A word from our veterinary nurse student, Laura

Hi, I'm Laura, and I'm one of the student vet nurses here at Ash Vets. I'm currently studying Veterinary Nursing at Harper Adams University College, which is based in Newport, Shropshire. It's a 3 year course, which includes 60 weeks of placement in a veterinary practice, which I'm undertaking here.



As a student veterinary nurse, I help the rest of the nursing team and the vets within the practice carry out daily activities such as looking after the animals, general cleaning, and helping out on reception. I’m also learning more advanced nursing duties such as preparing intravenous drips and monitoring anaesthetics – all under the watchful eyes of everyone in practice!


I will be starting my second year of the course in September, and we will be doing modules such as anaesthesia and surgery, radiography and wildlife care. I have already learnt the basics of veterinary nursing in my first year, as well as animal body systems and client care.


The best thing about my course is the balance of theoretical learning at university, and the practical time in placement. By having all of my placements here, I am beginning to build relationships with some of the clients and their animals, and I am beginning to understand in a lot more detail what is involved in the daily running of a veterinary practice. I am also getting to know the staff a lot better - everyone’s so nice and willing to help me learn!


Outside of my course, I enjoying spending time with my family, friends and boyfriend, and I am a keen fudge maker, which I think Ash Vets are grateful for - everyone always seems happy when I bring in my latest batch for them to taste!


To anyone thinking of getting into vet nursing through going to university, I would tell them that it’s a lot of hard work, and you have to be very dedicated, but the rewards are amazing, and are worth everything that you put into it and more!

Laura

How Are Mel's Chickens Doing?

Two weeks on........

Well the new girls have been at the farm for two whole weeks now, and things are going well. They have come out of the new ‘enriched cage’ system, unlike their battery caged predecessors, and I must say they do seem to be in somewhat better condition. The new enriched cages allow more room for the hens to move and stretch than the tiny old barren cages; they have perches and they do allow small areas to nest and scratch. There are still many restrictions with this system – the chickens are still kept in relatively small cages, without access to the outdoors.  Anyone who’s seen a hen take a dust bath, or stretch her wings in the sunshine will tell you just how much they love to be outside.  But that is a discussion for another day. This blog is about my girls!  

We had an uneventful journey home  from Carmarthenshire to the farm on collection day.  The occasional cluck from the boot and the rather wiffy smell of the new chickens ensured that I didn’t forget about my new charges on the drive back! Bluebell and Dau, the resident chickens, were rather put out to say the least when we opened the three cat carriers to reveal six new hens! 

There was a reasonable amount of squabbling in the early days as the eight worked out the pecking order (I had no appreciation of how that saying came about until I kept my own flock of chickens!!).  Things are settling down now in that respect, but the new girls do still get the occasional squawk and peck on the comb if they dare try out a little tit bit I’ve provided before Bluebell can get to it!! 

Those of you on Facebook may have noticed that we had one casualty early on.  One of the new girls developed a severe limp, which is rather a problem when you only have two legs to start with (and not the best balance if I’m really honest!!).  An examination confirmed, as far as possible without an x-ray, that she hadn’t broken a bone, so we set her up in her own little pen to rest and recuperate. We had to separate her from the others, as chickens do have a rather mean tendency to pick on anyone showing weakness – so poor old Cassy (short for ‘Hopalong Cassidy’) had become quite a target overnight. 


Anyway, I am very pleased to report that she is doing very well and her limp has almost fully resolved now. We plan to return her to the flock in the next day or two. I’ll let you know how she gets on.

Egg production is going well. We are still getting the reliable two eggs from Bluebell and Dau, with the new girls laying anything from one to four eggs a day (including three from Cassy, bless her) between them. Based on past experience this should continue to increase as they settle in and get back to full health. We’re also looking forward to seeing those feathers start to grow.

The girls are all currently living in the barn, but work is very nearly finished on the new deluxe chicken coop and run. And they are due to all move out into the big outdoors together later this week. We are all very excited about it and can’t wait to see them tuck in to their first meal of insects and bugs. Fingers crossed they get some sunshine to bask in.............


Mel

Can You Help?

Today we've given our blog over to one of our local RSPCA inspectors, who does great work locally, helping look after the welfare of animals in the Merthyr Tydfil area. I'll leave it up to Gemma to explain what she wants to talk to you about. I hope you can help her out.
Rachel

My name is Gemma Cooper and I am an RSPCA Inspector, covering Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare and Mountain Ash. As an RSPCA inspector I am part of the front line team who work to prevent cruelty, promote kindness and alleviate suffering to animals.
 
We have made huge strides in animal welfare over the years but there is still work to do. As part of my role, everyday I witness first hand, acts of neglect, cruelty and violence towards animals. the RSPCA needs to raise more and more money rach year in order to continue responding to animals in need. 
 
As such, I am volunterring to take on a a challenege of a life time and climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for the RSPCA. Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa, standing at a massive 19,341ft.
 
