Bute & Cowal Vets

Maiseach visited us in the Dunoon surgery for a puppy health check this week. Seeing the vets and the nurses and being admired was exciting and tiring..... but listening to the questions her new mum and dad had was jamust plain BORING!

She was fast asleep by the time they had finished chatting about growing pups, worming, exercise, neutering and all that!

Wednesday 7th August 2024

Our Dunoon clinic will be closed between 11.30am and 2pm today for staff training.

For emergencies, please call 01369 702532 as usual, and Phoneta messaging service will put you in touch with the duty vet.

Pleased to say internet and phone restored this afternoon. Thanks to Craig McFarlane for fixing our line left disconnected b y contractor renewing pole this morning.

Bute clients please be aware that we have some sort of fault affecting both our phones and Internet connection. BT are on the case but may not be fixed until tomorrow. Meantime our phones are diverted to a mobile or our out of hours answering service.

*** Dunoon Surgery ***
We are having severe problems with internet and phone lines today. If your call is NOT urgent, please either email [email protected], contact us via PetsApp, or try calling us tomorrow
Thank you!

Update......owner found ..... thank you

*** Dunoon - Urgent ****

A female black and white cat has been brought into Dunoon surgery badly injured following a car accident. She was found at Sandbank near Ardnadam Farm Road end.

She is currently receiving emergency treatment but decisions need to be made about ongoing treatment. If you think she might be yours, please call us on 01369 702532 and give a telephone number we can contact you on.

OUT OF HOURS EMERGENCIES

Our emergency service can be reached by calling our usual number (01369 702532 for Dunoon, 01700 503017 for Rothesay), where your call will be taken by our Call Handling Service at Phoneta .

It is ESSENTIAL that you leave us a number that the duty vet can contact you on. Please remember that the call is unlikely to be coming from the clinic, as vets will be calling from their own phones. If your phone is set to "Do Not Disturb" or to reject incoming calls from withheld numbers, we cannot get through to you.

This is happening more often now, and causes delays in arranging emergency treatment for animals, not to mention the stress to animal owners and staff alike.

This beautiful long eared bat was brought in the Dunoon surgery today after being found in daylight, unable to fly.

After some basic checks and a little drink, it's off to rehab with an experienced member of the Bat Conservation Trust

Did you know that you can now book routine appointments for your pet using our new PetsApp?

Just download the app, and register to whichever Bute & Cowal Vets clinic you usually use, and you can use the app to book non-urgent appointments, get appointment and vaccination reminders, request repeat prescriptions or open a chat with a team member.

For emergencies, our 24 hour emergency service can still be reached by calling 01369 702532 for Dunoon or 01700 503017 for Rothesay.

Using PetsApp can help keep our phonelines free for urgent calls

One Clinical Canine Massage session available on 7/4/24 at 1pm at Bute & Cowal Vets
Vet consent form required if it is your dog’s first masssge pm if you would like this slot or have any questions about Canine Massage
If your dog would prefer their massage in their home I can also offer home visits depending on your location ❤️🐾🐾

🍫Chocolate: Easter Eggs

Chocolate contains a substance called theobromine which can cause some concerning signs in our dogs, if ingested in high concentration it can be very serious.

The severity depends on type of chocolate and size of dog so its always best to keep chocolate treats out of our dogs reach.

Remember that dogs can quickly snaffle an Easter chocolates during Easter egg hunts!

Clinical signs of chocolate toxicity usually occurs 6–12 hours after ingestion, so we need prompt response after a patient has snaffled those snacks!

Initial signs may include:
🍫Polydipsia (drinking lots)
🍫Vomiting
🍫Diarrhoea
🍫Abdominal distention
🍫Restlessness

Worryingly, if left too long signs may progress to more severe symptoms.

🍫Hyperactivity
🍫Polyuria (excessive urination)
🍫Ataxia (wobbly)
🍫Rigidity or tremorsand seizures.

Devastatigly in severe ingestion cases we can see:

🍫Tachycardia/bradycardia (worryingly fast or slow heart rate), tachypneoa (fast breathing) cyanosis, hypertension/hypotension (high or low blood pressure), hyperthermia (high body temperature) or coma!

If your pet has managed to get hold of a chocolate treat then call your veterinary practice immediately. If treatment is required, the quicker we can start it, the better.

Treatment may include:

✅ Inducing emesis (vomiting)
✅ Activated charcoal
✅ Supportive therapy for any clinical signs

EASTER OPENING TIMES

Both surgeries will be open as normal on Good Friday, but our team will be taking a well earned break on Easter Monday.

As always, we will have someone on call for emergencies. In case of emergency, please call your usual surgery (Rothesay 01700 503017 or Dunoon 01369 702532) and leave a message with our call handlers who will put you in touch with the duty vet. Please make sure you leave a phone number that we can contact you on. The call may come from a withheld number if they vet is using their own phone, so please make sure the number you give us accepts such calls.

Wishing you all a Happy Easter, with all the chocolate kept well out of paws reach!

Future Vets Summer Camp 2024 is only open for applications for ONE MORE WEEK!

Don't sit on this opportunity - APPLY NOW

https://futurevets-scotland.org/event/wannabe-vets-camp/

Our Dunoon Surgery will be closed from 12.30pm on Thursday 21st March for staff training.

