THE MICROCHIP ITSELF IS ABOUT THE SIZE OF A GRAIN OF RICE AND IS IMPLANTED USING A

SPECIALLY DESIGNED IMPLANTER.

BERNARD GETTING HIS MICROCHIP - NOT IN THE LEAST BIT BOTHERED ALTHOUGH THAT MIGHT HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE BISCUITS!

THE SCANNER WITH A CHIP NUMBER ON IT AFTER SCANNING AN ANIMAL. THIS ALLOWS US TO LOCATE

THE OWNERS DETAILS AND CONTACT THEM.

J A N U A R Y - A P R I L 2 0 1 4 N E W S L E T T E R

Ashlea Veterinary CentreIt’s Cold Outside !

It’s wet, windy and cold outside, so time for winter coats and wellies - but what about our pets? What should we be doing for them?

DOGS With dark mornings and early evenings it can be difficult to exercise your dog sufficiently during

daylight hours, but they need to get out regularly to prevent boredom and frustration. There is

now a fantastic array of fluorescent clothing for both humans and dogs,

along with flashing collars and leads. So be seen

and be safe! Short coated dogs will benefit from a warm,

waterproof coat, as will any elderly or arthritic dog. With grit being spread on icy roads and pavements it is advisable to rinse and dry all dogs’ feet after a

walk to remove the dirt which can become trapped in the hair between their toes

If you and your dog do venture out on our beautiful Cumbrian fells in the cold then remember to carry plenty of canine snacks; it’s very easy for them to

become hypoglycaemic (low blood sugar) as they burn energy both running about and trying to keep warm. Remember to dry them off thoroughly back at the

car - dogs get hypothermia (too cold) as well! If you have tiled floors at home where your dog sleeps then some extra layers of bedding for both padding and warm will be appreciated in winter,

especially if they are arthritic. Arthritis and associated stiffness may become more

obvious in winter - if your dog seems affected then do please talk to us. A course of anti-inflammatories can help many older pets to

become more comfortable

CATS To protect our feline friends please make sure that all antifreeze for the

car is safety put away. Antifreeze has a very sweet flavour and cats will lick it readily, but once absorbed it causes acute kidney failure which is rarely treatable

and usually fatal. Whenever there is a hard frost or snow on the

ground there will be cats that get upset with the frozen conditions and don't empty their bladder as often as they should. This can make them prone to cystitis, so we would recommend introducing a litter

tray somewhere in the house for emergency use. An elderly cat will also appreciate not having to go out in miserable conditions to go to the loo! Watch what you’re feeding as it very easy for cats to put on

weight if they decide to go into hibernation and not venture outside at all. So be prepared to cut back on their food or to switch to a lighter diet.

RABBITS In the wild bunnies live in underground

burrows where the temperature changes only slightly between summer and winter. By

keeping our rabbits above ground we subject them to a greater range of temperatures so it is vital that we keep them warm and dry. We would always recommend that rabbits are kept in pairs; snuggling up to each other amongst some extra bedding will help to keep them

warm. Hutches should be placed away from the prevailing wind and properly insulated (don’t forget to put some beneath the floor!) And do make sure their

water bottles don’t freeze - check them twice a day. Remember that even in bad weather pet rabbits will need to exercise

every day, but they will need access to a covered, warm area should the weather change quickly. However those rabbits which are very young, elderly, ill or thin may need additional care and may be benefit from

becoming indoor rabbits for the duration of winter.

Below is a photo of the adorable Bernard getting microchipped. As you can see he doesn’t seem bothered! A microchip is implanted under the skin on the back of the neck. Now, if Bernard ever gets lost or stolen we, another vets, the police or a shelter will be able to scan for the chip and then locate his owner, reuniting them quickly and with minimal stress to all involved. If your pet isn’t chipped get them booked in today!

TRUTH

OR MYTH? !YOU ONLY NEED TO

VACCINATE YOUR PETS

AS

PUPPIES/KITTEN

S? !MYTH

Animals In War ! 2014 marks 100 years since the start of the First World War. There are going to be lots

of things happening this year to commemorate this anniversary. We thought we would try to include a small article in each newsletter about animals in war, and for this newsletter we’re

looking at the Dickin Medal. !The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the UK by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For

Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue. The award is commonly referred to as

"the animals' Victoria Cross".

The medal was awarded 54 times between 1943 and 1949 – to 32 pigeons, 18 dogs, three horses, and one cat – to acknowledge actions of gallantry or devotion to

duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defence Units, during the Second World War.

