Looking After Your Pet

General guidance for dogs, cats and rabbits, written for our local conditions in the Mid North of South Australia. If your pet is unwell, please call us rather than relying on general advice.

Routine care at a glance

Parasites

Intestinal worms. Adult dogs and cats need worming every three months. Puppies and kittens need it far more often: every two weeks from two weeks of age until twelve weeks, then monthly until six months. Get the dose right by weighing your pet rather than guessing, and reweigh growing animals each time.

Fleas. Fleas are active year round here but peak from November to March. Treat every pet in the household on the same day, every month, and wash bedding in hot water. If you are still seeing fleas after a month of treatment, the usual cause is an untreated animal in the house or a product applied too infrequently, not resistance.

Ticks. Paralysis ticks are not established in our district, but pets that travel to the east coast or to coastal Queensland need specific tick prevention. Tell us before you travel and we will recommend a product.

Heartworm. Heartworm is spread by mosquitoes and is fatal if untreated. Dogs need either a monthly tablet or a yearly injection. If prevention has lapsed for more than a few months, we test before restarting.

Hydatid tapeworm. Relevant locally for dogs with access to raw sheep or kangaroo offal. Never feed raw offal, and worm working and farm dogs every six weeks with a product containing praziquantel.

Dental care

Around eight in ten dogs and cats over the age of three have some degree of dental disease. It is painful, and pets rarely show it — they simply keep eating.

Signs to look for: bad breath, brown or yellow tartar along the gum line, red or bleeding gums, dropping food, chewing on one side, pawing at the mouth, reluctance to play with toys.

What helps - Brushing with a pet toothpaste. Never use human toothpaste; it contains fluoride and often xylitol. - Introduce brushing slowly: let them lick the paste, then touch the brush to one tooth, and build up over a couple of weeks. - Dental diets and VOHC-approved chews reduce tartar. Ask us which ones we stock. - Raw meaty bones can help but carry risks of fractured teeth and obstruction. Never feed cooked bones. - Have the teeth checked at every annual visit.

Once tartar has formed, brushing will not remove it. A scale and polish under anaesthetic is the only way to reset, after which home care keeps it away.

Weight and feeding

Roughly four in ten pets we see are overweight, and it shortens their lives.

How to check at home - You should be able to feel the ribs easily with flat hands, without pressing. - Looking down from above, there should be a visible waist behind the ribs. - From the side, the belly should tuck up rather than run straight or sag.

Practical steps - Measure meals with a cup or scales instead of estimating. - Treats should be no more than 10 per cent of daily food. Vegetables like carrot and green beans work well as low-calorie treats for dogs. - Feed to the pet in front of you, not to the number on the packet, which is a starting point only. - Weight loss should be slow: about 1 to 2 per cent of body weight per week.

Bec runs free nurse weight checks. Most owners find monthly weigh-ins the single most useful part of a weight-loss program.

Foods that are toxic to dogs and cats: chocolate, grapes and sultanas, onion, garlic, leek, chives, macadamia nuts, xylitol (in sugar-free gum, peanut butter and some baked goods), cooked bones, bread dough, alcohol, and any human medication not prescribed for them. Lilies are lethal to cats, including the pollen.

Summer and heat

Summer temperatures here regularly exceed 38 °C, and heatstroke can kill within 30 minutes.

• Walk dogs before 8 am or after 7 pm in summer. If the footpath is too hot for the back of your hand for five seconds, it is too hot for paws.
• Never leave a pet in a parked car, even briefly, even with windows down.
• Provide multiple water bowls in shade, plus a shallow clam-shell pool for dogs.
• Flat-faced breeds, overweight pets, black-coated dogs, rabbits and older animals overheat fastest.
• Rabbits are far more at risk from heat than cold. Bring hutches into shade, add frozen water bottles wrapped in a towel, and keep airflow moving.

Signs of heatstroke: heavy noisy panting, bright red gums, drooling thick saliva, wobbliness, vomiting, collapse. Wet the pet with cool — not iced — water, put a fan on them, and drive to us immediately. Call on the way.

Snakes

Eastern brown snakes and red-bellied blacks are active in our district from September through to April, especially around dams, sheds, woodpiles and hay.

Signs of snake bite include sudden weakness or collapse followed by apparent recovery, wobbly back legs, dilated pupils, drooling, vomiting, and dark urine. Cats often just seem quiet and weak.

If you suspect a snake bite: keep the pet as still as possible, carry rather than let them walk, do not apply a tourniquet, do not try to catch or kill the snake, and call us on the way. Antivenom works, but the sooner it is given the better the outcome. We keep antivenom in stock through the warmer months.

Other seasonal hazards locally

• Grass seeds from late spring: check between toes, in ears and under armpits after walks in dry paddocks.
• Snail and rat bait: both are common on rural properties and both are emergencies. Bring the packet with you.
• 1080 baiting: if you see baiting signs on nearby land, keep dogs leashed. There is no antidote; it is invariably fatal.
• Blue-green algae in dams in summer: do not let dogs swim in or drink from water with a green scum.
• Bee and ant stings: usually mild swelling, but call us if the face swells or breathing changes.

Puppies and kittens

• First visit at 6 to 8 weeks for a health check, vaccination and worming.
• Socialisation window closes around 14 to 16 weeks. Expose them to as many people, surfaces, noises and situations as you can, in a positive way, before then. Carry unvaccinated puppies rather than skipping the exposure entirely.
• Puppy preschool runs over four Wednesday evenings each school term.
• Microchipping is compulsory for dogs and cats in South Australia, and pets must be registered with the local council. We can do the chip and the paperwork at the same visit.
• Desexing is also required in South Australia for dogs and cats born after 1 July 2018, unless an exemption applies.

Senior pets

Cats over 10 and dogs over 8 benefit from a six-monthly check. Ageing changes are easy to miss at home and easy to mistake for "just getting old".

Things worth mentioning to us: drinking more or urinating more, weight loss with a good appetite, stiffness or reluctance on stairs, changed sleep patterns, night vocalising, lumps that have changed, bad breath, or coughing.

Arthritis is very common and very treatable. Non-slip mats, ramps instead of jumps, raised food bowls, a warm bed away from draughts, keeping weight down, and modern pain relief make a large difference.

When to call us rather than wait

Call the clinic on (08) 5550 4470, or the after-hours mobile 0491 570 156, if your pet is not eating for more than 24 hours, is vomiting repeatedly, has diarrhoea with blood, is drinking noticeably more, is limping and not improving after 48 hours, has an eye that is squinting or cloudy, is scratching so much that skin is broken, or is simply behaving in a way you know is not right for them. Owners are usually correct about that last one.

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