Current News

22 June 2010
“Rabbit owners - do not forget 'Rearguard' for flystrike prevention.   We may have a hot summer this year and cases of flystrike are not that uncommon.  Call in to  the surgery for further information.” Posted on Facebook today

2nd June 2010
We are part of the St Francis buying group, and have been for some time now. This enables us to get much better terms with suppliers, and control  costs, than if we were to stand alone. This does not affect the day to day  running of the practice and enables us to concentrate of getting the most effective and best value products without worrying about manufacture deals etc. We aim to be able to give pets individual treatment based on needs rather than trying to push a one size fits all approach. We fiercely guard our independence.

11th May 2010
Little puppy with skin cream poisoning is still doing very well! May is flea month so there is a promotion running on ‘Frontline Combo’. We have a couple of local schools we shall be visiting over the next few months on their career days, so we may see some of you there.

30th April 2010
Lots of things happening at the moment.  GAS is really taking off now so are people taking full advantage of the discounts and offers available.  We are testing the water with Facebook and Twitter and although are not really sure the best way to use these ‘technologies’ are making an effort. We have recently returned from BSAVA (British Small Animal Veterinary Association) congress in Birmingham. This is 4 days of lectures and trades stands and is exhausting.  Bob, Cassie and Rebecca all went along and attended lectures given by speakers from around the world on subjects from feline cardiology to dermatology to orthopaedics to chickens etc etc We have already had several cases where we have been able to apply new ideas and methods and so far we have been pleased to see a marked improvement in outcome. We are looking at changing the web site design also, hence the delay in another ‘news item’, but nothing decided yet.

SKIN CREAM CAN BE TOXIC
We have a puppy that may well not survive because she has eaten a tube of psoriasis cream. Vitamin D is very toxic and this puppy has managed to get 500x the toxic dose and 4x the lethal dose of vitamin D from the tube. We contacted the Veterinary Poisons Information Service and received a lot of information and case reports. Most dogs die within the first 24hrs and there can be a prolonged toxic effect; even sunlight can add to the toxicity.  This puppy is looking very bright and happy at the moment and is receiving excellent care and attention at home.  Please take extra care if you have any of these products.  Apparently dogs have shown toxic effects after licking the area where the cream has been applied and seem to like the taste.  There is no warning on the leaflet enclosed with the tube of cream. There are treatments available but it depends on how quickly you realise the product has been eaten, and then how quickly you realise how poisonous it is.

19 February 2010
Three and half years after Ashley joined us for two years on his career path he has decided to leave.  He returns closer to his parents after a difficult year and we wish him the best of luck. We will be joined by Rebecca Howell in March and we are looking forward to welcoming her to the Greensands Team.

21 January 2010
An interesting start to the New Year with plenty of snow.  We have used the pet blood bank again, cross matching and transfusing packed red blood cells which still feels very new to us. We have frozen our professional prices for now, only the VAT will make any difference, but we have applied an electronic up date to drug prices.  We had 165 prices increase but 150 prices decrease. We have never had that many product lines actually decrease in price.  Happy New Year!

14th December 2009
The St Michaels Christmas Tree Festival was a great success apparently.  We collected our tree yesterday but I believe some are being left behind for a while.  Thank you to everyone who brought pictures of their pets in.  Christmas can be a hazadous time of year for our pets, please remember chocolate can be poisonous, bones can be bad, houseplants can be poisonous, cables can be chewed etc. There is a study being launched by the Animal Health Trust looking at the genetics of cancer in certain breeds, we will participate but just need to clarify a few details.  You may be asked about this if your animal comes in for surgery. There has been a few cases of kennel cough around, none of the dogs had been into kennels recently but fortunately all cases have been relatively mild.

30th November 2009
We have sent out our first ever e-mail reminders for vaccinations for December 2009, we would greatly appreciate any feedback.  The E-mails went out today.

23 October 2009
Sue could stand the madhouse no longer and has left her position as receptionist after 3 years.  She has qualifications to work with children and many of you will know her from when she worked at Woburn Lower School as a classroom assistant. We wish her luck as she returns to this field, we are sure she shall do well as she is so passionate about working with children, wishing to teach children with special needs.  She shall be missed.  We have started interviewing for the position and received over 80 applications! We are a pilot practice in a new venture with a team at the Royal Veterinary College trying to establish a national disease surveillance scheme in small animals (mainly dogs and cats!). This involves an impressively named ‘Venom’ code system on our practice management software.  It was in place 2 days ago and so far we have had no problems.  Early days but this is exciting to be involved with and we shall provide updates as the scheme develops.  We have had recent confirmed cases of cat flu, both calici and herpes viruses, so please ensure all vaccines are up to date.  We have arranged with our laboratory for a courier whilst the postal strikes are taking place, and are absorbing the costs within the practice, hopefully we will have a quick return to normal service.