The awarding of the medal was revived in 2000 to honour Gander, a Newfoundland dog who saved infantrymen during the Battle of Lye Mun. In early 2002, the medal was

given in honour of three dogs for their role responding to the September 11 attacks; it was also awarded to two dogs serving with Commonwealth forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina

and Iraq.

The first recipients of the award, in December 1943, were three pigeons, serving with the Royal Air Force, all of whom contributed to the recovery of air crew from ditched aircraft during the Second World War. The most recent animal to be honoured is Theo, a search dog serving in Afghanistan. As of October 2012, the Dickin Medal has been

awarded a total of 64 times.

Thank you so much for your support of our charity events this year. Our charities for 2013 were Comic Relief, Hounds for Heroes, Cumbria Cerebral Palsy, Cinnamon Trust,

International China Concern and Sponsor a Bed at Eden Valley Hospice. When this went to print we had

raised £1561.83 and have received some lovely letters thanking us for the money we have distributed.

We started last year with a cake and marmalade sale for Comic Relief where we raised £340, and with the the practice donating £1 for every transaction on Red

Nose Day the total raised came an impressive £400.

The Ashlea Vet Quiz took place on the 24th March 2013 and we raised a huge £730. A great time was had by all, as 26 teams competed for the title and

many gifts were generously donated to the raffle. The winning team was the interestingly named ‘Richard Gere’s Hamster’. Thank you to all who took part! We were delighted to be able to send £500 to Hounds

for Heroes

Despite the heat of June our Cake Bake was a great success raising £250 which we passed on to Cumbria Cerebral Palsy.

In August Kirsty and son Andrew completed Total Warrior. It’s known as the toughest 10km race with 25 punishing obstacles. They were part of a team raising money for International China Concern; it was great to have your encouragement and your sponsorship. We raised £250 for International

China Concern.

We were able to give £250 to Cinnamon Trust in October. The Cinnamon Trust is a national charity for the elderly, the terminally ill and their pets. We heard about Cinnamon Trust when

Team Onswitch stopped by for tea and food on their crazy fundraising trip, cycling from Snowdonia to Fort William, and climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. Chris then joined

them for the cycling leg of their trip from Carlisle to Dumfries.

We plan to Sponsor a Bed at Eden Valley Hospice and Eden House Childrens Hospice with the money raised from our chutney sale together with any funds

accrued from our charity box on the front desk.

We would love to hear any suggestions for fundraising ideas and for charities we could support in 2014 and beyond. Put the 2014 Ashlea Vets

Quiz in your diary now, it is booked for Jan 31st at Pirelli’s Social Club - start swatting up now!

It is humbling to realise that we’ve raised £11584.83 in the last 11 years. So thank you, and well done; it’s only because of your generous donations that it’s been possible.

Some of our yummy cakes

Total Warrior

Comic relief fun

Chris setting off on his bike ride.

Springer Spaniel Theo with his handler Lance Corporal Liam Tasker.

Labrador Sadie, worked as a sniffer dog in places like Afghanistan to find bombs.

The first animal to be awarded the Dickin Medal - a pigeon known as G.I. Joe

The Dickin Medal

The 2013 Quiz winners - have you got what it takes to

beat them this year?

Abby’s Scabs’ Viewpoint !If you haven’t been introduced to Scabs yet, she is the feisty but adorable tortoiseshell cat we have adopted as our practice cat. Her official name was

Scabby Abby due to her ongoing skin problems when she was brought in as a stray in September 2012, but we’ve found that Scabs has stuck much more than Abby! When she was first brought in she also has severe tendon damage in her back

legs but happily licks her Loxicom from the end of a syringe each day to ensure she can get about

pain-free! She definitely thinks she’s in charge of things round here so we decided to let her have her own column to let you know what

going on in the practice... !“I don’t have as much to say as normal this time but with it being winter I spend as much time as possible curled up asleep - so I

think I might have missed some things! There seems to be some new

people around, I’ve tried to trick them into feeding me some sardines but apparently

someone got to them first to tell them about my bad skin and special diet - I should have stayed awake more that day! They seem nice though despite the lack of sardines - there are two student vet nurses called Felicity and Lauren

and a new vet called Kathyrne. There have been some good new toys in the pet shop. I’m waiting to

choose my Christmas toy but need to do it when there is no one looking, if anyone asks it wasn’t me! They

seems to have calmed down with all the re-decorating, not that I’m surprised as there really isn’t anything left to paint, they have a new office desk with some things on that don’t look fun or edible

but they seem to be using them lots! That’s all for now but I should be awake more by my next column so I’ll make sure I know what’s

going on and fill you in on all the ‘in-house’ information!”

