Small Animal Newsletter - August 2021 - New Plymouth Vet Group

Vet industry changes since Covid

You may have recently read an article on Stuff regarding our current industry situation. Across New Zealand and Australia, we are experiencing an unprecedented shortage of veterinarians and a huge increase in pet ownership since lockdown in April 2020.

Within our clinic, we are busier than normal, especially with routine appointments and surgery. We ask our clients to be patient and plan ahead. If you know your pet is coming due for a vaccination or routine surgery, book early to avoid disappointment. We offer online booking for routine appointments, so you can book when it suits you.

Our appointment times are 20 mins, if you feel this time is insufficient, we ask that you contact the clinic so we can book a longer appointment time.

New Appointment Reminder System

Recently we adopted a new Appointment Reminder System. When making an appointment clients will receive a text or an email the day before to remind them of their scheduled appointment (provided we have their correct details).

This system also sends out our vaccination reminders. With our flea and worm control, we now send out treatment reminders, so if you buy a pack of 3, you will receive a reminder when the next monthly treatment is due. This of course only works if you give your pet the treatment at the same time you purchase the product. The system has the ability for you to opt-out of these reminders should you wish to.

Making sure we have your correct details is now more important given the introduction of this digital system.

Also please let us know if one of your pets passes away or is rehomed, so we can update our records.

Why are annual health checks so important?

A yearly veterinary examination ensures health problems are detected and treated early. This means a happier, healthier and longer life for our animal family members.

Our pets become VIPS’s (Very Important Pets) within our families. It is so important to make sure you visit your vet at least once a year. This is because our pets age much more quickly than humans and they can’t tell us when they are feeling unwell.

Preventative healthcare is about feeding and caring for our pets as well as detecting and treating any illness early. One of the most important steps in preventative health care is an annual veterinary examination.

We generally see on average around 100 pets a day! That’s around 500 a week.
We started in the 1950s originally to look after the dairy cows in the region.
We are one of the largest single-site veterinary clinics in New Zealand.
Our clinic has been awarded the status of BESTPRACTICE accredited veterinary clinic the NZ Veterinary Association – and are the first practice in Taranaki region to gain this recognition.
Some of our regular pet patients include cats, dogs, rabbits, pocket pets, tortoises, alpacas, sheeps, goats, lambs, pigs and miniature horses.
Our male vets in the practice have a combined experience totalling over 110 years (and there are only 4 of them!)
We have had over 4000 puppies come through our puppy classes since Lara started these 30 years ago.
Our vets are responsible for treating the exotic animals at the local Brooklands Zoo.
We offer a voluntary wild bird service where we rehabilitate the local wildlife so they can be released back into the wild including penguins, kereru, and tuis. In the past 5 years, we have triaged over 2000 birds.
We offer chemotherapy for our pet patients.
We offer a wide range of surgical procedures which include orthopaedic.
We support over 23 local community organisations and charities.

Lumps

Many dogs develop lumps on the skin during their lifetime, and Boxers more so than other breeds. All lumps are not created equal. Some are infections surrounding a foreign body eg grass seed or thorn; some are cancers which can spread throughout the body, and some are cysts full of fluid. Dogs may have several lumps at the same time.

What is best to do about these lumps?

It is a good idea to go over your dog once a month or so, checking for any changes in shape. If a lump is found that is painful, then a bruise or infection is likely.

A non painful lump is most often a cyst or growth (cancer). If a skin lump grows rapidly or bleeds on the surface, get your vet to look at it soon. A nodule which is smooth on the surface and grows slowly or stays the same size is less likely to be malignant, but there are no hard and fast rules.