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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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22nd January 2009
We are in the process of completing a study looking at the management of heart failure in dogs in the patients of this practice. We hope to then write to all dogs identified as at risk inviting them to an examination which will hopefully be free to you, the client. This is being funded by a drug company and is on a ‘no strings attached’ basis. This is the first study of this type attempted within the practice and is really exciting for us. The drive has been a paper recently published that offers compelling evidence that we need to fundamentally review our management of congestive heart failure due to mitral valve disease in dogs. Regarding previous news - the vaccine problem is well in hand and the road works still have not started!
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9th January 2009
Intervet, the international drug company, that has been taken over by Schering-Plough, the even bigger international drug company, has run out of dog vaccine. We used this vaccine having decided it was the best on the market for our area, and now have to decide what to do as an alternative. The vaccine is not expected back in stock until May 2009. We probably have around two weeks of stock to get a back-up in place.
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6th December 2008
Our server has been unreliable recently and so we had a new one installed yesterday. For those in IT it is not really a server, as our network is all of 3 computers, but a slightly higher spec PC which is now running the practice management system as virtual desktops. We should see an improvement in performance and reliability. The installation was not as described as we were told our computers would be “off line for about 20 minutes” whilst a back-up system was installed, then work could continue on the server without disturbing us. Of course we were without computers for the whole morning and with only one PC for the afternoon, but by the evening we were all back on-line. Apologies to anyone caught up yesterday, it was extremely frustrating for all at the practice.
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25th November 2008
VAT reduced to 15% from 1st December means 2.5% reduction in the vast majority of fees. We will pass on the whole saving although this will make little difference to most peoples bill. It will be interesting to see which companies raise net prices to keep the retail price the same, but increase their profit margin. We are still seeing cases of myxomatosis I am afraid and there has been an outbreak of kennel cough locally. The term ‘kennel cough’ is a little misleading though as it is a description of symptoms rather than a specific disease and is describing a cough as if trying to clear the throat. The local outbreak was amongst dogs walking together rather than associated with a kennels. There is a vaccine available against Bordetella Bronchiseptica and Parainfluenza which is a particularly nasty form of the disease but it does not protect against the milder types.
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9th October 2008
We are no longer obliged to provide ‘free’ services i.e. written prescriptions. There will be a £3.50 inc. VAT charge per written prescription as a contribution towards the costs incurred two years ago. This will only affect a small minority of clients anyway. We have been making good use of our new blood gas analyser and although sometimes we have had only reassurance we have now several cases where the results have fundamentally changed our treatment. August was very quiet for us but September has been more back to what we expect, so hopefully people are feeling more reassured and not ‘putting off for tomorrow’ as much as they were. Credit crunch, global warming and lots of rain has not made 2008 the best year!
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7th October 2008
“Under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2008 it is an offence to import, possess, supply or administer a veterinary medicine that is not authorised in the UK”. A client recently purchased a flea product from an Australian web site and had noticed that in the packaging it said only for sale in Australia. They neither realised they were breaking the law or that they paid approximately 2.5 x the price they would have paid in the UK. Further information is available here or here. Fortunately I have not heard of any counterfeit veterinary drugs yet. The WWW is unregulated and ‘free speech’ is the order of the day. People often ask about things they have read and some things are helpful and stimulate useful debate but other times it would be harmful if people took action without consideration. The weakest ‘proof’ are testimonials remember and often that is all we see. Please be careful and do not believe everything you read.
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30th September 2008
We have sent a newsletter to all our clients. We would draw your attention to the meeting on the 15th October regarding fireworks as they will be here before we know it and the new Advantage Scheme.
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11th September 2008
We have a new piece of laboratory equipment. We have an i-stat electrolyte and blood gas analyser. It is a reconditioned unit bought for £1250 + VAT which is actually a fantastic price. We took delivery yesterday and it has already proved useful. Lung worm has been mentioned in the press. We switched to Milbemax Wormers because of the concern regarding lung worm so please be assured that steps have already been taken and you are well ahead of the game.
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20th August 2008
Congratulations to Hannah! She sat her final exams and has just received confirmation that she has passed all parts of her examinations including the practicals and portfolio. She is the first student we have trained within the practice and to pass all exams first time is a major achievement.
Our initial reaction to the television programme on dog breeding last night is that things are not as bad as portrayed and nothing new has been raised. Hopefully action will be accelerated but we suspect changing breed standards will take a long time. One thing to avoid is the “we had to buy the puppy because we felt so sorry for him and had to rescue him from that awful place” response which we hear too frequently.
We are told this is the wettest August on record. On the positive side we have no cases of heat stroke or fly strike so far this year.
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15th July 2008
All change at Greensands Veterinary Clinic. Natalie has left to work at Davies Referrals and Liz has returned to her old practice who opened a new branch a stones through from her house. We have Mike in as our new head nurse and Laura has started training with us. We realise there will be some disruption as everyone gets used to working as a new team but hopefully this will be minimal. There was a recent outbreak of avian influenza in Oxfordshire which seemed to be ignored by the press but it was confined to a single premises and all movement restrictions have now been lifted.
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3rd July 2008
We have a new product to ‘induce temporary infertility in healthy male dogs’. This is supposed to mimic castration and is by an implant placed in the back of the neck which then slowly releases hormone. Speak to the vet when you next come in for further details.
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17th June 2008
Many of you will have received the note from the PR company representing Wimpy about the ‘phase 3’ development of the NamPak site in Woburn Sands. There is mention of a veterinary surgery. Although we spoke to Wimpy at the very beginning of the development about the possibility of purchasing some land or a property and relocating, there has been no further communication from Wimpy and we do not know if this is a serious suggestion or not. We are not privy to any plans and although the thought of purpose built premises are obviously attractive we are approaching this with some caution.
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9th June 2008
Roadworks! The roadworks that we were promised not going to happen with the narrow pavement appear to be going ahead anyway. The traffic is building up at this end of Woburn Sands as well so please allow extra time for journeys. The train barriers are still not functioning properly and wont be until the track has been replaced, maybe. This may have been planned to coincide with the gas works to have one very bad traffic jam rather than prolonged moderate disruption? The delivery service will continue for now despite the rising fuel costs and the traffic lights.
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9th May 2008
We have been checking microchips again and found more that are not registered correctly. If this continues we will be changing our chip company. We think it is a problem with the registration process rather than being corrupted once registered but people are still not checking their certificates thoroughly.
We are about to launch a free delivery service, an announcement will be made shortly.
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21st April 2008
The waiting room and consulting room now have a fresh coat of paint and it all looks much better. This is the decorating we have been putting off since last Summer because of the proposed road works. BSAVA congress has been and gone for 2008 and we have some new ideas, and are looking at new anaesthetic monitoring equipment and lab equipment. We briefly looked at digital radiography but the technology we want is still too expensive and if we are to make such a major investment we want to get it right first time. There seems to be increasing incidents of ‘exotic’ diseases around the UK too, probably due to climate change as well as the PETS travel scheme. We now have even more to try and discuss at vaccination apart from just the choice of vaccines and the health check..
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17th March 2008
Thank you to Fulbrook School for being so welcoming to me last week. I was asked to go in on Tuesday 11th to speak to the children about ‘veterinary’ and ended up giving presentations to a year 5 and a year 6 class. I think everything went well and I hope the School enjoyed the rest of their science week.
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