Category Archives: Warwick News
Bella’s sore throat
Beautiful Bella was seen last month as an emergency out of hours at our Warwick hospital. She had been out in the garden and had come back retching and seemed very uncomfortable.
Night vet Roxanne was worried Bella had something stuck in her nose or throat which was causing her symptoms, so she was admitted for an anaesthetic so we could have a good look at the back of her throat.
It soon became clear why Bella was gagging- she had 2 long blades of grass stuck at the back of her mouth behind her soft palate. Bella was given an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory injection to resolve the swelling and infection caused by the grass blades.
By the next morning Bella was a lot happier and she is now back to going out in the garden to hunt- hopefully she won’t catch any more grass blades!
Eric’s knot been well
This is Eric, a tiny 1year old Yorkshire Terrier. Yesterday he stole a shoe and after chewing it to pieces he managed to eat the shoelace – all 107 cm of it!
His owners realised what had happened and brought him straight to our Warwick hospital. Vet Helen advised to make him vomit whilst the lace was still in his stomach, as once it starts to pass through it could easily have caused a blockage in his intestine.
After the injection to make him sick Eric brought up the entire shoelace, and his owner had helpfully brought the other shoelace for comparison!
Soggy moggies avoid cat-astrophe
These two gorgeous kittens are only six weeks old but have already used one of their nine lives.
Their owners hadn’t realised they were happily curled up asleep amongst the dirty washing in the laundry basket and accidentally put the kittens in the washing machine. The owner acted quickly as soon as they realised what had happened and got them out, dried them off and brought them straight in to us to be checked over by Warwick vet Gemma.
They were alert and conscious but cold and in shock. Gemma was worried they may have inhaled some water and detergent which could cause delayed breathing problems so they stayed overnight for observation. By the next morning they had recovered really well and their breathing was completely normal so they were able to go home that day.
Here they are with mum Peach after their ordeal- already feeling better and back to their mischievous ways!
Their owners would like us to share their story and advise all pet owners to check laundry baskets before loading washing machines and tumble dryers. These lovely kittens were very lucky and have made a full recovery, but it could easily have been a different story.
Jasper’s ribbon emergency
Poor Jasper was seen out of hours by Warwick vet Helen this week after swallowing a long piece of ribbon.
He has played with the ribbon for years without any problems, but this time his owner saw the end of the ribbon in Jasper’s mouth and called us straight away.
Helen advised we see Jasper as soon as possible before the ribbon became lodged in his intestines- this would have caused a lot of damage and could have led to peritonitis which would have made him very unwell.
Jasper was given a general anaesthetic which was closely monitored by veterinary nurse Maddi. Helen passed a camera (endoscope) down into Jaspers stomach to see if the ribbon was still there; if it had passed through the stomach into the intestine Jasper would have to have surgery to remove it.
Fortunately, the ribbon was still in his stomach so Helen was able to remove it using the endoscope meaning Jasper didn’t need surgery. Once it was removed Helen and Maddi found that the ribbon was almost 3 feet long, which can’t have been easy for him to swallow!
Jasper recovered very well from his anaesthetic and went home the next day. Hopefully he has learned his lesson and won’t eat any more ribbons!
Houdini the hedgehog
This is Houdini the hedgehog who was brought in to see Mark out of hours this week. He was found in Stratford with some plastic netting stuck around his neck.
The plastic had been there for some time and had cut into the skin around his neck so it was difficult to remove. Mark gave Houdini an anaesthetic and managed to carefully cut him free.
Here is Houdini having a cuddle with vet nurse Kim after his lucky escape!
A very fond farewell to Anita
Avonvale Vets all said a fond farewell to Anita on Friday as she hung up her stethoscope after 30 years of dedicated service. Staff at Warwick held an impromptu tea party for her, resulting in a table groaning under the weight of home-made cakes – a reminder of what she would be missing!
