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WINTER 2019NEWS

Primrose Hill Vet Hospital

Primrose Hill Vet Hospital – your quality companion animal hospital

Shannon Egan is one of the newest members of our Primrose Hill team. Graduating from UCD with an honours Bachelors Degree

in Animal Science in 2014, she moved to Toronto. After receiving her Diploma in Animal care she spent her years there working at Parker Pet Care, and the Toronto Zoo. Now back in her home in Sallynoggin with her fur baby Lola, she is furthering her career in the animal care industry. You will find her at our front desk to greet you and your pet, and to make your visit with us a pleasant one!

Staff Profiles

We would like to welcome Anne to the team here at Primrose Hill Vet Hospital. Anne comes from Hamburg where she qualified as

a Veterinary Surgeon. She has 3 miniature Schnauzers who keep her on her toes with their mischievous ways! Anne has developed a keen interest in Lighthouses and has set a goal to visit all the lighthouses in Ireland! She is a volunteer with the Dalkey Sea Scouts and swims in the Forty- Foot. She has even started learning some Irish and is now proud to be able to say “Is maith liom madraí agus cait”. She has even learnt that “deadly” means very good and “gas” means funny and “grand” means everything is fine! As a vet she has completed further study in Chiropractic techniques and is very keen to put her skills to use.

Anne Vockeroth

Meet our ‘pawfect’ pooch of the month. Meet Winnie!Winnie is an 8-year-old labradoodle and has been coming to PHVH her whole life. She’s had a tough past year following her diagnosis of severe dry eye as well as keeping up with her long-term condition Addison’s disease. Due to this Winnie is on very familiar terms with our Vets Mike and Mary who treated her and is a much-loved patient of all the nurses.

Addison’s disease also known as hypoadrenocorticism is a hormonal disorder that is caused by a deficiency in the production of adrenal gland hormones.

While Mary treated the Addison’s disease Mike performed a Parotid Duct Transposition and re-routed the Parotid Duct from the mouth to the eye thus restoring moisture to Winnies severe dry eyes. Great teamwork indeed!

Despite all Winnie has gone through she still comes through our doors with a wagging tail. Well done Winnie!!!

Welcome to Primrose Hill Vet Hospital

We are now offering general practice appointments from 8.30am on weekdays.

Pet insurance – don’t be caught out without it!You insure yourself, your house and your car- but what about your pet? Veterinary medicine has, in recent years, become increasingly sophisticated. The good news is that we are now able to diagnose and treat many conditions which just a few years ago would have been untreatable. We often think of insurance covering treatment of broken bones or wounds following road traffic accidents, but don’t forget animals can develop many long term conditions such as skin disease, ear problems, heart disease and cataracts all of which are treatable. With appropriate insurance cover, we can hopefully ensure that your pet will get the best of care without the cost of treatment becoming a limiting factor. Don’t take any chances, make sure your pet is insured!

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Shannon Egan

The eyes are very complex organs and thankfully function normally most of the time. Externally the eyes are protected by the eyelids and the third eyelid (in the corner of the eye).

Tears play an important role in keeping your pet’s eyes healthy, lubricating the movements of the eyelids, washing out dust particles and providing oxygen and nutrients to the cornea (the clear outermost part of the eye). Tears also contain substances which help fight bacterial eye infections.

Dry Eye is a condition seen fairly commonly in dogs and is caused by a reduced or total lack of tear production. There are many different signs of dry eye and these can develop over time. Key signs are a dull lustreless eye which is often reddened and accompanied by a thick yellowish discharge.

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This Newsletter is provided as an education service to our clients. All news and other items in this newsletter are for information only and should not be treated as a substitute for veterinary advice. For all images, the copyright is the property of the photographer.

Eye problems in pets

Severely affected case of dry eye

Healthy eye

Happily, diagnosis of this condition can be made using a simple test to measure tear production. The good news is that medication for “dry eye“, usually in the form of ointment/gel can improve tear production and reverse many of the signs of dry eye, maintaining vision and keeping pets comfortable. In cases where medication hasn’t resolved the problem we perform a surgery called Parotid Duct Transposition where in the hands of our veterinary ophthalmologist Mike Woods the duct is re-routed from the mouth to the eye thus ensuring a flow of saliva onto the eye!

A typical ear in cross section. Most ear problems occur in the external ear canal

Middle ear

Inner ear

Pinna (flap)

External ear canal

Ear drum

Opening to the vertical ear canal in a cat with a crusty brown discharge typical of ear mites Otodectes cynotis (inset)

In rabbits, ear mite infestations with the rabbit ear mite (Psoroptes cuniculi) present with thick, flakey crusting in the external ear canal.

Your pet’s ears come in all shapes and sizes and anatomically consist of three major components: The outer ear with a large pinna – to gather sound waves, which then pass down the external ear canal to the ear drum where the sound is transmitted as vibrations to the small bones of the middle ear, and then onto the inner ear where it is turned into electrical signals which are passed onto the brain and perceived as sound.

Most of the time your pet will have clean comfortable ears. You can gently open the ear flap (or pinna) and check the ear looks clean, the skin does not look sore, and check for unusual odours. It is useful to check your pet’s ears weekly to pick up an ear problem early.

Unlike humans who commonly get middle ear infections, the vast majority of ear problems in pets occur in the external ear canal – termed otitis externa. Signs of otitis externa commonly include ear rubbing, head shaking, and reddened, irritated skin lining the external ear canal. Additionally there is often a discharge which may be foul smelling.

There are several underlying causes of otitis externa:

• Ear mite infestations with Otodectes cynotis is commonly seen in puppies and kittens and is usually associated with a crusty brown discharge. Rabbits can be infected with the rabbit ear mite – Psoroptes cuniculi which is associated with a flakey crusting otitis.

• Localised allergies affecting the skin lining the external ear canal are another common cause, leading to scratching, which allows opportunistic bacterial and fungal infections to infect the external ear canal.

• Grass awns are another common problem and often present with sudden-onset head shaking.

In order to effectively treat otitis externa it is very important to identify the underlying cause. Some, such as ear mites or foreign bodies are easily identified and treated. However, over time, the underlying cause is commonly obscured and made worse by secondary opportunistic bacterial and fungal infections, and the longer ear problems go on, the harder they are to effectively manage. If you would like any further information or are concerned your pet’s ears are causing problems, please bring your pet in for a check-up.

Ear Ear! Watch out for ear disease!