Dr Peter Ko

01/10/2024

Please keep your laundry away from your pets‼️‼️

Lots of dogs have a fe**sh on eating socks and underwear, this little cavoodle has a very expensive taste of eating a pair of underwear and causing a linear foreign body obstruction from stomach to mid jejunum.
Luckily for her the surgery went well and hopefully she has learnt her lesson and stay away from the laundry basket in the future.

29/12/2023

Really amazing stuff that the Brisbane cardiologists have done!!

17/11/2023

Very happy to be involved at the Year 10 Mock Interview at Yarrabilba State Secondary College. Met a bunch of bright teenagers and hopefully they have gained some insight towards the veterinary industry from the session.

03/11/2023

X-rays vs Ultrasound

The most common diagnostic imaging tools that we see in general practice are radiographs (x-rays) and ultrasound. A lot of clients might wonder what’s the difference between them.

In general terms, X-ray images are generated with radiation beam that highlight the difference between bones, soft tissue, fluid and gas. Ultrasound utilises ultrasonic wave that hits the animal body and bounces back to the probe to generate images of the organ or tissue that were scanned.

In most cases, X-ray is more sensitive in cases that involve different structures or organs such as fractures, thoracic pathologies, obvious foreign body obstruction and organomegaly. Ultrasound is very sensitive on small structural changes in organs and is particularly useful in detecting abnormal abdominal pathology.

There are some common features between these two diagnostic tools and when used together, they also complement each other. Your clinicians would assess based on your pet’s case type and their own skill set to recommend the appropriate diagnostic method. X-ray is a very common procedure and most vets would be extremely good at that; ultrasound, on the other hand, requires higher skill set and experience. therefore this might not be the first choice of diagnosis for some clinicians.

In conclusion, there is not one diagnostic tool that is more superior to the others. Different cases require different approaches and in most scenarios, a combination of tests will achieve a better outcome.

28/09/2023

Beware of the dangers of small sticks and bones❗️❗️

Most pet owners know about sticks causing penetrating wounds and risk of obstruction with bone ingestion. However small bones or sticks getting stuck between teeth are also very common. They don’t typically present as emergency but usually with drooling, excessive licking, excessive chewing and maybe pawing the mouth.

If your dogs are showing these symptoms, a quick look into the mouth might reveal the bone or stick and some dogs might actually let you remove that object. For more severe cases, they will require sedation to remove the object and follow with pain relief and antibiotics.

To prevent this from happening, it is always recommended to keep an eye on your pets when they are playing with sticks or chewing on bones. Remove the damaged stick or bone when necessary.

24/08/2023

Puppy vs chew toy 🤡🤡

This little boxer pup has swallowed a whole plastic centipede chew toy and luckily we are able to induce emesis and he vomited the whole thing out.

Sometimes foreign bodies are in different shapes or consistency and induce emesis might not be an option. Unfortunately in that case we will need to surgically remove the object or refer for gastroscope.

Please keep a close eye on your young puppies as they are the biggest offenders of gastrointestinal foreign body cases that we see.

27/05/2023

About 10 years ago I picked this young kid up from Brisbane airport to settle his new life in Brisbane.
Today me and a group of friend went to try out this new Japanese restaurant called Ippin in the prime location of west village. When I arrived I was greeted by a young gentleman and turned out he is the kid that I know from 10 years ago and has become the proud owner of this fantastic restaurant.
Food and drinks were awesome but more importantly very glad to see you come this far and wish you and a very successful future. Will definitely be back for more great food 😋

16/05/2023

Thanks and very well said. Dr Abbie Tipler - Specialist Small Animal Surgeon

An open letter to 'A Current Affair'. From me.

Dear A Current Affair,

I am a Veterinary Surgical Specialist and I write to express concern about your recent segment, which contains highly irresponsible, poorly researched content. Next time you wish to provide a public platform for someone to moan about paying fees they consented to (fees to provide advanced life support and spinal surgery to their pet), only to ask the staff to 'have a heart', I would suggest you researched two topics;

1 - The impact it has on vets and veterinary nurses to be told every day they are 'in it for the money'.
2 - The French Bulldog breed.

Veterinarians are not just tired of the emotionally manipulative narrative that they must not care about animals unless they provide this care at a low cost - it is actually killing them. Veterinarians have 4x the su***de rate of the general population, and research tells us this type of 'story' contributes. As hardworking individuals, we go in into the profession optimistic and hopeful about saving lives. In fact we pay thousands of dollars to train to do just that. Veterinary specialists (similar to a human specialist) pay even more for training, and make sacrifices you can't imagine. What we didn't factor in, was the fact we would get daily abuse for doing our job, because we need to charge for this service (so that, you know, staff/rent/equipment loans can be paid...).

Here are some readily accessible resources you can access. The 'sick as a dog' podcast especially highlights the effect this emotional abuse has on our profession.

Veterinary Su***de:
https://www.sickasadogpodcast.com.au/
https://www.nomv.org/
https://www.flynnswalk.com.au/

The French Bulldog, a second research topic.
The French Bulldog is the cutest breed you could ever meet. I have a special interest in treating them. The reality though - they are bred for the cute squishy faces and not for health. In fact, things have got so bad, some may say they are virtually incompatible with life. Here is some information on these breeds.
https://www.ava.com.au/love-is-blind/
https://www.change.org/p/australian-national-kennel-council-improve-the-welfare-of-brachycephalic-dogs

I propose a segment on the French Bulldog, and the emotional toll treating this breed takes on the vets trying to save them (often to no avail). You could give the segment a catchy name like 'I bought a breed I knew may need life-support, I just didn't want to be the one to pay for that life-support', and you would already have the footage.

