The recent cold spell has left many ponds, lakes and waterways frozen. Dogs don’t know to avoid walking across ice, especially if it has a coating of snow and a flock of ducks temptingly close, so they risk falling through. The fire service strongly recommend NOT trying to rescue the dog by crawling onto the ice as each year several lives are lost in this way. Most times the dog is able to scramble out unaided. Call 999 and wait for help.

Until the ice melts be careful to keep your dog under control around water.

For more advice contact Town & Country Vets in Market Harborough – serving South Leicestershire and North Northamptonshire

Equine problems – tetanus and lock jaw

Even if you do not vaccinate your horse for influenza, due to not competing for example, please do not forget to keep his or her tetanus protection up to date at all times as horses are particularly susceptible to this disease. The bacteria that cause tetanus are present in the soil and in faeces, and therefore contaminate other objects as well, so all horses are at risk. The bacteria enter the body via wounds, but the wound may be so small that it is not noticed. Once the symptoms have developed attempts at treatment are usually unsuccessful, as well as being very expensive, and if the disease has progressed to a certain stage it may be inhumane to do anything other than euthanase the animal.

The starting vaccination course is two injections 4-6 weeks apart. A booster every 2 years is then required to keep the protection up to date.

Mares should receive a booster when pregnant as some protection will then pass to the foal. Foals then need to start their own vaccination course from 5 months of age.

If your horse is out of date and gets a wound ring us without delay so that we can administer tetanus antitoxin to provide protection as this works faster than the vaccination.

If you would like more advice do call us at our Market Harborough (South Leicestershire) branch or at our specialist Equine Centre in North Northamptosnshire.

A fun filled afternoon was had by all as we celebrated the completion of our new pet hospital on Sunday 5th June.

The event started at 1pm with ex England and Leicester Tigers prop forward, Julian White, formally opening our new pet hospital.

The dog show was very popular and there was stiff competition to win a coveted rosette. Judge and retired vet, Roger Fox had a difficult task picking the winners from the numerous entrants.

Photographer Wayne Neal, of www.nomadicmonkimages.com, photographed many of our four legged friends that turned up especially for the event. If you would like to purchase your pets photograph please go to blog.nomadicmonkimages.com. Great value at £15 for a mounted print with 10% going to our chosen charity for this year ‘Hearing Dogs for Deaf People’.

Of course we can’t forget to mention ‘Smokey the cat’, the cat with the loudest purr in the world, fresh from her recent appearance on BBC Radio5 live and proudly sporting her Guinness World Records certificate. It was an honour to have Smokey in attendance and there is no doubt she is an absolute star. For more information about Smokey see www.smokeythepurringcat.com.

Clients enjoyed seeing the new state of the art facilities and learning about what goes on behind the scenes in a busy pet hospital. The trade stands and demonstrations were very interesting and gave clients the opportunity to try the equipment first hand.

Partner Tim Murphy said ‘We have been using the facilities for the past few months but this weekend we wanted to show pet owners what happens in a pet hospital and let them see and use some of the equipment . It was a great afternoon’.