29th September 2009
Although the summer was not all that was promised, and we are in a recession, our pets seem mostly unconcerned.  We have noticed a few pets missing their vaccinations, and we have seen a few cases in a far more advanced stage of disease than we would normally expect, but so far we have no major disease outbreaks.  The level crossing is going to be closed for at least 7 days at some point but there are ongoing ‘negotiations’ between WSBCA, network rail and other parties as to when this will be. Fipronil resistance is reported and there has been speculation that there is resistance developing in UK fleas.  In a brief search I found resistance reported in cockroaches and an insect which attacks rice, but no UK flea resistance. Fipronil is the active ingredient in Frontline and part of Frontline Combo.  We are monitoring this closely as we stock and recommend Frontline Combo.

29th July 2009
We have the new yellow sign out saying “Vet Open”. As people often only see the turn by looking for the sign we kept it yellow but simplified the design slightly, hopefully it will do the job. Although the high hopes for a hot summer have been dashed we have a had a puppy with an unusual seasonal complaint. We had to sedate him then remove a bee sting from the centre of his tongue.  This sounds severe enough but he was actually in the previous day with a swollen face following a bee sting. How many bees to make a puppy learn not to play with them?

22nd July 2009
We have seen some literature regarding an increase in tick born diseases.  This does not appear to be an issue in the local area but if you are travelling this summer make sure the Frontline Combo is up to date and take a ‘tick hook’ with you.  If you a have a long haired cat or dog you will need to take extra care with grooming, we have had a case of flystrike in a dog which is very rare to see at this practice.  The warm and humid weather plays a large part and if you cannot stay on top of the coat it may be worthwhile getting your pet clipped.

1st July 2009
We continue to enjoy the hot weather and so far we have not had any pets brought in as a direct result.  Parvo virus has been in the veterinary press recently. There are still plenty of cases around the country but so far none of the ‘new strain’ have been found in the UK. The strain of parvo virus used in our vaccine would appear to offer protection anyway, so if the media does generate a ‘killer virus’ story do not panic, we should be fine.  I believe cases have been found in Italy, Germany and Portugal.  Lung worm is killed by Milbemax wormers so we have that covered too.  Swine Flu has thus far not been isolated from pigs, so the name is misleading.  For most people this will make little difference but for the people with pigs, and the pigs themselves, I am sure they are grateful.  Cast your mind back to the measures proposed with bird flu!

2nd June 2009
We have had a case of feline leukaemia virus.  The cat was very sick and the decision was made to put her to sleep yesterday. Our perception within the practice is that feline leukaemia (FeLV) is relatively rare in this area but when we reported it on the CICADA disease surveillance web site it would seem to be on the increase.  We use the Purevax range of cat vaccines which should provide a robust protection against the disease. The cat affected was originally a stray and we think contracted the disease before she arrived at her new home. FeLV is a risk to any cat that goes outside the home and therefore can meet other cats.

16th April 2009
Nobivac Lepto vaccine is now back in stock two weeks earlier than anticipated. We have not decided yet whether to stay with this vaccine supplier or not, as although the product is reasonable and the versatility excellent there are other good vaccines available.  Purevax Cat vaccines have not been affected and we continue to be pleased with our cat vaccine choice.  Hannah is leaving us at the end of April to pursue her dream to work with “exotic” animals.  We wish her every success for the future.

17th March 2009
We have started to compile the results from our heart month. Some of the results can be seen here.  The biggest impact was obviously to individuals where a previously undiagnosed heart condition was detected but a staggering one in seven dogs was found to have heart disease. This was much higher than expected.

11th March 2009
We ran a ‘Heart Month’ for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and Dogs over the age of seven in February.  We sent 685 letters to owners with dogs in those categories and we actually had over one hundred come in to be checked.  This was an excellent response and we are going through the data now.  Initially we picked up very few murmurs but in the final week we had five and I will place the results I am able somewhere on this web site. The study was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd and although we will share data with them, none of it can be traced to individual dogs or clients.
Fulbrook has their annual science week this week and I was volunteered to go and speak yesterday.  I had a short presentation, some quiz questions for the children and lots of questions to answer myself. We had lots of fun I think, there was one year five class and two from year six. Thank you to Fulbrook for making me feel so welcome.

17th February 2009
We lost the fax line, which we also use for the card payments. We lost the broadband connection, so we could not even collect our emails.  We are slowly recovering but it is staggering how much disruption has been caused by one careless telephone company. We attempted our first email ‘mail shot’ to apologise for the inconvenience and let people know the phones were working again, I hope everyone received that.

9th February 2009
The phones are now working again!  The main 01908 282101 number was actually stopped on Friday the 6th and we could get no logical response from the phone company as to why - “Computer says No”. We are trying to find out now what happened and have contacted Ofcom who will let us know who raised the stop order.  The plan was to e-mail, then set up to text, giving out the fax line number which was unaffected. Fortunately the main line was returned to us before we had to start confusing people.  We apologise for all the inconvenience caused, as the snow has been causing enough problems without more.

3rd February 2009
We are open. Getting to the practice has been difficult at times but we have all made it so far.  The children have enjoyed themselves anyway!