Pet Health

From socks to balls, stones to string, Foreign Body Ingestion is more common in pets than you might think.  And when it happens, it can become a serious and costly emergency. Knowing what to do if your dog or cat swallows something they shouldn't can mean the difference between life or death - literally! Why dogs and cats chew Dogs and cats chew for many...

Bloat in dogs, also known as Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (or GDV), is one of the most serious emergencies we see in veterinary practice. It comes on suddenly, and without rapid treatment, is often fatal. Bloat starts when a dog’s stomach fills with gas, fluid, or food and begins to expand. In some cases, the stomach then twists, cutting off blood flow to vital organs and trapping...

Dental disease in dogs, known as periodontitis, can seriously impact our dog’s overall health and wellbeing, There is a mountain of evidence in humans and increasing volume in veterinary research to show that poor dental hygiene releases bacteria into the blood stream and is associated with heart, liver, kidney and airway disease as well as diabetes. More than 80% of dogs over the age of three have...

Many dogs with skin allergies include those breeds with skin folds.  We talk to Clinical Naturopath and herbalist, and pet food nutritionist, Narelle Cooke, about how she helped Ziggy the Bulldog to lose weight and improve her skin with a Big Dog raw food diet. You must see a lot of dogs with skin allergies and needing to lose weight, how does diet impact on...

With over 6000 pets bitten by snakes each year in Australia* it is important to recognise the signs of a snake bite and that you know what to do if facing this life-threatening emergency. Snakes are prevalent in the warmer months particularly around creeks or dams where there is fresh water. However, 73%* of reported snakebites in dogs happen in their owners’ backyards. Symptoms of...

Acupuncture for dogs is increasing in popularity so Dr Jennifer Robinson from Melbourne Vet Acupuncture explains how it works. What is acupuncture? Acupuncture being one aspect of Traditional Chinese Medicine that focuses on restoring the energy balance in the body to promote healing. It requires the insertion of fine needles into the dog’s body at specified points, called acupuncture points. In Chinese medicine Acupuncture points...

When it comes to the benefits of probiotics for dogs, especially puppies, there are many. The health of a pet’s digestive system has a remarkable influence over the health of the rest of the body, and probiotics play an important role in keeping it healthy. The digestive system is responsible for taking in food, digesting it and turning it into absorbable nutrition. It is also...

As pets continue to be perceived as members of the family, an increasing number of people are wanting to prepare their pets’ meals, including a raw food diet, themselves so they have full visibility over the quality of the ingredients that make up their diet. The term 'complete and balanced' is also becoming increasingly common when describing our pets’ diet. This term is important because...

Winter can be tough on our dogs and is a time of the year when some owners can become complacent on providing the level of care their dogs need, so Winter safety for dogs should be a top priority as the temperature drops. Having evolved over millions of years to become our closest companion animal, dogs rely solely on us to provide them with the...

When it comes to storing pet food safely, do you give it as much attention as you might your own food? If your answer’s no, then you might not realise the impact this is having on, not only the freshness and nutritional values of the product, but also your pet’s health. Dry dog food can go rancid Let’s start with kibble. People seem to have...