We will reopen 8.30am Friday 22nd March. As usual, we will have a small team on call for emergencies.

In case of emergency, please phone 01369 702532, where our call handlers will pass a message to the duty vet. Please leave a number that we can definitely contact you on, and remember that the call MAY come from a withheld number.

What to do in a sheep worrying incident 🐑🐕

Join us during NSA Sheep Worrying Awareness Week for a practical webinar on what to do in a sheep worrying incident.

📆Wednesday 27th March
⏰7.30pm

Find out more and register to attend⤵
https://go.nationalsheep.org.uk/0ZNZUB

Benefits of massage - Canine Massage Guild Benefits of massage Dogs benefit from massage in just the same way that their owners do. It’s ideal for easing muscular pain and resolving soft tissue injuries which, left unresolved, can lead to harder to treat problems that can often make your dog old before their time. Why your dog may need Cli...

We know it's not always easy getting through to us on the phone during busy times.

We have now teamed up with PetsApp to bring you a new way of communicating with us for non urgent queries, non urgent appointment requests, food and medication orders. In time we also hope to use the app for online appointment booking, video consultations, vaccination reminders and sending out information such as pre-operative and post-operative instruction, in-patient updates etc.

You can download the app here https://petsapp.com/ml/41fErFsT25KUVN6k9

PetsApp is checked by our team regularly during our usual office hours, and we aim to respond within these hours.

You can still contact us by phone, but using PetsApp will help us keep phone lines clear for emergencies.

With lambing season upon us, it's important we remember to keep control of dogs when walking in the countryside.

Livestock worrying is the phrase used when a dog worries or attacks livestock in rural areas. It is a serious offence and is punishable by £40,000 fine or 12 months imprisonment.

To avoid this happening, please be responsible, be accountable, be safe and be prepared, when walking your dog in the countryside. 🦮

Petsapp
is an app which should ease communication between Bute & Cowal Vets and our clients. We are in the process of gearing up to full use of the system but this will take some time. The App seems to have got a bit ahead of us today but bear with us, it is not a scam!!

📌 SAVE THE DATE 📌
🔸March 13th 2024
🔸Future Vets Online Information Evening

This event is for any S1-S6 school pupil who is interested in veterinary medicine or veterinary nursing it includes talks from vets at different stages of their careers, a vet nurse and universities admissions

Rothesay Joint Campus Dunoon Grammar School

📌 SAVE THE DATE 📌
🔸March 13th 2024
🔸Future Vets Online Information Evening

This event is for any S1-S6 school pupil who are interested in veterinary medicine or veterinary nursing it includes talks from vets at different stages of their careers, a vet nurse and universities admissions.

More information to follow.

Ethylene glycol: Don't receive a frosty fright

The weather has turned, people may be defrosting their cars on frosty or snowy mornings. Many people reach for a product to speed up this defrosting process: antifreeze.

Antifreeze has its implications as a sweet tasting liquid our pets (particularly dogs and cats) often get into mischief with it.

Unfortunately ethylene glycol tends to have a low minimum toxic dose and is rapidly absorbed by the animals gastrointestinal tract. The toxic byproducts of this metabolism causes renal damage and metabolic acidosis.

Clinical signs are dose and time dependant.

If you have seen your pet ingest antifreeze OR you get home to find an empty destroyed container and are suspicious of a possible ingestion the best thing you can do is CONTACT YOUR VETERINARY TEAM IMMEDIATELY AND PREPARE TO GO DOWN ASAP.

You may have not seen the ingestion but the following symptoms suggest concerns (although can be suggestive of other issues too!). Again calling your wonderful veterinary practice immediately is the action to take.

❄️Lethargy
❄️Vomiting
❄️Polyuria (Urinating excessively)
❄️Polydipsia (Drinking excessively)
❄️Neurological signs
❄️Seizures
❄️Ataxia (Wobbly)
❄️Coma
❄️Dehydration
❄️ Abdominal pain

Untreated antifreeze toxicity can be fatal.

Your veterinary team may need to:

🌀Induce emesis (vomiting)
🌀Preform gastric lavage
🌀Start intravenous fluid therapy
🌀Start ethanol treatment
🌀Provide symptomatic treatment
🌀Take regular blood samples
🌀Take regular urine samples

How can I prevent it?

Firstly appropriate storage and disposal is essential. Ensuring you clear up any spillages on the ground so cats (and other animals) don't lap it up and ensuring any products you have are up high and out of reach for inquisitive paws is essential.

SUMMER CAMP 2024!

If you are, or have kids aged 16 or 17 years old and are interested in finding out what being at Vet School will be like this camp is for YOU!

We have 49 places for the Inaugural Future Vets Scotland Summer Camp!

Sign up on our website https://futurevets-scotland.org/event/wannabe-vets-camp/

Aged 16 or 17 and wanting to become a vet? How about finding out what life at Vet School would be like?

SUMMER CAMP 2024!

If you are, or have kids aged 16 or 17 years old and are interested in finding out what being at Vet School will be like this camp is for YOU!

We have 49 places for the Inaugural Future Vets Scotland Summer Camp!

Sign up on our website https://futurevets-scotland.org/event/wannabe-vets-camp/

It’s time!!

Start time on both fields 8am tomorrow!

See you there!