Your irresponsible reporting of the French Bulldog case, hauling a small business over the coals for doing their job, I find especially disappointing from a well-respected high-profile show. I hope you will consider a follow-up segment reporting on the actual facts behind these situations.

Regards,

--
Dr Abbie Tipler ATCL BVSc MANZCVS FANZCVS
Specialist Surgeon

08/05/2023

There is nothing routine about a routine desexing surgery!!!

GP vets and clients often refer desexing surgery as routine surgery, yes, we do a lot of it, we are very good at those surgeries. But, there are still a lot that goes into those surgeries and in fact, there are no major differences between them and other ‘non routine’ surgeries.

Apart from the surgical skill from the vet, there are still a lot of preparations before surgery, anaesthetic monitoring during surgery and recovery after surgery.

Most people would be paying between $200-600 for routine desexing surgeries, this is often heavily discounted compared to normal surgery. However what you getting is a full service as same as other full priced surgery.

06/02/2023

Sometimes we can see some really amazing things with wildlife.

This kookaburra was brought in with a dead kingfisher attached to its beak and the dead kingfisher’s head was stuck in its mouth and blocking the kookaburra from eating. The kingfisher was successfully removed under anaesthetic and the kookaburra was sent to RSPCA wildlife hospital for further care before releasing back into the wild.

27/10/2022

For the past couple of months we have treated more than 100 tick paralysis cases, most survived, some died. On average the cost of treatment is between $2000-3000. Around 95% of those patients are not on any tick prevention and some are completely indoor animals.

A good quality tick prevention product such as or only cost about $30 a month and greatly reduce the risk of tick paralysis. This year is probably the worst tick season in 5 years most likely due to the high rainfall during winter, if your pets are not on tick prevention still please act quickly before it’s too late.

On the video our nurse is clipping a 9 weeks old puppy that is being treated for tick paralysis to search for other paralysis ticks. Fortunately this puppy made a full recovery after a few days in hospital. But remember, there are no age limits for tick paralysis, ensure they’re on tick prevention once they reach a suitable age for the product.

14/10/2022

To all the vet nurses that I have worked with,

Thank you

03/08/2022

Rat bait kills rats but can also kill other domestic pets like dogs and cats. I regularly see dogs come in with rat bait ingestion or toxicity, some are worse than others.

Rat bait causes coagulopathy meaning blood not able to clot properly. Dogs with rat bait toxicity can have a variety of clinical signs from lethargy and weakness to uncontrolled bleeding in oral cavity, thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. Untreated rat bait toxicity can be life threatening.

Key treatment of rat bait toxicity is vitamin K. It helps to regenerate clotting factors to counter the rat bait action. However for severe cases blood transfusion, oxygen ventilation or euthanasia might be required.

The simplest way to prevent this from happening is not to use rat bait. But if you have to, please ensure that your pets can’t have access to the bait and ensure that they do not ingest any dead rats as they can still acquire toxicity from dead rats.

Photos are from different dogs

09/07/2022

Do you have a dog that has white skin/fur? This is very relevant to you if you do.

Skin cancer is very common in dogs, one of the most common skin cancers is haemangioma. This type of tumour is usually formed directly related to solar radiation or UV light. Dogs that has non pigmented skin are most prone to these tumours.

Surgical excision usually curative for these tumours however there is a high chance that new tumours will grow on other part of body and would require surgery again when that happens. Cryosurgery might also be useful depending on the size of tumour.

The most effective way to prevent these tumours from forming is to limit the exposure to sunlight. This is particularly important to dogs that has non pigmented skin and those that love sunbathing. Applying doggie sunscreen or using a good dog coat can also reduce the exposure to UV light.

It is important to know that some of these can be malignant and not necessarily be haemangioma, therefore histopathology after excision is very important.

15/05/2022

Congratulations and Darren on your wedding🍾🎊💍

It was an absolute honour to be there celebrating as your friend and colleague. May your love grow stronger and stronger each day and have a happy marriage ever after!!

“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14

01/04/2022

Australia is well known for venomous snakes and most people have probably seen one in their backyard before. If your dog has seen chasing or killing a snake, how would you know if it has got envenomated or not?

There are different clinical signs associated with snake envenomation such as neurological signs and coagulopathy. Some of them can show up quickly and some don’t. Treatment for snake envenomation is time dependent, the earlier we provide treatment the higher successful rate we achieve.

What if no clinical signs are shown?

Snake detection kit is a useful tool to determine not only if your dog has got bitten but also what type of snake it is as well. These two puppies have seen playing with a snake and owner wasn’t sure if they have got bitten. Luckily both showed negative from the detection kit and went home straight away.

26/03/2022

Great day out with the best colleagues at 🐎🐎

13/03/2022

You’ve heard blood donation in human, dogs and cats. But do you know goat can donate blood as well?

Goats in South East Queensland always suffer from worm burdens. Worms can make them severely anaemic and sometimes they need an urgent blood transfusion as a treatment.

As we don’t routinely stock goat blood, a blood donor is always required.

This photo is showing a sedated goat donating blood for a sick patient.