Clinton Street Veterinary Clinic Summer Newsletter 2019

Santa is coming down the chimney soon and cricket is back on our screens or radios.  Summer brings with it the chance to spend more time outside with our furry friends, and it makes for much more pleasant (and sweaty!) outdoor calls to farms.

Happy Holidays

Over the Christmas-New Year period the clinic will have limited opening hours, with no elective surgeries (e.g desexings or dental procedures) over the holiday break. A veterinarian is on call for emergencies at all times.

24th December: Open until 1pm

25th December: CLOSED

26th December: CLOSED

27th December: Open 9am to 6pm

28th December: 10am to 12pm

29th December: CLOSED

30th December: 9am to 6pm

31st December: Open until 1pm

1st January: CLOSED

2nd January: Resume normal hours.

We wish all of our clients and patients a very safe and happy holiday season. If any patients need chronic medications before the holidays, then please visit or call the clinic prior to closures.

 

Fire Safety for Animals

With a horror bush fire season already impacting humans and animals, it's important to make sure you are prepared with a plan to keep your animals safe. The RFS website has excellent information for pets and for horses.

Some of the important things to remember:

  • Don't tie animals upthey need to be able to get away from fire
  • Make sure your pet's microchip, registration and collar tags are up to date with correct contact information
  • If you evacuate, take enough food and medication for your pets for at least a  week
  • Identify the safest place on your property for horses a cleared paddock with a dam, or a large sand arena. Otherwise, decide where you will take your horses if you need to leave, and be prepared to leave early.
  • Stock should be put into the lowest risk paddock early in the day, next to a fire trail or firebreak, with ample drinking water. Cutting fences can cause more confusion, especially for sheep whose mob instincts can put them in more danger, and stock on roads can make it difficult for emergency services to get through.

Keep up to date with fires near you at the RFS website: https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/

 

Feeding horse in dry times

As the drought continues and a lack of rain has brought most grass growth to a halt. It is important to remember that your horse needs to eat approximately 1.5% of its body weight in fibrous feed such as grass / pasture or hay per day. Therefore a 500kg horse needs to eat approximately 7.5kg.  A horse will obtain the bulk of that fibrous feed from the grass in a normal year, however once paddocks become overgrazed, hay will need to replace the grass.

 A pregnant mare in the last weeks of pregnancy and during lactation will require approximately 70% more calories than a dry mare. Additionally, horses will need 25-30L of water a day and may need up to 50L per day in extreme hot weather.

Finally, as there is a lack of grass cover, there is an increased risk of horse ingesting the soil or sand on the ground as they try to get every last piece of grass. Sand can accumulate in the intestines of a horse leading to impactions and colic. It is best to avoid your horse eating sand and this can be done by feeding hay in feed racks or hay nets. Additionally rubber matting under the feeding area will catch any of the hay that falls out. High fibre diets will help move along any sand as it accumulates in the horse's gastrointestinal system. Furthermore using psyllium husk for a week once a month increases the fibre in a horses diet and can help clean sand out of the intestine.

 

Beware of Fleas and Tick in Summer

With the warmer weather, fleas and ticks become more common. Although Paralysis Ticks are not particularly common in Goulburn, if you are taking your dog to the coast, you should be using a good quality tick prevention at this time of the year.  We generally recommend using the newer generation, isoxazoline family of chemicals. These medications come as either a tablet or a spot on treatment and work very quickly to repel external parasite. Although no parasite prevention will be 100% effective, the new generation isoxazoline family is the best prevention currently available. However, if you are in a high risk tick area, we would recommend daily tick searches and removal if you find any ticks.

Fleas love the warmer time of the year and dormant flea eggs will hatch and jump onto your cat or dog as they go past. Only 5% of your flea problem will be on the pet and the additional 95% will be in the environment as either eggs or larvae ready to hatch, but ensuring the flea lifecycle is broken with good quality products is crucial to getting fleas out of your house.

 

Have a laugh

What do you call a cow that plays the piano?

A moo-sician

What did the farmer call the cow that had no milk?

An udder failure
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