged, targeted and captive audience.
💻More info is available at www.vssconference.com/sponsorship-prospectus.html💻
📩For all sponsorship or other enquiries please email: [email protected]📩
#vetconference #veterinaryconference #conference #veterinarycommunity
This incredibly happy, gorgeous and rotund girl is Khaleesi, who is currently beating all the odds. In May of this year, Khaleesi’s owner noticed a rapidly growing mass along her mammary chain. She was presented to her primary care veterinarian, @marsdenvetsurgery Marsden Vet. Screening blood work was run and chest x-rays taken. Khaleesi then underwent general anaesthetic with surgery to remove the mass.
Khaleesi’s primary care vet and owners were optimistic, because only 50% of mammary tumours in dogs are malignant. Unfortunately, this tumour was diagnosed as malignant and, worse than that, it was classified as a specific sub-type of mammary tumour, called a micropapillary invasive carcinoma, which tends to display more aggressive behaviour.
The worry was that Khaleesi might have microscopic metastasis, which occurs when some cancer cells separate from the primary tumour and move elsewhere in the body via the blood stream or lymphatics. These cancer cells can then develop into secondary tumour nodules, called metastasis, in locations such as the lungs, liver or spleen. Khaleesi had been checked for obvious metastatic nodules at the time of diagnosis, and none were seen, but it is impossible to detect individual microscopic cancer cells, in most cases.
To try to combat these microscopic metastatic cells, Khaleesi commenced a combination chemotherapy protocol at VSS Underwood, which was selected to target the cancer cells as aggressively as possible. While more aggressive chemotherapy protocols can have more side effects, in Khaleesi’s case, she has cruised through her treatment, remaining her bright and bouncy, exuberant self the entire time.
Khaleesi received her final dose of chemotherapy a couple of weeks ago. She also had repeated chest x-rays and an abdominal ultrasound to check for any nodules and, again, none were seen; Khaleesi still appears to be in a clinical remission.
Hooray Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons!
#khaleesi #petoncology #petcancera
Congratulations to Dr Ambre Latrasse, who has just accepted a position as Senior Intern in Surgery at VSS Carrara, commencing at the beginning of 2025.
Originally from New Caledonia, Dr Latrasse moved to Australia to pursue her passion for veterinary medicine. She graduated from the University of Queensland in 2023 and is currently completing a Rotating Internship with us at VSS, where she has developed a keen interest and experience in surgery, under the guidance of our experienced Surgical and Specialist teams.
Dr Ambre has shown significant growth and commitment these past ten months, and this is a very exciting step in her career. Congratulations Dr Latrasse on this well-deserved appointment – we can’t wait to see where this takes you!
#vetintern #veterinaryintern #veterinaryinternship #vetsurgeryinternship #newcaledoniavets #newcaledoniaveterinary
In honour of our veterinary Nurses - who wear so many hats in the daily operations of our hospitals - the team at VSS Jindalee decided to celebrate Veterinary Nurse and Technologist Awareness Week by wearing even more hats!
#vetnurseweek #veterinarynurseweek #vettechweek #veterinarytechweek
Stenotic nares in dogs are one of the many primary components of brachycephalic obstructive airway disease that we address surgically. In brachycephalic cats however, the stenotic nares can be the main problem, and addressing these can significantly increase these cats' quality of life. Dr Abbie Tipler, one of the founding specialists of our BCU unit at VSS Jindalee performed a mini advancement flap and alarplasty on this little cat. See the before and after photos for this cat, and also of a French Bulldog, one of her other cases on the same day, for comparison.
#stenoticnares #boassurgery #brachycephaliccats #brachycephaliccat #frenchbulldogpuppy
Meet Kai, a cute as a button Corgi who stole everyone's hearts at VSS Jindalee. Kai is 5 years old and was affected by a ruptured disc in his cervical spine. His disc rupture was so severe that he could not walk or move any of his legs and was having difficulty breathing. Specialist Surgeon Dr Abbie Tipler, who delicately operated via a Ventral Slot to remove the offending disc material, said if the rupture had been any more severe, Kai wouldn't have been able to breathe at all - he is one lucky little man. The nursing team became particularly attached to Kai and Dr Tipler was under strict instructions that he was to be brought out the back for a visit when he came for his recheck. Here is is saying hello to the friends he made in hospital just a couple of short weeks post-surgery. Look at him now! His owners are ecstatic - what a great outcome for this little guy.
We are excited to introduce Gus, our very first patient using the patient specific guide (PSG), which was designed and 3D-printed at VSS Underwood by our Surgical Registrar, Dr Lincoln Chau for angular limb deformity correction.
Dr Chau utilised computer-aided design (CAD) technology to plan Gus’ limb deformity correction and to design an osteotomy and reduction guide that is specifically tailored to Gus’ leg. CAD is a technology that is widely used in human orthropaedic, maxillofacial and spinal surgery, and has recently become more popular in the veterinary field.
A CT scan was initially performed on Gus. The images were then imported into the CAD program, in which a virtual surgical correction was performed. Patient-specific cutting and reduction guides were then created and printed with a 3D-printer using an autoclavable and biocompatible resin.
