Medical

Mumma Lilah

animal welfare, Animal Welfare League of Qld, Medical

I spent some time with Mumma Lilah the Labrador and her puppies today. Lilah gave birth late last week after being abandoned by her owners and has been through quite a lot while having to protect and keep her babies safe. Despite her hectic ordeal she is such a sweet girl and loves attention. We wanted to find her a foster home that was quiet and relaxing so she can care for her babies in peace. Check out our video below.

Spring has definitely sprung and we are beginining to see a high number of mummys and babies – If you have a pet that isn’t desexed please don’t add to the stress of shelters. Desex your pet! http://www.ndn.org.au
 

NBN NEWS helps promote foster puppies

Animal Welfare League of Qld, Media, Medical, pet care, Uncategorized

Today I caught up with NBN news to talk about the importance of desexing your pet. As the weather heats up shelters are inundated with with litters of kittens and puppies from unplanned pregnancies.
Australia has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world. Four out of five Australians have owned a pet and almost two-thirds of Australian households currently own pets. Despite these figures, around 23 cats and dogs die every hour of every day in pounds and shelters nationwide. Due to the ongoing problem of pet overpopulation, these healthy, loving animals are being killed because there are not enough homes available. Desexing helps put a stop to this statistic.

VIEW THE NBN NEWS CLIP HERE

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Babie’s got FAT

animal welfare, food, Hans Sausage, Medical, pet care

I asked our Facebook following recently about how often they walk their dogs after it was discovered that one in five dogs are overweight. Luckily our readership are active and healthy and so too are their pets, but it occured to me that there must be pet owners out there that have overwieght pets and just don’t know it.

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Rhino V’s Stick

Medical, Uncategorized

Who doesn’t love a game of fetch? Whether it be with a frisbee, ball or stick. Rhino our favourite Staffy is a huge fan of fetch but recently found himself at the vet after catching a stick which was then lodged in his throat!

Vet’s are working hard to educate pet owners about the dangers of sticks as it becomes an increasingly common case. In Summer when people are spending more time outdoors with their pet injuries can occur when a dog runs onto a stick in the ground, forcing it down their throat and cutting under the tongue or even tearing the gullet further back.

But this isn’t the only injury. Below are other injuries throwing sticks can have.

Eye: There is direct damage to the eye. If the force of the penetration is great enough, the stick can result in damage to your dog’s brain, too.

Mouth: Stick penetration in the mouth can damage a lot of important structures, including the tongue, laryngeal and pharyngeal tissues, palate (“roof”) of the mouth, teeth, esophagus, and trachea. These traumas can also damage the nerves or blood vessels within your dog’s neck, and, depending on the direction the stick takes, there can be significant damage to your dog’s sinuses or brain.

Chest: As you might imagine, with all of the important structures that are present within the chest cavity, the damage that a stick penetration in this area can be severe. Along with the heart and lungs, the chest also houses many large blood vessels and important nerves, as well as the diaphragm, trachea, and esophagus.

Abdomen: Stick penetration in this area can easily result in damage to multiple important organs. Commonly affected organs include the stomach, liver, spleen, and intestines.

To make matters worse, the initial damage caused by the penetration of the stick isn’t always indicative of the full extent of a dog’s injuries. Despite best efforts, it’s often possible for small fragments or splinters of wood to be missed during initial surgical exploration of such puncture wounds, because sticks shatter and splinter upon impact. Wood itself doesn’t necessarily show up on X-rays, especially small splinters of wood.

We went to visit Rhino after his ordeal and brought him a Purina Chew Squeaky Stick. We know he will love it when he is all better which after a couple of weeks rest

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Rhino after his operation1493147_10152039543392107_2007231154_n

Rhino’s brother and sister (Tank and Peach who are both rescue dogs) spent time chilling out in the cool while Rhino got better.

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Odie’s Butt…

Hans Sausage, Medical, Odie Sanchez

On Christmas Eve 2011 Odie Allan Sanchez was very excited as he was set to spend the break with me at my parent’s 100 acre property in NSW. No leash, hanging out with the farm dogs and Hans Sausage, chasing cows, rolling in poop…. You know the good life!

What he didn’t expect, (nor I for that matter) was that he would wind up in a country vet clinic undergoing an operation to fix a soon to burst Anal Gland. A WHAT? I hear you say, yep you heard correctly ANAL GLAND. Now I never knew this but these little glands are realllly important. Most people, (myself included), would never think about their dog’s anal glands until there’s a problem with them. For those of you that are wondering, (and come on you have read this far so how can you not be), these glands are designed to provide lubrication when a dog passes a stool, and they also give each dog its own unique scent. They are sometimes more affectionately known as ‘scent glands’.

Now Odie is a bit of a lazy chap and spends pretty much all day under a blanket chilling out and snoozing, so for me to realise he had a ‘full’ rear end  and was in pain was difficult. To be honest the first sign I knew something was wrong was when I let him out of the car after our journey to the farm and he yelped when he tried to poop. I assumed he had been bitten on the bum by an ant, (who doesn’t think pooping right next to an ants nest is the best idea ever)?

Just hours after the initial Yelp his right butt cheek had swollen and he found walking difficult. He would walk a couple of steps, sit, try again, and sit. THIS WAS VERY UPSETTING!! I phoned the Vet who I had caught just in the nick of time as he was leaving for his Christmas holidays and  before I could even get Odie’s symptoms out of my mouth he blurted, ‘IT’S GOTTA BE HIS ANAL GLANDS..’……. “Ummmmmmmmmmmm excuse me?”I said, horrible images running through my head. This was followed by “YEEEEEEEP, you had better bring him in pronto, that little bugger would have to be in pain”. Great, am I the mother of the year or what? I thought hanging up the phone and racing out the door almost forgetting to even grab Odie on the way out.

When I got to the clinic it dawned on me that I was taking my teeny tiny Chihuahua to a Veterinarian that helps deliver lambs and calves before breakfast and it was probably a while since he had seen a dog a small as Odie. The ‘that’s not a dog, this is a dog,’ jokes were already running through my mind and I almost got back in my car set to forego Christmas and take my little Chi back to the Gold Coast. But when I entered the clinic I was happy to meet Joe, a kind, no nonsense bloke who was so nice to Odie and promised he would take very good care of him.

Odie had to be put under anaesthetic and basically have his butt check sliced open in order for the Veterinarian to fix his gland but as soon as he woke up it was if he was a brand new dog. (With a really trendy shaved backside and a gaping hole in his butt cheek no less).

Every few months now I make sure that I take Odie to the clinic for a check up and to make sure his ‘glands’ are in check and I think if you own a small dog you should put it on your to do list as well.. Here are the signs to look out for in your dog.

Signs the Glands Are Impacted

If your dog’s anal glands fail to express properly, they may actually become impacted and make your dog very uncomfortable. Watch for these signs:

·       Your dog begins scooting or dragging his rear across the floor.

·       Your dog keeps licking or chewing near his rectum.

·       Your dog’s stools have become soft and mushy.

·       You’ll likely notice a foul or “fishy” odor coming from your dog’s rear.

If you notice one or more of these signs, it may be a good idea to take your dog in for a check-up or end up watching your dogs butt blow up like a balloon and have them not be able to walk more than a metre before sitting down and wincing in pain. (Broke my heart).

Love and Licks Brooke, Hans + Odie