Opening Hours Mon-Fri: 8am-8pm; Sat: 8am-4:30pm;

Sun: Closed Consultations by appointment

Pet Passports

Congratulations to vet Sarah who has passed her Official Veterinarian exams. Official Veterinarians are appointed by the government to carry out regulatory work, such as completing Pet Passports for cats and dogs travelling abroad. Sarah joins our existing Official Vets Adele, Blanca, Heidrun, Katharine, Rosie, and Sheldon. __________________________________________________________________________ Dental care Daily tooth brushing is the best way to reduce plaque and tartar formation on our pets' teeth but some pets do not tolerate this, and other pets (like people) will still develop some tartar despite regular brushing. For these pets, regular scaling away of the tartar under anaesthetic is strongly recommended, before permanent damage occurs to the gum and tooth socket. This will allow pets to keep their teeth and maintain healthy gums and is far preferable to leaving the tartar on the teeth for longer and then having to extract teeth that could have been saved at an earlier stage. Here are pictures of a dog's mouth before and after scaling under anaesthetic. The third picture shows some teeth that have not been cleaned regularly and now require extraction.

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More than just a tummy ache! Dexter, the miniature dachshund was unlucky enough to suffer from an episode of bloat after stealing some chocolate biscuits. As the biscuits were digested in his stomach, they created a lot of gas which caused his stomach to swell. Dexter needed to have his stomach emptied and stabilised under anaesthetic but he went on to make an excellent recovery and is doing well now.

Newsletter March 2018

Opening Hours Mon-Fri: 8am-8pm; Sat: 8am-4:30pm;

Sun: Closed Consultations by appointment

Update on new rabbit virus Last year the first cases of new rabbit virus RVHD2 were confirmed in Bedford and we saw a significant number of cases in a short space of time. Because the virus spreads easily through the air and on contaminated shoes and clothing, we have employed special measures to reduce the risk of the disease spreading between our rabbit patients. These measures have included:

• recommendation that all rabbits are vaccinated against RVHD2 every 6 months in addition to the usual myxomatosis and RVHD1 vaccine

• veterinary staff wearing additional protective clothing to handle rabbits • housing rabbits from different families in different wards within our hospital • not accepting rabbits into the hospital for routine surgery if they are not vaccinated

against RVHD2

We have not seen any new cases for a number of weeks now, but have decided to continue all of the above measures for a further 6 months. This is to make sure that we do not see a resurgence of cases as the weather starts to improve. Please speak to a member of staff if you would like to discuss this further. ___________________________________________________________________________ Breathing more easily Some dogs with very shortened faces can have problems breathing as they are often born with very narrow nostrils and a long soft palate that gets in the way of the airway. We advise surgery to make breathing easier for dogs that are significantly affected. This surgery involves enlarging the nostrils and shortening the soft palate. These before and after pictures show the improvement in nostril diameter in a recent patient. ___________________________________________________________________________

You can now book vaccinations online through our Facebook page Click on the "Book Now" button (underneath our cover photo)