Alnorthumbria Pets

Meet Fangio! Here Fangio is having a glucose monitor fitted as in early December he was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus - a disease where the pancreas fails to regulate blood sugar. Fangio initially presented with increased drinking, weight loss and high levels of glucose present in his urine. From here Fangio was started on insulin to treat his diabetes. Newly diagnosed diabetes can take some time to stabilise as the correct amount of insulin required to treat the disease needs to be calculated and can be different for every patient. This monitor reads Fangio’s blood sugar levels without needing to repeatedly take blood samples and can be done from the comfort of his own home, minimising further stress of travelling to the vets. It allows the Vet to fine tune Fangio’s required dose of insulin to keep him stable and his normal happy and healthy self! He was a very well behaved patient!

Happy National Black Cat Day! Cats Protection created the day in 2011 after statistics showed that black cats took longer to find homes than other colours. Folklore follows black cats throughout history, whether it them being witches pets, bad omens and bringers of misfortune. However, along with some cultures, we like to think black cats are a symbol of good luck! Share your “monochrome moggies”!

****Warning images of surgery**** Jett attended our Morpeth branch for her routine lap-spay procedure. Unbeknown to everyone, during the surgery, it was discovered Jett had a peritoneal pericardial diaphragmatic hernia (a hole in her diaphragm) which can have potentially life threatening consequences if not corrected! This is often due to congenital abnormalities (in Jett’s case) or blunt force trauma such as falling from heights or road traffic accidents. Jett was referred to a referral practice for this and the hernia was sutured up to prevent abdominal organs from spilling into her chest cavity, which was observed during this corrective surgery with the liver and gallbladder moving in and out of the hole! As you can see Jett is well on her way to a full recovery with only a few more post-operative checks before she’s given the all clear!

Here we have Ralph undergoing an orthopaedic procedure where we used a nerve stimulator to monitor the effectiveness of the nerve block used. This helps to see if the anaesthesia being injected, so Ralph doesn’t feel any pain during and following the procedure, is in the correct place and is working correctly!

A consultation with Flynn

Join Flynn as he gets his blood glucose monitor fitted! Flynn has recently been diagnosed with diabetes following a stay at our hospital branch in Alnwick. Flynn attended our Ponteland branch where he saw Vet Jonny who placed a glucose monitor to monitor his blood sugar levels in order to fine-tune his insulin doses The monitor is really beneficial as it saves Flynn’s owners and ourselves from taking repeated blood samples, keeping Flynn nice and comfortable, and the readings are sent straight to a phone, charting the data

Tick bite prevention week! Be tick aware! With the warming weather, make sure you’re regularly checking your pets for these little critters 🪳 especially when walking through woodlands, tall grasses, bushes and leafy areas! They can be quite small and look like little skin tags Ticks can transmit disease such as Lyme Disease so it is important to protect your pets (and yourself!) Regularly using a flea and tick preventative can help keep your pets pest free!

‘Ode to Vets and Nurses’ You may never have seen behind the consultation room in a veterinary practice. So take a look at the work our vets and nurses do on the frontline every day to look after animals in veterinary practices, hospitals, in the field and on call- so that they receive the best possible care. Thanks to Molly Case for the poem you have written about our profession #careforanimals #veterinaryprofession