Lovely Little Rosey With Her Not So Little

List Of Problems! !We first met Rosey when she came to us as a tiny puppy in 2002. She came with a cold and an umbilical hernia but grew fast to be a healthy little dog. !She was seen for vomiting and diarrhoea in 2003, a recurrent ear infection in 2004 and a nail bed infection in 2005. We removed a cystic mass from the underneath of her tail in 2007 and she had an eye infection and ulcer in 2010. Her ear problems returned with vengeance in 2010 but once again responded well to drugs carefully selected for the type of bacteria in her ears. In 2011 she had a seizure but all her bloods were fine and as this was her first seizure we didn’t initiate any treatment. !In 2012 we noticed her coat was looking thinner than normal but her weight was stable and apart from the need for a dental she was doing well. We scaled and polished all her teeth under anaesthetic and extracted two teeth. After this she was back to her normal bouncy self! !In early 2013 vet Kirsty, noticed Rosey's coat looking thinner still and she had gained weight. She also had a ‘pot-bellied’

appearance that is seen with a disease called Cushing’s disease, or hyperadrenocorticism. Kirsty decided that it would be a good idea to run some blood and urine tests. While these did not confirm the suspected diagnosis of Cushing’s they did indicate that it was very likely. To diagnose it we need to perform a more complex blood test called an ACTH stimulation test. This is where we measure the level of cortisol (a naturally occurring steroid) in the blood, then we inject the dog with a substance that should stimulate the body to produce more cortisol and re-measure the amount of cortisol in the blood an hour later. Rosey results were consistent with Cushing's so Kirsty decided to start her on treatment, a capsule called Vetoryl. When we reassessed Rosey a couple of weeks later she was much brighter in herself and she was now drinking normal amounts. So we planned to recheck her a few weeks later, but Rosey had other plans! !For a couple of days later she was back as a lump had appeared under her right jaw. It appeared to be something called a sialocele, which is an accumulation of saliva under the skin with a surrounding tissue reation. There was an area of inflammation in her mouth so we admitted her to examine her mouth under an anaesthetic. There was not only inflammation in her mouth but a mass or growth that appeared to be blocking the

salivary ducts. We woke Rosey up and discussed the options and the risks with Rosey’s owners. A week later when Rosey was admitted for her operation - the mass in her mouth was smaller and so we were able to remove it and re-establish normal drainage of the salivary gland into the

mouth without having to remove the gland as well. This was back in February 2013 and so far there is no evidence of any re-growth….a good result all round! !We repeated her ACTH stimulation test a week later and it was much better. It still

wasn’t completely normal but the levels were good and so we advised Rosey’s owner to keep her on the same dose of Vetoryl. A month later Rosey was continuing to do well and her coat was starting to grow back too. Again, we thought that apart from 3 monthly prescription checks and continuing on the Vetoryl, which is a life-long medication, we wouldn’t be seeing Rosey a lot. But we think Rosey just missed us and at her check in August her owner showed us a mammary lump she had noticed. With many lumps, samples can show whether it is benign or malignant and whether or not it will need removing. We would normally do

this by a procedure called a fine needle aspirate, where we extract a few cells from the lump with a needle and syringe and examine these cells under the microscope. This doesn’t work with mammary lumps because they can be both benign and malignant at the same time in different parts of the lump! So our usual recommendation is to surgically remove any mammary lumps before they reach a significant

size, but as the lump had only just appeared Rosey’s owner agreed to monitor it for a month in case it was simply a swelling or cyst. The lump did grow and so Rosey was admitted for surgery again in November of this year. We neutered (spayed) her at the same time to prevent a potential pyometra (infection of her uterus) after future seasons. Rosey recovered amazingly from her operation and when we last saw her in mid-November to remove her sutures she hadn’t managed to find any more problem and her Cushing’s Disease appears to be well under control with her daily medication. But knowing Rosey she’ll be back to see us before long! !Rosey has been registered on our in-house Healthcare Plus scheme since 2006 so her owner has only had to pay a first consultation for each condition as well as her monthly payment of £24.50. Last year alone that saved her £2073.37 - definitely a good decision and a worthy investment!

Rosey in October 2013 with her coat back to normal, just

before her lump removal.

Cheeky little Rosey posing for the camera!

Rosey in February 2013 with her thin coat

Me taking my loxicom, it’s yummy!

AS H LEA V ET C E NT R E

Ashlea Vet Centre Ltd Unit 2b

Port Road Business Park Carlisle

CA2 7AF Tel: 01228 549177

www.ashleavets.co.uk www.facebook.com/ashleavets !