I am hoping to raise £4,000 in order to continue helping to save the lives of animals in our local area.
 
The RSPCA is not funded by the Government. Every penny spent by the RSPCA has been donated by people like you.
 
Last year I attended a house where the Spinger Spaniel had been hit by a car 3 months previous, breaking and dislocating his leg. His owners hadn't taken him to a vet, simply putting it down to, "A bit of a limp". I have no doubt that Fudge would have lived the rest of his life with a broken leg if it hadn't have been for the RSPCA. Fudge's operation to have his leg amputated was paid for by people like you. I have now adopted Fudge and he has been helping me train for the mammoth challenege ahead. 
 
If you are in a position to donate a couple of pounds, please visit my just giving page
 
http://www.justgiving.com/gemma-cooper1
 
 
Thank you
 
Gemma and Fudge

How Does Your Dog Smell?

We're all used to guide dogs and the fantastic work they do, helping blind people in many aspects of everyday life. We treat a number of guide dogs and puppies in training at the surgery and they're always a pleasure to deal with. However there are far more working dogs than just guide dogs and assistance dogs can help in a variety of different ways.

Medical alert dogs can be used to monitor people with diabetes and warn when they are about to suffer a hypoglycaemic attack (a time when their blood sugar drops to levels which are potentially dangerous).  Low blood sugar produces a distinctive smell, which these dogs are trained to detect and react to. They can then summon help, or fetch vital supplies for their owners. More information about these dogs can be found here.

Interestingly a number of pet owners have noted that their pets, which have never been trained to do so,  will behave differently when the owners are having a hypoglycaemic attack. In some cases, the owners were asleep and the animals have actually woken them up!

Dogs may be able to detect problems in people with Addisons Disease; a serious condition which can cause collapse, fits and severe pain in sufferers. Cardiff University are currently involved in research into exactly what these dogs are smelling.

It seems that dogs can also be trained to detect certain types of cancer, so jokes about a 'lab' test aren't wide of the mark! There is research going on about this at the moment, but more details can be found here.

Sniffer dogs have been used for years to detect drugs, explosives and chemicals, but they're now being used to sniff out bed bugs as well. It's amazing what a dog's nose can find! Perhaps one day soon all doctors' surgeries will have a dog in the corner of the waiting room to tell the doctor what's wrong with you.

New Inventions/ Discoveries in Veterinary Science

We always like to keep up to date here at Ash Veterinary Surgery, so I was very interested when one of our American colleagues sent us an article about recent developments. I think sometimes we use this technology so often that we take it in our stride. It's interesting to step back and look at what has happened recently. In this age of bionic pets, what else can be done?

I thought you might be interested to see it too. The article can be found
here.

Some of these procedures are only performed or required in America though, so don't be surprised if you haven't come across all of them

Don't Feed Your Dog Bones

"Nick, nack padywack,
Give a dog a bone"
Goes the nursery rhyme, but like many other old wives tales, this is outdated and just plain wrong.

Every couple of weeks we see a dog who is having problems because they have eaten bones. Some of them have stolen a chicken, or something they shouldn't out on a walk, but unfortunately many of them have been fed bones by otherwise caring owners.

Dogs like bones. Their history and evolution as scavengers, means that they have adapted to eat many things and this includes bones. However they also like chocolate and we all know that can be harmful to them. Just because they like bones doesn't mean that they should be fed them. This applies to any sort of bone, including specially cooked bones, as chips can be easily broken off when the dog chews.

Bones can cause a variety of problems, including constipation, but most seriously large pieces of bone can cause blockages. As you can see from this X ray, this bone has stuck in the dog's oesophagus, require a serious operation to remove it.

A number of dogs and cats die and have to be put to sleep every year because of the damage bones cause, so we have a simple message for you. Please don't feed your dog (or cat) bones.

Sweetener Can Poison Animals

A common artificial sweetener, used in many human food products has been linked with an increasing number of poisonings in dogs. The sweetener Xylitol is used as an artificial sugar in many sweets and biscuits and cake, but is also found in chewing gum, dental hygiene products and medicines.

If eaten by dogs, Xylitol causes a sudden release of insulin, which can lead to hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar), intestinal bleeding and liver failure. Signs of low blood sugar can include vomiting, weakness, difficulty walking, trembling or even fits. Immediately veterinary attention should be sought if your pet show any of these signs.

It is thought that cats and ferrets could be vulnerable to poisoning by the substance. However as cats do not taste "sweet" in the way we do, they are less likely to seek it out, although they might be attracted to dairy products such as ice cream which could contain it.

We would advise all our clients to be careful what sort of human food their pets have access to. Do not feed your dog any human food containing Xylitol, and of course avoid other toxins such as grapes, raisins and chocolate. Poisonings often occur because dogs raid unexpected sources of food; beware breath freshening gum, or that emergency bar of chocolate which lives in your handbag.