Rangeside Veterinarians offers the broad range of services you would expect from a quality Small Animal Veterinary Surgery.
Puppy Preschool
There are huge benefits to teaching your puppy to be well behaved at an early age. Young puppies between the ages of 8 and 16 weeks are very receptive to learning obedience skills, toileting behaviour and social boundaries. All of these things help make your relationship with your dog more rewarding for the years to come.
At Rangeside Vets we provide a Puppy Pre-school program – that presently is conducted on a Saturday afternoon. We aim to group puppies that are approximately 12 weeks of age and ideally have already received their 12 week C5 vaccination.
With our progressive and positive learning techniques you will:
Develop an understanding of optimal husbandry and veterinary care for your puppy.
Learn normal puppy behaviour and how to read your puppy's body language and respond appropriately.
Develop effective techniques for positive behavioural training.
Understand the need for ongoing socialisation of your puppy and help them understand the important boundaries when playing together.
Develop a stronger bond between you and your puppy
The most important thing about training your new puppy is to start early. Puppy Pre-school is a very useful part of this training process.
So start today and call us about enrolling your puppy in our next Puppy Pre-school class. Bookings are essential
Behavioural Advice
Problems with your pet’s behavioural can have quite complex causes. Factors that can contribute to a behaviour issue can be related to your pet’s personality, environmental influences, medical issues including chronic pain.
Our veterinarians will investigate behavioural problems by obtaining a full history and conducting a full examination (sometimes your pet may require blood and urine tests to rule out underlying medical conditions) to accurately diagnose a problem.
Behavioural problems are often the combined effect of many factors, including your pet’s training and learned traits.
Genetics can also predispose your pet to some behaviours, however the expression of those behaviours can also depend on your pet’s early socialisation and training.
Changes in the environment may contribute to the emergence of behavioural problems. For example, changes in routine, a new member of the household (pet, baby or partner), moving house, or the loss of a family member or pet can have a dramatic impact on behaviour. Medical or degenerative changes associated with ageing may cause the pet to be even more sensitive to these environmental changes.
Learning also plays a part in many behavioural problems. Early training and socialisation is essential to have a happy, well-adjusted pet. Punishment of behavioural problems often worsens the situation and it is very important that professional advice is obtained as soon as the problem appears to effectively resolve it.
Positive reinforcement is the preferred method for changing behaviour, however this also needs to be used carefully as it can encourage undesirable behaviour if used incorrectly.
How are behavioural problems treated?
There is no simple cure for any behavioural problem, so be careful when taking ''helpful'' advice. For example, many people with a destructive dog are given the advice to get another dog to fix the problem, however, they may end up with two destructive dogs! It is very important that the cause of the problem is addressed, not just the symptoms of the problem. For example don't just chain a dog up because it is digging- you need to try and investigate the reason for the digging and treat the dog accordingly.
With many behavioural problems it can be critical to seek more specialist advice from a qualified specialist Behaviour veterinarian or a person trained in animal behaviour.
Changing problem behaviour requires commitment on behalf of the whole family, as everyone your pet interacts with will be responsible for encouraging desirable behaviour. For some problems such as barking, escaping, aggression, or separation anxiety it is beneficial to see the pet in its natural environment, thus a home visit may be appropriate. Some cases may also require medications alongside the new training techniques to get the best outcome.
For this and other behavioural problems we advise you contact us to make an appointment with one of our veterinarians.
Nutritional Advice
Along with regular exercise and veterinary care, appropriate nutrition is the best way you can contribute to your pet's prolonged good health.
These are the basic nutrients every pet needs:
The balance and quality of these basic food components is a comprehensive field of study. Many of the old adages have been proved to be inappropriate. But has with many things their plenty of opinions based loosely on personal opinions – so it is best to try and appreciate some of the science behind formulating diets for your pets.
Water is the most essential nutrient in any diet. Your pet's body is made up of approximately 70% water and will quickly perish without it. Ensure your pet can access fresh, clean water at all times.
Proteins are required for a healthy coat, skin, and nails. Your pet's body uses the amino acids in proteins to make many components of the body including enzymes , hormones and a healthy immune system. Proteins can come from plant and meat sources, but cats and dogs will often operate best on high-quality animal based protein in the diet.
