Our highly trained staff and well equipped hospital are here to help if your pets falls acutely ill. Many of the common emergencies like tick paralysis, trauma or snake bites can be fatal and require immediate help to ensure a positive outcome

Our vets are focused on maintaining pet health, not just addressing disease. However, if your pet does fall unwell, then prompt treatment means less pain for the animal and less cost for you. Signs of disease in animals can vary immensely from lethargy to vomiting to toileting issues. Monitoring for such signs is important to ensure pets are not suffering in silence.

In exotic pets like reptiles, birds, rabbits and rodents, many health conditions stem from sub-optimal husbandry and living conditions. Speak to our exotics expert about how to best look after these animals to help ensure they stay happy and healthy.

Annual health checks may address:

Behaviour: excess barking, toilet accidents, or changes in temperament

Blood tests: to evaluate the function of internal organs and circulating blood cells

Breathing: coughing, shortness of breath, sneezing or nasal discharge

Coat and skin: hair loss, pigment changes, lumps, itchy spots, shedding, matting or anal sac problems

Dental health: home care routine and any mouth odours or pain

Ears and eyes: any discharge, redness or itching

Exercise: how much, what kind and any change in physical ability

Feet and legs: limping, weakness, toe nail problems

Nutrition: what your pet eats, how often, what supplements and treats are given, and changes in water consumption, weight or appetite

Preventative health: Parasites (fleas, ticks, mites and heartworms) and vaccinations

Stomach and intestines: vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, gas, belching or abnormal stools

Urogenital: discharges, heats, changes in mammary glands or urination difficulties

Whether you are looking for a lameness examination or would like a second opinion, our surgeons are here to help. They perform a lot of surgery in the dedicated sterile surgical theatre, covering everything from routine desexing to advanced orthopaedics and foreign body removals.

We pride ourselves on skilled surgeons and safe anaesthetics. Our gold standard approach means every case has a dedicated anaesthetist monitoring yours pet’s vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate and rhythm, temperatures, and breathing. Each patient also receives an i.v. catheter, crystalloid fluid therapy (drip), endotracheal intubation and multi-modal analgesia. After surgery patients are transferred to our dedicated recovery ward where they are closely monitored until they are back on their feet.

As an experienced animal hospital, we have a team of highly trained and experienced veterinarians and nurses on hand to give your pet the highest quality of care. This video shows one of our surgeons displaying knee instability due to rupture of the cruciate ligament. This dog required surgery to regain joint stability and regain his active lifestyle.

What should I do before my pet goes in for surgery?

The night before the surgery, it’s important that your pet is fasted from 8pm onwards. No food is allowed, but water overnight is fine and can be removed in the morning. In the morning, take your pet for a walk to allow them to go to the toilet before coming into the hospital.

What should I do after the surgery?

While staying with us, we ensure pets are kept at a comfortable temperature to aid the healing process, decrease pain, reduce infection risk and speed anaesthetic recovery. Patients are fed a healthy meal after surgery and dogs are walked before they go home.

Once home, it’s extremely important to follow any instructions given. To promote a quick recovery from the anaesthetic, give your pet food and water after arriving home, as well as making sure they are kept warm and comfortable. Many pets need to be kept to a more limited range of activities during their recovery times, which is typically around 2 weeks depending on the surgery.

Why is desexing important?

The needs of most owners and pets are best met when their pet is desexed. The main benefits of this are avoidance of unwanted pregnancies, decreasign the risk of medical conditions (e.g. mammary tumours, testicular tumours, pyometra, and prostate disease). Additionally a number of councils have mandatory desexing for newly registered cats and additional fees for registered intact dogs. 

Many owns also experience that desexing can make positive changes to their pet’s behaviour. It can drastically reduce undesired behavioural traits, such as frequent urination by male dogs and urine spraying by cats. Desexing can also reduce the likelihood of roaming or runaway-tendencies, which has the flow on effect of making your pet less likely to get into fights or get hit by a car.

If you have further questions about whether desexing is right for you and your pet then don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our friendly staff.

80% of pets over 3 years of age suffer from dental disease. Our hospital offers a full range of dental services from routine scale and polishes to complex extractions aided by the latest digital technology in dental x-rays.

Dental health is a big deal for your pet. Infected gums and tooth roots can be painful and the smell can affect the whole family! Bacteria from these infections can be absorbed into the bloodstream, posing a health risk to vital organs like the heart, liver and kidneys.

After every dental procedure our staff will show you how you can help your pet with their dental hygiene and prevent any more nasty infections.