Surgery Times Mon, Tues & Thurs

9am - 6.30pm Wed & Fri

9- 6pm Saturday

9am - 3pm !Consultation by appointment only For emergency advice or attention

beyond these hours phone the practice on 01228 549177 and listen

to the message for the duty vets number

Veterinary Surgeons Chris Barker MRCVS Kirsty Barker MRCVS Morag Liddon MRCVS Laura Askew MRCVS

Kathryne Hodgson MRCVS Receptionists

Christine Coulthard Karen Steele

Nurses Rowena Batey RVN Katy Clarke RVN

Rachael Scholes RVN Lauren Batey RVN

Student Nurses Ruth Asquith

Hannah Mason Felicity Clegg Lauren Bowe !Practice cat

‘Scabs’

You might have noticed a change in staff… Laura will be on maternity leave from the middle of January, although she’s planning to return at the

beginning of 2015. Laura and husband Phil are excepting their first baby in February. We’ll let you know on Facebook when he/she arrives!

Kathryne Hodgson joined us in December and although initially is here to cover Laura's maternity leave, is planning on staying after that to join the

Ashlea Vet team as a permanent staff member. Outside of work Kathyrne is a keen competitive swimmer including braving open water swimming in Windermere!

RECOMMEND A FRIEND AND WE’LL GIVE YOU BOTH £5 OFF! Once your friend has registered with us we’ll give you a £5 credit towards your next visit, while your friend

will get £5 off their first transaction of £15 or more. !This credit can be used for such things as neutering, vaccination, flea and worm treatment. Full terms and conditions can be read on our website. To claim your £5 credit fill in your details on a card available from reception then pass the card onto your friend. All they have to do is bring the completed card with them when they visit us to register. There is no

limit to the number of friends you can recommend but each friend may redeem only one voucher.

Reba the Savannah !Reba first came to us in 2011 as an adorable 14 week old kitten. She was a house cat but started venturing outside at the end of last summer and all seemed well. !Then at the end of September 2013 she

was brought in having been attacked by a dog. Her temperature was low, she was pale and in shock but there were no obvious external injuries. Unfortunately we have seen several cases of dog attacks on cats where while there are no obvious external injuries (like wounds or fractured legs) there are ‘hidden’ internal injuries, which can be life-threatening and even fatal. !Knowing this and seeing how ill Reba was, we admitted her to investigate further. An x-ray showed that her diaphragm (the layer of muscle between the abdomen and thorax) was intact but there was a lot of bruising to her skin, mainly on the right side. Hidden beneath her intact skin were multiple holes + haematomas (large blood blisters) in her muscle layers. Vet Morag stitched these holes together but needed to look inside her abdomen for any further damage. Unfortunately she found that the ligament between her spleen and stomach had been completely torn apart and the spleen was moving freely about in the abdomen. Her only option was to remove Reba's spleen, but animals can tolerate this well. Further damage was evident around the kidneys which are usually covered by the smooth lining of the abdomen - the peritoneum. This has also been torn in the attack and through it could be seen part of the

right kidney. There was also a lot of bleeding and swelling close to the kidneys and we had to warn her owners that we couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t damage to the ureters (the tubes going from the kidneys to the bladder). Morag carefully suturing Reba together, inserted a drain to help prevent fluid building up while she was healing, then slowly woke her from her anaesthetic. Before she was fully awake we put her on a special combination of pain relief called a MK infusion. This is useful for pets in extreme pain and is a combination of morphine and ketamine in a bag of fluids given as an intravenous drip that can be controlled by a electrical pump. !The next day Reba’s temperature had come back up to normal and she seemed comfortable. But she wasn’t interested in eating, an essential part of any recovery. The MK infusion, while brilliant at controlling pain, can make the patient feel nauseous, so we weaned her off the drip, making sure she had an alternative form of pain relief. Her temperature went slightly higher than it should have done so we gave her an additional antibiotic. !

The following day she was still very tender in her abdomen and not interested in food, so we use the ultrasound scanner to check how her organs and abdomen were looking. Everything looked good! However she was still very scared and so we sent her home to see if she would be more relaxed there. It worked! We spoke to her owner the next day and she had started to eat some chicken and was managing to urinate well. We removed the drain a few days later and the skin sutures a week after that. Everything healed very well and she has never looked back!

Reba having a cuddle with Morag

Reba’s abdomen after the drains had

been removed.

Reba’s xray showing us her diaphragm was intact

Diaphragm

Kathryne with her rabbit Bart