Fats are a vital part of the diet and are required for many important functions in the body. In general dogs and cats have a higher need for fats than a balanced human diet but excesses can lead to problems – Pancreatitis in dogs is one such issue.
Carbohydrates supply energy and come from sugars, starch, and fibre from plant sources. The need for carbohydrates in the diet of dogs and cats is a little different to people and care has to be taken if you try to feed a human diet to your pets.
Vitamins and minerals help regulate many body systems. For example, your pet needs the minerals calcium and phosphorous for strong bones. Antioxidant vitamins like vitamin E and C help boost your pet's immune system during times of stress.
How do you make sure your pet's diet is healthy?
We strongly recommend that you:
Feed appropriate premium commercial pet foods as the major component of your pet’s diet. Premium foods offer high-quality ingredients and are made by companies specialising in nutritional research that also show a solid track record of quality and palatability. Feeding cheaper generic pet foods may lead to a variety of issues including obesity, irregular bowel movements, or excess intestinal gas.
Make sure the food is fresh. When you purchase pet food, check for freshness and purchase only the amount necessary for your pet. Store pet food in a cool, dry place and keep it in a tightly closed container. Discard any uneaten food and always place fresh food in a clean bowl.
Dogs and cats have a requirement for the diet options to maintain dental health. Sometimes this can be achieved with dry foods diets. But often an appropriate supply of chewing options is required – these can include fresh bones, dried bones, dried body parts such as pigs ears and roo tails. Some pets can be very difficult to cater for in this area – especially cats. Often some advice from one of our Vets will help sort this frustrating issue out.
Feed the right amount. Ask us or check the label for how much to feed according to your pet's ideal weight (not necessarily the same as their current weight). Avoid feeding pets as much as they want or feeding a large amount at one time. Doing so can lead to obesity and other gastrointestinal upsets.
Maintain a daily routine. A regular schedule will help your pet keep normal bowel movements and help avoid indoor accidents. Younger pets need to be fed more frequently, as they are usually more energetic and burn more calories.
Avoid "people" food. Your pet's digestive system is simpler than yours and can be easily upset by changes. Feeding table scraps will result in an unbalanced diet, can cause stomach upsets or even life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas.
Life Cycle Feeding
Your pet's nutritional requirements will change as they age. Puppies need a diet with a balance of ingredients to cater for their growing body . These puppy foods have higher energy, calcium and protein, but if you feed these diets to an older inactive it will lead to obesity. Likewise, older pets need diets restricted in fat and supplemented with fibre for their optimum health. Many premium senior diets also contain additives to assist in the management of arthritic changes and can make your pet more comfortable.
Please give us a call to discuss your pet’s nutritional needs. We will tailor a diet specifically for your pet that will give them the optimum quality and length of life.
Remember, you are what you eat, and so is your pet!
Micro-chipping
A microchip is about the size of a small grain of rice and is injected under your pet’s skin at the level of the base of the neck. The microchip is embedded with a unique code and is the most effective form of permanent identification for your pet. Your relevant personal contact details are recorded against this code on one of the secure national computer database. It is by far the most useful method of re-uniting lost pets with their owners. They can also assist where the ownership of an animal is in dispute.
Please ensure you update your contact details with the Database if they happen to change – unfortunately we see examples of lost animals with microchips where the owners have failed to keep their contact details current
In many states of Australia micro-chipping of pets is now compulsory. It has been compulsory in Queensland since 2009 for all new dogs and cats to be micro-chipped. Only a few exemptions to this rule exist
If a pet is ever lost and is handed in at a veterinary clinic or animal shelter a microchip scanner is passed over the animal’ s lower neck to reveal the unique code. The vet clinic or animal shelter can then refer to the database to identify the name, and contact details of the owner.
If your pet is not micro-chipped please give us a call to make an appointment to have one inserted. In some cases it can be done during a normal consultation, however, some animals are too restless and there is a risk of doing serious damage if they dramatically move while implanting the microchip. In these situations we would recommend you look at either sedating your pet to implant the microchip or even performing the microchip procedure during an general anaesthesia (such as desexing).
If you find a lost pet please call us to arrange a scan for the microchip - we always find a great deal of satisfaction with reuniting micro-chipped pets with their worried owners.