What are the signs of dental disease?

• Bad breath
• Chattering teeth
• Difficulty chewing
• Drooling
• Change in food preferences
• Red gums
• Calculus on the teeth

A serious toothache!

This lovely dog has broken one of his molars on his lower jaw causing the tooth to become infected and giving him a very sore tooth! 

Under general anaesthesia and with the aid of local nerve blocks, our vets were able to take dental radiographs to determine the extent of infection, remove the diseased teeth and close the health gum. After the surgery he was a much happier dog and had a new spring in his step at the beach.

Most sick animals are able to be treated as out-patients, meaning they are provided medication and then go home. However some animals require hospitalisation to restore them back to full health. We have dedicated dog, cat and rabbit wards to help make these stays as comfortable as possible, and our highly trained medical nursing team will tend to all your pet’s medical needs. They are also a loving bunch and are sure to provide plenty of cuddles as well.

For some owners leaving their pet in hospital can be a difficult decision. In most cases we encourage visiting your loved one when they are in our hospital, and sometimes this is an important part of their treatment. If you are feel uncertain about leaving your pet in hospital, then our compassionate vets will be happy to discuss the different considerations so that you can make the right choice for you. 

A hardened warrior

Living fine with one eye, this little guy was admitted to hospital. One of his therapies was intravenous fluid therapy (a drip) which helped correct his dehydration

Pets, like humans, are very sensitive to changes to their eyes, and in most cases these changes require urgent attention. Our veterinary staff have the knowledge to help keep your pet’s vision 20:20 and also work closely with specialist ophthalmologists to provide a full range of eye care.

Signs of problems to the eyes may include:

• Discharge
• Redness
• Closing the eyelids
• Itching
• Pain
• Opacity
• Reduced vision

An ocular emergency!

This farm-pug was grabbed during play by one of his friends and as a result his globe prolapsed out of its socket. Fortunately our skilled surgeons were able to replace the eye and perform a temporary tarsorrhaphy. This rapid response was crucial in maintaining his vision from this eye and he made a full recovery.

The skin is considered our largest organ and is one of the most common sites of illness in pet animals. Whether you have an itchy dog or a parrot picking its feathers, our vets are here to help your pet feel better in its skin.

Signs of skin issues include:

• Redness
• Pimples 
• Hair loss
• Redness
• Crusting
• Thickening
• Pigmentation
• Growth / lumps
• Ulceration
• Bleeding

Bad ears

Ear infections are common in pet dogs in the Northern Rivers and if left untreated, many of these animals suffer from chronic discomfort. Itching at the ear, redness and ear discharge are all cause to have a vet examine your pet’s ear.

Ever wonder how vets diagnose illness in pets without being able to speak to them? Imaging like x-rays and ultrasound are some of the key tools!

Our hospital has state-of-the-art digital radiograph (X-ray) facilities which enable rapid and accurate diagnosis of your animal. We also have a high resolution ultrasonography that facilitates painless non-invasive visualisation of internal structures including the heart and gastrointestinal tract.

Finding the truth

This beautiful girl went missing from home and was brought to us as a stray. As you can see by the radiographs taken, she had dislocated her elbow. Our surgeons were able to place the joint back in its correct position, and with plenty of pain relief,  a splinted cast, and lots of TLC she went on to make a full recovery. Fortunately she had a microchip and so we were able to reunite her with her lovely owner who was worried sick!

The hospital has invested heavily in a wide range of in-house laboratory machines so that our vets are able to rapidly determine the correct diagnosis in real time, instead of waiting for samples to be sent to central laboratories. In some cases this can save a life!

Our laboratory can perform a multitude of tests including:

• Biochemistry
• Haematology
• Cytology
• Serology
• Automated urinalysis
• Refractometry
• General light microscopy

Whether it is separation anxiety or digging, behavioural issues take a huge toll on the human-animal bond and if left unaddressed can greatly reduce the overall happiness of owners and pets.

Behavioural issues are complex and require a detailed understanding and the entire environmental of that animal. This is why our vets start with an extended 45 minute consultation to ensure they can help your pet.

Common behavioural issues include:

• Separation anxiety
• Aggression
• Excessive barking
• Destructive behaviour

Help us conserve our precious native wildlife. We work with local wildlife rescue groups to try and treat and rehabilitate wildlife that can safely be returned to the wild. 

Over the past two decade countless birds, reptiles and small native mammals from our local environment have been helped by our team. These animals may never say thanks nor pay their vet bills, but helping them is a part of why we love our job!