Gus initially presented to VSS for bilateral antebrachial angular limb deformity. The first correction was performed around five months ago, and his owner recently brought Gus back for contralateral limb correction. The majority of this kind of antebrachial deformity contain a complex malalignment in the frontal, sagittal and axial plane. As a result, it is often challenging to quantify the deformity of each individual plane based on 2D images - and even harder to transfer these detailed 3D plans in surgery. With the use of the patient-specific guides, this virtual surgical plan can be executed in a much more accurate and precise manner.
#3dprinting #3dprinter #limbdeformitycorrection #surgicalcorrection #3DPrintingSurgery #CADsurgery
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The VSS Carrara team observing @ruokanyday R U OK? Day with a team lunch and treats baked by some of our veterinary team (Dr Graham has a particular talent in the kitchen). This was a good opportunity for the team to check in on each other in what can be a sometimes-difficult profession). While we celebrate annually, asking RU OK? any day of the year and starting just one conversation could change - or even save - a life.
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If you or anyone you know needs help:
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
#RUOK #ruokday2024 #ruokanyday #ruokay #mentalhealth #mentalhealthmatters #mentalhealthawareness
Meet Ellie, a 2-year-old Golden Retriever who was referred to VSS Underwood by her family vet at @vetlove_southside with an unknown metal object viewed on her radiographs (x-rays). Ellie originally presented to her vet for radiographs to determine if she was pregnant; however, the unknown metal object was detected, and removal was recommended.
Upon presentation to VSS, her radiographs were repeated to confirm the object was still located in Ellie's stomach. The foreign body was then removed using the minimally invasive technique of an endoscopy with Dr Sophie Wyatt - Internal Medicine Registrar - and five x 20 cent coins were removed!
A repeat radiograph was taken to ensure complete removal of any foreign objects. Ellie recovered in hospital from her procedure and returned home later the same day for an evening of rest and to recover from her general anaesthetic. Ellie is fortunate that these coins were incidentally found, as unknown metal ingestion can lead to intestinal blockage or metal toxicity (if the metal contains zinc or lead, which can also affect other body systems).
#foreignbody #endoscope #goldenretriever #vss #veterinaryspecialistservices
💉Thank you to our blood donor, Bear, whose selfless donation could save the lives of up to three other animals.
🐕Similar to humans, blood transfusions play a vital role in treating life threatening conditions in animals.
🗓Donors can donate every 3-6months and only a small volume of blood (12mls/kg) is collected.
💉All transfusions DO NOT require anesthesia, although a light sedation may be administered to "excitable" donors for their own safety.
✅Donors must be comfortable in a veterinary hospital setting; aged 1-7 years; up-to-date with vaccinations; and weigh over 25kg.
🐶We have allocated screening days for potential donors which include FREE testing for infectious diseases, general health profile screening and blood typing.
📱If you would like your dog to be part of this life saving program, please contact VSS today on 1800 442 648.
#dogblooddonor #dogblooddonations #dogbloodtransfusion #HeroDogs #herodogs
TPLO @ VSS
Cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) disease is the most commonly occurring orthopaedic disease of the canine stifle (knee joint). Surgical treatment is almost always recommended to stop or slow down, as much as possible, the progression of degenerative joint disease (DJD).
Many surgical techniques have been described and the choice of surgery can be impacted by each patient's unique anatomy, but by in large, Tibial Plateau Leveling Osteotomy (TPLO) is most often recommended at VSS. Whilst traditionally thought of as a procedure for medium and large breed dogs, we can also offer TPLO in small dogs. Generally speaking, TPLO is considered the 'gold standard' for the management of CCL disease in dogs of all sizes.
These x-rays show different sized patients. For reference, the "ball" is the same in all of them, being 2.5cm.
For more information or to discuss a specific case with our surgery team, please contact 1800 442 648.
#tplo #tplosurgery #cruciatesurgery #cruciateligamentsurgery #vetsurgery #vetsurgeon #vetspecialist #caninesurgery #vetkneesurgery #caninekneesurgery
🦷Pet Dental Health Month: ⚽️🏀BALL THERAPY!! 🏀⚽️🦷
🦷 Ball therapy is a treatment used to try and correct Linguoverted Mandibular Canines (base narrow canines).
🦷 At its core, ball therapy is an orthodontic treatment where the appliance is removable and fun to play with!
🦷 We recommend use on ERUPTING permanent (adult) teeth and not on effective on deciduous (baby) teeth.
🦷 It is not very effective once the adult teeth are completely erupted, so there is only a small window of a few weeks for this treatment to be most useful.
🦷The best type of balls to use are quite dense, but have some give. Things like tennis balls are too 'squishy' and do not give enough resistance; and so minimal force is applied to the teeth. A dense rubber ball is ideal, such as KONG™ or Kazoo Pet™ brands.
🦷 It MUST be the right size – not too big, not too small. The ball will place a lateral tipping force on the mandibular canines as it is carried around (as per these diagrams).
🦷 Ideally, ball therapy needs to be performed at least THREE times a day for approx 15 minutes at a time for this treatment to have an impact.
🦷 If your pup is not keen on balls, then smearing something tsty on the ball (e.g. peanut butter) may tempt them to play.
For more information and a printable handout please visit: www.animaldental.com.au/information/ball-therapy
#petdentalhealthmonth #petdentalhealth #animaldentistry #kong #kazoo #balltherapy #balltherapyfordogs
