The first patient to start on the Gladesville Gutbusters Program was “Alex” our practice cat.   Alex weighed in at a hefty 9kg – mainly because he found different people throughout the day to feed him and give him milk!   After a fortnight on the program he has lost 3cm around his chest, 2cm [...]

As those that own dogs would already be aware, heartworm is a worm that is transmitted by mosquitoes which lives in the dog’s heart. The worm actually requires to have spent some of its life in a mosquito in order to develop and grow.   The mosquitoes that carry heartworm seem to preferentially prefer to [...]

Puppies jumping up for attention can be cute and endearing, but as little ‘Fido’ grows up to be enormous it is not quite so cute. Often when this behaviour cannot be deterred the dog gets booted out to the backyard where the problem escalates. Now every time someone goes outside the dog is twice as [...]

With Easter just around the corner, it’s time to issue our annual reminder not to give in to those big brown pleading eyes and allow your dog to have any chocolate. It seems too cruel to be true, but chocolate can be FATAL to dogs.   The toxic substance contained in chocolate is theobromine, and [...]

Did you know that feeding a cat a cup of milk is the equivalent of you eating 5 chocolate bars?   For a 10kg dog, eating 1 slice of buttered toast is the same as you eating a hamburger!   Tip: Try some apple or a dried apricot instead.   1 milk arrowroot biscuit for [...]

Just as humans have heart disease, dogs can have heart problems too – although it isn’t caused by fried foods! The heart problems can either be present at birth congenital) or become apparent as the dog gets older (acquired heart disease).   Acquired heart disease is far more common, and generally happens as the dog [...]

Early detection of high blood pressure in cats is vital, as there is little middle ground between asymptomatic cats with hypertension and those that present with major organ damage.   Causes of hypertension in cats are thought to be secondary to another disease process.   The most common cause in cats is chronic renal insufficiency [...]

Your pet’s weight is important too – include them in your New Year’s resolution to become fit and healthy!   With 60% of the human population overweight or obese in our current society, it follows that our animal companions are heading in a similar direction. One Australian study   estimates that 50% of dogs are [...]