Anita started Avonvale’s first surgery in Warwick on Cape Road over 30 years ago and has seen the practice go from strength to strength over the years. Despite being a small animal practice, Anita’s qualifications and experience in Sheep and Goat medicine also led to a steady procession of our cloven hoofed friends turning up at the main hospital with various ailments or for more routine care such as disbudding. Anita has always treated both her clients, patients, and everybody at Avonvale as part of her extended family. She’ll now have more time to spend with the real thing!
Please join all the staff at Avonvale in wishing Anita a very long and happy retirement.
New faces at Avonvale!
Kate
Ann
There have been some exciting changes across Avonvale recently.
This month we have bid a very fond farewell to Diane, our Practice Manager who has worked for Avonvale for over 12 years. We wish her all the best in her new adventures in sunny Abu Dhabi!
We are very pleased to welcome new Practice Manager Kate Webb and administration assistant Ann to the Avonvale team.
Gemma
Our Stratford branch going from strength to strength means we have recruited three new vets! Welcome to Lara, Gemma and Daisy. Daisy will be joining our Stratford team while Katie is on maternity leave, Gemma will be mostly at Warwick and Lara will be working across all of our surgeries.
Lara
We also welcome our new nurse Denni, who many clients at our Stratford surgery may have met already.
Denni
All our new team members are looking forward to meeting our clients and their pets over the next few weeks.
Herbie’s sore neck
This is Herbie who belongs to Southam receptionist Liz. Liz became worried about Herbie when he didn’t eat his breakfast and didn’t want to go for a walk because that was very out of character for him. Then, when he squealed when he was picked up, Liz knew that something was definitely not right. She was worried that he might have eaten a stone while out on a walk.
Liz took him into our Warwick hospital to see the on call vet Steve. He found that Herbie’s pain was in his neck so his problem wasn’t caused by eating a stone. Steve was worried Herbie either had pain from trauma, an infection in the bones in his neck or a condition called meningitis which is caused by inflammation or infection of the tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Herbie came in for further tests the next day with Southam vet Mark. Mark took X-rays of Herbie’s spine as well as taking a sample of the fluid surrounding he spinal cord to look for signs of meningitis.
Herbies xrays were all clear, but he was running a temp and very
dehydrated. So he went on a fluid drip.
We decided to send him to Warwick for overnight care.
The results came through that evening to say it was Steroid Responsive Meningitis.
We got him on a course of steroids and some antibiotics.
By Tuesday he was almost completely back to his old self!!
Herbie has a long road ahead on steroids, and have to have all our fingers and toes crossed he doesn’t have a relapse!
Congratulations Emily
Congratulations Emily! She has worked as one of our animal care assistants at the Warwick hospital for the last year but now she is leaving to go to Nottingham Veterinary School.
Getting into vet school and vet nursing courses can be very competitive. For both you need lots of work experience. We often have school and university students coming into our practices to see how it all works but these places get booked up fast. If you are interested in seeing practice with us please let us know the dates you could do and send them with a CV and covering letter to the head nurse at the surgery you would like to go to.
Diagnostic Donation for Sick Pets
Avonvale pets are assured of
the most up to date diagnostic blood tests with the recent upgrading of our blood testing equipment. This offers a wider range of tests and faster results in-house.
Blood tests are a vital tool to accurately diagnose illness in our pets. Blood samples can be specifically profiled to examine the function of the liver and kidneys and assess glucose levels which can indicate illness at its earliest stages. Blood tests are often run in preparation for a general anaesthetic to ensure precise medication and monitoring and to allow us to make the aneasthetic as safe as possible for your pet.
The specific slides used for the test can be expensive. We know that this level of diagnostic testing is not available to all animals and have donated our left over slides from the previous analyser to the PDSA in Coventry to help other pets.
The Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals is a national charity who provide veterinary care for pets where owners are in difficult financial circumstances. The test slides donated free of charge will allow the PDSA to run 148 blood tests for sick pets in situations where otherwise owners would not have been able to access them due to the cost.