ACE VET FAQ'S
When you book a vaccination appointment, we tailor a vaccination protocol to suit your pet’s needs.
All vaccination consults include a complete health assessment and are an opportunity to discuss your pet’s health including the following;
- Parasite control
- Diet and body condition
- Training and behavior
- Needs specific to your pets life stage
- Breed Specific recommendations for desexing
WHY DO WE NEED TO VACCINATE?
Vaccination has revolutionized control of infectious disease in pets. It is essential that all pets are adequately vaccinated to help protect the pet population as a whole. Responsible pet care requires puppies and kittens to be given their initial course of vaccinations, but this cannot protect them for the rest of their lives. Adult dogs and cats require regular vaccination to maintain immunity against disease.
DOGS – WHAT WE VACCINATE AGAINST:
Parvovirus: A highly contagious virus that causes a severe gastroenteritis – infected dogs develop vomiting, diarrhoea, depression and often results in death.
Distemper: Another highly contagious virus that results in fever, coughing, nasal discharge and progresses to muscle tremors, paralysis and seizures. Treatment is usually ineffective.
Hepatitis: A viral disease that can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and in some cases sudden death. Recovery rate is low but those that survive often have long term liver and kidney problems and act as carrier of the disease.
Canine Cough: A respiratory tract infection that is caused by a combination of both viral and bacterial infectious agents that are highly contagious. Affected dogs develop a persistent cough which can persist for weeks. Rarely some cases may progress to pneumonia.
CATS – WHAT WE VACCINATE AGAINST:
Feline Enteritis (Feline Panleucopaenia): Infected cats develop depression, loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea. The death rate is high. Can result in abortion in pregnant cats or foetal abnormalities.
Feline Respiratory Disease: Majority of cases are caused by feline herpesvirus and/or feline calicivirus and are highly contagious, causing coughing, sneezing, runny eyes and nasal discharge and a loss of appetite. Cats recover over time but can remain infected and develop signs again during times of stress.
Chlamydia: Feline chlamydia causes persistent conjunctivitis in cats.
Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV): this virus affects the cat’s immune system diminishing its defence against other infections and disease which often occurs years after infection occurs. FIV is transmitted by bites from affected cats and so we recommend vaccinating cats that spend any time outdoors. (FIV is not transmissible to humans).
Maintaining good parasite control is important to keeping your pet happy and healthy.
EXTERNAL PARASITES:
External parasites affecting dogs and cats include:
Fleas, ticks and mites.
These parasites can have a negative impact on your pet’s welfare as they can contribute to intense pruritus (itchiness), hair loss and secondary skin infections. Fleas can also transmit tapeworms to dogs (and to their humans).
COMMON INTESTINAL PARASITES:
Common intestinal parasites include:
Roundworm, tapeworm, hookworm, and whipworm.
An intestinal worm burden can result in your pet having difficulty maintaining a good body condition or may cause illness including vomiting, diarrhoea, blood loss. Keeping your pet’s worming regime up to date will help to protect your pet and reduce environmental contamination which minimises spread to other animals and also to humans.
Heartworm is transmitted by mosquitoes, so prevention is recommended all year round. The immature heartworm is implanted under the skin by the mosquito, then matures in the heart to ultimately obstruct blood flow and interfere with heart function causing death from heart disease. Treatment is available, but is expensive and may be fatal in advanced disease.
Monthly preventative tablets and chewables are available from our hospital and we generally start heartworm prevention at your puppy’s second vaccination. However, recent studies show an increased incidence of heartworm when monthly prevention is used compared to the annual injection.
If you do go ahead with the annual injections, your new puppy will need them a little more frequently initially. This is to maintain adequate levels of the injection as your puppy grows.
The program is as follows:
- 10–12 weeks: First puppy Proheart injection
- 6 months: First puppy booster injection
- Annually: First annual Proheart injection (lines up with annual vaccinations).
TRADITIONAL DESEXING:
Speying a female (which involves the removal of her uterus and ovaries) will stop her coming into season and will significantly reduce the incidence of mammary tumours, the most common cancer in female dogs. It also means that infection of the uterus (pyometra) cannot occur, and the prospect of ending up with an unwanted litter is diminished.
Castrating males, (which involves removal of the testes) can significantly reduce testosterone-related traits such as urine-marking, hyper-sexuality, territoriality, and roaming. It reduces the incidence of prostate problems in older dogs, and eliminates testicular cancer.
As with keyhole desexing, traditional desexing involves a general anaesthetic and is a surgical procedure. Both of these procedures have risks associated with them and clients will be made aware of these. We use intravenous fluids throughout all general anesthetics and will discuss this with you further prior to surgery.
We recommend a pre-anaesthetic blood profile to minimise surgical risk. This test is carried out in our in-house laboratory and can be done in the morning just before surgery. If you have any questions regarding this test or any other aspects of the surgery please call us or drop in to ACE to discuss the surgery with one of our friendly team members.
KEYHOLE DESEXING:
Keyhole surgery (or minimally invasive surgery) is an advanced, safe and very gentle method for desexing your dog. This procedure requires only a very small incision and enables the surgeon to perform precision surgery. Keyhole desexing in females involves the removal of the ovaries only, rather than the uterus and ovaries which is performed during a traditional desexing.
Castration: Keyhole surgery can also be used to remove the undescended testicles of the male patient, safely and less invasively than the traditional open method.
Keyhole desexing offers numerous benefits over traditional desexing and is considered globally, to be the gold standard in desexing surgery.
The benefits of keyhole desexing:
Comfort: The gentlest method. Considerably less pain, during and post operatively. Requires much less aftercare.
Recovery: A rapid return to normal function and activities. Patients require only 2 days rest, as opposed to up to 2 weeks of confinement with the traditional technique.
Safety: Minimally invasive, smaller incisions with minimal blood loss or infection risk.
Medication: Shorter operative time with less overall anaesthetic. Less post operative pain control medication.
For more information download a Keyhole Desexing brochure or contact ACE Vet Hospital
Microchipping is not only a requirement for council registration of your cat or dog but is also vital in ensuring that your pet can be reunited with you should it become lost. The unique identifying number of your pets microchip will be uploaded to a nationwide database and linked to your contact details. It is important to update these details if your contact information changes or there is a change of ownership. If it is your first time having a pet microchipped you will need to apply for a source number through the Pet Exchange Register prior to your appointment.
Minimally invasive surgery is otherwise know as keyhole surgery as it requires much smaller incisions, manipulates less tissue or uses a natural oriface as an opening to perform the surgery.
This approach causes less pain and means patients return to function and heal sooner. Minimally invasive surgery is also often associated with less complications and shorter hospital stays. These surgical techniques require advanced equipment and technical skills to perform.
Minimally invasive surgery performed at ACE Vet hospital include:
Arthroscopy: stifle, elbow, shoulder
Laparoscopic assisted bladder stone removal
Laparoscopic desexing (spey)
Laparoscopic gastropexy: GDV prevention
Laparoscopic liver biopsy
Laparoscopic splenectomy
MIPO fracture repair (Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosynthesis) for proximal and distal fractures of the tibia
Our Strideway gait analysis platform is a pressure mapping system which allows assessment of the way your patient walks and a thorough lameness work up.
Strideway provides objective information on force and plantar pressure, plus temporal (time), spatial (distance) and kinetic (movement) parameters at the click of a button.
This tells us how much load is place through each leg and allows us to better clarify what is wrong and importantly assess the response to treatment.